Critics have rubbished Transformers: Age of Extinction as too long – it clocks in at nearly three hours – but its director Michael Bay prefers to label it "a real epic".
“I never read critics, they can say whatever they want. It’s all about the fans. I think it’s a real epic movie,” says Bay, 49, who has directed all four instalments of the popular franchise, about huge robots that turn into cars.
Known for big-budget action movies such as Pearl Harbor (2001) and Armageddon (1998), Bay said that bringing the film, which involved the collaboration of 4,000 people, to the big screen was a challenge.
“It is a very, very complicated movie,” he said.
The cast, which includes Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci and Nicola Peltz, turned up in Hong Kong for the movie’s world premiere.
The city provided the spectacular backdrop for much of the film, which depicts the latest scuffle in the eternal battle between the Autobots (the good Transformers) and the antagonist Decepticons.
Bay added that he gets the greatest satisfaction from the series – which has grossed billions of dollars at the box office – travelling the world meeting fans. “We just were in China, we were in New York, there are fans around the world for this franchise,” Bay said.
The director, known for his trademark blockbusters, did not rule out the possibility of getting behind the camera for a fifth instalment of Transformers, which was originally based on the popular children's toys.
Bay said he was “sure they are going to keep making them; I don’t know if I am. You never know”.
