This video racked up 1.7 million views while I was on vacation, so there’s a decent chance you’ve already seen it. Those of you who have can humor the rest of us while we catch up. Basically, a sharp-eyed YouTube user named Jermain Odreman found a few shots from The Island that were remarkably similar to shots from Transformers 3. And by remarkably similar, I mean they were the same footage with different CGI added. As you can see above, they’re either the same shot or Bay took great pains to replicate scenes from his least successful movie. People reacted as if this was finally the damning evidence against Michael Bay that we needed. Said one YouTube commenter:
“In the age of advanced CGI, it’s really sad to recycle scenes from movies made 6 years ago.”
Really? Is it? I would say advanced CGI made that possible. And *I* had to watch the clip two or three times before I could determine which parts were actually the same, so I doubt your average Michael Bay fan with a propeller beanie and chocolate all over his face is going to drop his giant lollipop and demand a refund in the middle of the film. As far as things they did to increase Transformers‘ profit margins, I’d be less worried about re-using a half-second car stunt than about them basically sticking an infomercial for Mercedes in the middle of the movie. Or how about when they illustrate the leaning office building with a closeup on a the liquid level of a Bushmills bottle (because obviously racks of whiskey bottles are everywhere in an OFFICE BUILDING)? Get over it. “Using the same shot with different CGI added” is as perfect a metaphor for Michael Bay’s entire career as you’re going to get.
