Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay have received a bad rap among the online film community due to their constant eschewing of plot, story, and good acting for explosions and violence. Self-proclaimed purveyors of "popcorn movies," their movies appeal to the lowest common denominator of fan, the type of individual whose primary goal in seeing a movie is to be entertained and not to think.
But is this a bad thing?
The purpose of film is first and foremost to entertain, and that's exactly what Bay and Bruckheimer do. Their films may lack the sophistication and intelligence of the latest Darren Aronofsky flick, but they allow the viewer to become absorbed in two plus hours of endless action designed to make us forget about the stranglehold our daily lives have on our well being.
The evidence of their success is in their numbers. Costing millions upon millions of dollars to make, films such as Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean and Armageddon have made their budget back and then some, despite receiving wildly negative reviews from critics.
In addition, Bruckheimer is partly responsible for bringing Johnny Depp the recognition he now receives, thanks to his role in Pirates of the Caribbean and the subsequent sequels, while Michael Bay is partly responsible for Will Smith's meteoric rise to fame. We also have Michael Bay to thank for Megan Fox, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on your point of view.
In the end, Bay and Bruckheimer are brilliant auteurs. They know what the audience wants and they deliver it in a midst of explosions, violence and scantily clad women running around fleeing robots. Despite this author's predilection for films of a more refined taste, Bay and Bruckheimer's mega-blockbuster films will always be welcome, for they make perfect background noise and allow me to shut my brain off from time to time.
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