Michael Bay, perhaps one of the most polarizing artists in the world of entertainment, is far from everyone’s cup of tea. For every moviegoer that can’t get enough of Bay’s unhinged, stunt-heavy, full-throttle rollercoasters, there’s another that laments the director as a prime example of Hollywood’s storytelling penchant going the way of the dodo.
We all have different views on what makes a movie what it is, of course, but with Bay’s long line of stinkers, including most of the Transformers film franchise, one might wonder if the director simply takes a concept, cranks the explosions up to 11, and then calls it a day.
One fan may have found a line of dialogue that proves Bay’s apathy with the aforementioned IP in Revenge of the Fallen, famous for being the highest-grossing film to ever win Worst Picture at the Golden Raspberry Awards, and they were all too happy to share it with the rest of r/movies.
The quote, all available in the video’s title, is quipped by one John Turturro, who plays former Sector Seven agent Seymour Simmons in the film. When he finds himself positioned underneath one of the titular robot’s precarious members, he radios his allies, telling them that he’s “directly below the enemy’s scrotum.” Remarkably, he keeps a straight face the whole time.
Some folks pointed out that a movie based on an ‘80s cartoon whose entire purpose was to sell action figures probably shouldn’t have been taken seriously in the first place.
But one other user suggested that such nuances only proves the point of the original poster, since Bay can’t seem to decide whether or not to play the films straight, or whether or not to lean into the cheesiness of it all.
Regardless of what you think of Bay as a director, it’s not the greatest sign when your highest-grossing projects are better left forgotten. Hopefully his return to form with his recent action thriller Ambulance was an omen.