Movie review aggregator websites assigned the film average scores ranging from 21% positive to 40% positive, with Rotten Tomatoes giving the sequel the lowest marks in Bay's career.
Audiences saw the movie quite differently. At the AMC Puente Hills 20 on Friday night, the majority of the film's showings were sold out, and some "Transformers" fans waited two hours to get into an open screening.
Fred Aldaco, 23, was visiting from Phoenix, and said Bay had respected the Transformers legacy, which includes toys, comic books and an animated television series. "He did a good job with it," Aldaco said. "They took their time and knew how they were going to do the story. You can hardly say that about any other comic book" movie director.
Although La Puente's 27-year-old Diana Salazar didn't know that Bay had directed the movie, she praised its execution. "It had a lot of action. It was really interesting to see the good fight scenes," she said. "Either I like the plot or I don't. It makes absolutely no difference who the director is."
Paramount's national exit polling revealed several notable facts. While the first "Transformers" film, released in 2007, skewed 60-40 toward men over women, the split in the new film was more even at 54% male, 46% female. More than 90% of those surveyed said the new movie was as good as or better than the first film. About 67% of moviegoers polled said the film was "excellent," an even better score than that generated by Paramount's "Star Trek," one of the year's best-reviewed movies.
Ian Bryce, who has produced three Bay movies (including both "Transformers" films) and also worked with Spielberg and "Spider-Man's" Sam Raimi, said that Bay's background in advertising -- he directed the award-winning "Got Milk?" spot about Aaron Burr -- gives him the ability to sell his characters to audiences. "Mike's got a unique talent in being able to capture extremely commercial imagery," Bryce said.
Bay typically shoots long 12-hour days, and while other filmmakers might assign second-unit directors to film scenes that don't include the principal cast, Bay shoots those scenes himself and often operates the camera during principal photography too. He is notoriously demanding of his crew and prone to vocal outbursts, but Bryce noted that many of the director's department heads come back for encore engagements. "He's also demanding of himself," Bryce said. "And there's a limited number of directors who can handle this kind of movie," he said of the $194-million production.
