Love him or hate him, Michael Bay has been an undeniable force in American cinema for nearly three decades. There are certain ingredients in the Michael Bay recipe for filmmaking that have become his signature trademarks, such as huge explosions, crazy car chases, insane plots, lots of American flags, and perhaps most importantly, a winking self-aware sense of humor. There is no mistaking a Michael Bay movie, and as much as cinephiles may hate to admit it, Bay is a textbook example of an auteur.

One thing that must be understood about Michael Bay movies is that scientific and historical accuracy are entirely beside the point. If you want reality, turn to PBS documentaries or science-fiction films that have been thoroughly fact-checked by Neil deGrasse Tyson. If you want huge explosions and shots of angry generals chomping on cigars while wearing aviators that reflect a magnificent sunset, then Michael Bay is the man for you.

Is it plausible that an oil driller could detonate a nuke on an asteroid? Can a hair clamp be used to repair a burst spleen? Could two Miami police detectives invade Cuba and defeat an entire drug cartel in a shootout? In the real world, the answer to all these questions is of course “no.” In the Bay-verse, the answer is an emphatic “hell yes.” These are the seven most ludicrous, hilarious, and outrageously awesome Michael Bay-helmed scenes.

1. Surgery - Ambulance

Ambulance-Eiza-Gonzalez
Image via Universal

Bay’s latest film is about two brothers who rob a bank and then carjack an ambulance to escape law enforcement. So begins a wild car chase across Los Angeles in which the brothers take an EMT and a wounded police officer as hostages. Unfortunately for them, the cop has a bullet in his body that needs to come out. The EMT (Eiza González), having no idea how to perform surgery, video chats with a few surgeons while she attempts to save the cop’s life. She is doing this, it must be emphasized, while in the back of an ambulance careening down the freeways of L.A. while cop cars and helicopters are in close pursuit. Ambulance’s frantic, dizzying style is a lot, even for Michael Bay, but it’s his best film since 2016’s 13 Hours.

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2. Nuking the asteroid - Armageddon

armageddon-bruce-willis
Image via Disney

Step aside science nerds, it’s time for some oil drillers to save humanity from an asteroid. In one of the most memorable blockbusters of the '90s, Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, and company are launched into space because they are apparently the only people on earth capable of drilling deep enough into an asteroid to drop a nuke inside and blow it in half before it collides with our planet and causes the extinction of our species. A lot goes wrong, of course, while the heroic drillers attempt to do this (including Steve Buscemi losing his mind) but when Bruce Willis puts his life on the line for humanity, there is perhaps no moment in the Bay-verse more iconic. Willis with his steely expression, Ben Affleck sobbing, Liv Tyler lovingly caressing the static-filled TV screen as she says goodbye to her father. This, folks, is cinema. When that final amazing Aerosmith cue hits, you may be sobbing as well, or at least grinning.

3. San Francisco Hummer chase - The Rock

The Rock- Hummer chase

Michael Bay loves cool cars and in 1996, few motor vehicles were considered more badass by the bros of America than a Hummer. Sean Connery steals one and careens through the hilly streets of San Francisco in The Rock, which is arguably Bay’s best film. He is followed in close pursuit by none other than Nicolas Cage, who drives a yellow 1996 Ferrari F355 Spider. This chase scene has everything — pedestrians diving out of the way, a little old lady with a cane struggling to cross the street, a group of people in wheelchairs (for some reason), a construction zone, and lots of wrecked taxi cabs. It is the quintessential ridiculous car chase of Michael Bay’s career.

4. Invading Cuba - Bad Boys II

Bad Boys II

It sure as hell seems illegal for a ragtag coalition of Miami police detectives, some guys from the CIA and DEA, and the U.S. Coast Guard to unilaterally invade Cuba in pursuit of a drug kingpin. But never mind that, it’s time to lock and load so that Will Smith and Martin Lawrence can rescue Gabrielle Union. What ensues is an epic shootout in a mansion that rivals Tony Montana’s last stand in Scarface. But the best is yet to come. Smith and Lawrence seek safe haven at Guantanamo Bay, the only U.S.-controlled part of Cuba, and have a final scene in the minefield protecting Gitmo. This might be the only scene in cinema history in which two characters share a passionate kiss while surrounded by live mines.

5. The Rock grills a dead guy - Pain and Gain

Pain and Gain-Dwayne Johnson

Yes, you read that right. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s character in Pain and Gain is tasked with disposing of a corpse when his friends’ criminal scheme goes awry and in a cocaine-induced moment of poor judgment, he decides to grill the deceased’s chopped-up body parts. In the entire Bay-verse, there are few moments more shocking than watching The Rock wave at an attractive woman across the street while he uses a pair of tongs to poke at a charred human hand on a grill. What makes this outrageous scene even more insane is that Pain and Gain is based on a true story about juiced-up gym rats in Florida who commit some truly incomprehensible crimes. It seems the only thing more outrageous than Michael Bay’s imagination is Florida.

6. Yacht battle - 6 Underground

6 Underground- Ryan Reynolds

A team of vigilantes who have all faked their own deaths is led by a tech billionaire in pursuit of an evil tyrant who has sought safe haven aboard his luxurious yacht. It’s a wild premise to begin with but the use of some sort of cell phone-activated magnetic pulse weapon really ups the ante. Bodies go flying everywhere as Ryan Reynolds and friends attempt to capture the dictator. This scene has lots of gunplay, of course, but also some grenades, a bit of parkour, and it must again be stressed, a cell-phone activated magnetic pulse weapon thingy. 6 Underground is not one of Bay’s best films, but this scene alone definitely makes it worth the watch.

7. Highway chase - The Island

The Island-Scarlett Johansson & Ewan Macgregor

Two clones, played by Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, flee their lab/prison and climb aboard a tractor-trailer to escape some bad guys. Lacking any weapons or real-world skills (they are lab-created clones, you will recall), they unleash some giant dumbbell-looking things being hauled by the semi onto a highway. The dumbbell things bounce and roll about, demolishing everything in their path, including the bad guys pursuing Obi-Wan and Black Widow. Bay clearly loves car chases and with each of his films, he seeks to deliver something more insane and intense than before. In The Island, he finds a way to keep the action cranked to 11 despite having characters with no weapons or discernible skills. It’s a unique creative challenge and Bay, as always, pulls it off.