Following the success of Bumblebee and the positive reception to the upcoming Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, the world has been quickly falling back in love with the Transformers franchise. The Michael Bay era has officially come to an end, but he has left behind a legacy that will never be forgotten. While his films were incredibly financially successful (with the exception of The Last Knight), they left a lot more to be desired. It wasn’t until 2018’s Bumblebee that another person was given the director’s chair.
Bay has been recognized for his expertise in the action genre, knowing how to piece everything together to make a great action movie. But was he really the right director for Transformers? From his work before, during, and after Transformers, all signs point to him ideally having been given another Hasbro property. Here’s why Bay should have directed a live-action film adaptation of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero instead.
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Transformers Needed More of a Human Touch
Paramount Pictures
Bay’s Transformers films were criticized for spending too much time on the humans, and not enough on the Autobots and Decepticons. That said, even with the focus on the humans, the films lacked the power of a real human touch. Scenes were often full of crude humor that made it difficult for audiences to take any of it seriously. That’s not a good thing when friendships and rivalries are at the heart of the Transformers franchise and are supposed to feel genuine.
Travis Knight’s Bumblebee addressed many of the fan complaints, and proved there was another way of doing things. The friendship between Bumblebee and Hailee Steinfeld’s Charlie Watson, which formed the emotional core of the film, was well received by the fans. But in Bay’s Age of Extinction and The Last Knight, Cade Yeager had a much more surface-level relationship with the Autobots. In some ways, the Autobots were relegated to warriors that did little more than fight in the background.
G.I. Joe has always more closely aligned with Bay’s strengths and interests as a storyteller. The universe was never as detailed as Transformers, and many of the characters were able to get away with being simple character archetypes. Additionally, the absence of robotic aliens would have made it easier for Bay to just focus on the humans.
Michael Bay is Known for Military Action and Characters
If Lennox and Epps were taken out of the Transformers films and put in G.I. Joe, they wouldn’t necessarily have felt out of place. The G.I. Joe franchise has consistently portrayed military characters as action heroes, which is something that Bay has done in several of his films. For 2007’s Transformers, Bay worked closely with the U.S. military to secure props as well as access to helicopters, warships, and F-22 stealth fighters (via Wired). The Pentagon even rewrote parts of the script.
The 2009 sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, was called “one of the largest joint films made by the military” by the film’s liaison officer (via Army). As reported by Variety, films like Transformers have been used to shape moviegoers’ perception of the military and as recruiting tools. With humanity fighting against the Decepticons, of course, the military was always going to be featured. But sometimes Bay’s films would ignore the fact they were Transformers films first and foremost. That kind of military focus has always been better suited for the G.I. Joe franchise, where nearly every character comes from a military background.
G.I. Joe Needs to Be Reinvented for the Modern Age
Neither G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra nor G.I. Joe: Retaliation were able to achieve the same level of box office success as Transformers. A third installment was in development, but never came to fruition, and over time, G.I. Joe fell out of relevancy. Paramount attempted a reboot during the pandemic with Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, but the film ultimately underperformed. Now the future of the G.I. Joe franchise is in doubt.
Had Bay directed G.I. Joe from the very beginning, the franchise would have ended up in a much different state. Bay’s work on Transformers showed he was unafraid to deviate from the source material and reinvent the wheel. That’s something G.I. Joe needs as the franchise has failed to cater to a modern audience. Even though Bay’s Transformers films had a lot of problems, there was a reason why they were so successful.
Bay has been a master at conveying scale, blending digital with the practical, and making things feel truly epic. His signature style has made such an impact that it has earned the iconic name of “Bayhem.” The love for American soldiers, high-budget action, and world-ending stakes could definitely have been utilized for G.I. Joe. In an alternate universe, perhaps G.I. Joe was the first Hasbro toyline to become a billion-dollar film franchise.
