Michael Bay became the latest high-profile filmmaker to make the move into streaming with Netflix exclusive 6 Underground, but unlike Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, there’s little chance of Bay’s most recent effort causing many waves during awards season. With a budget rumored to be $150 million, the Ryan Reynolds-led action flick is Netflix’s most expensive original project yet, as the streaming giant attempts to prove that they can make both big budget blockbusters and prestige dramas as well as any studio in Hollywood.
While 6 Underground hasn’t been particularly well-reviewed by critics, with the movie currently sitting on a 37% score on Rotten Tomatoes, fans seem to be enjoying it much more, with the audience score at a far higher 65%. In a nutshell, that pretty much encapsulates Michael Bay’s entire filmography; his work may not find much love from critics, but almost 25 years into his big screen career, it should be pretty obvious what to expect whenever the originator of cinematic Bayhem steps behind the camera.
In a recent interview, 6 Underground star Ben Hardy echoed those sentiments, admitting that while Bay’s filmography hasn’t exactly been showered with rave reviews, the man behind Bad Boys, The Rock and Armageddon knows his audience and gives them exactly what they want.
“Michael’s films have never been critically praised. He’s kind of a love/hate… he’s definitely a Marmite situation, really. But I love his movies. Not to take away from the critics, I think it’s important to hear what they have to say, but at the same time, necessarily, they’re not the be-all and end-all of what makes a great movie.”
Bay isn’t exactly going to win any Academy Awards for his spectacle-driven blockbusters, with 6 Underground rigidly following his established template for massive-scale set-pieces, one-dimensional characters, confusing plotting and terrible dialogue, but his movies have nonetheless earned over $6.5 billion at the global box office. Based on those kind of numbers alone, without counting the millions that have already watched his latest on Netflix, there’s no denying that the guy makes the kind of disposable blockbuster fare that his fans will always seek out.
