Explain Yourself: Michael Bay

Transformers had no problem breaking box office records ($155 million in seven days), thanks to a full-frontal promotional assault and crowd-pleasing, in-your-face special effects. But when a film is as unapologetically bombastic as this one is, there’s bound to be at least one detail that makes you choke on your popcorn. For us, it’s the scene in which Megatron turns into a plane and flies into a high-rise building with Optimus Prime in tow, sending office workers diving for cover. The image — uncomfortably reminiscent of Sept. 11 — drew gasps during a June 28 New York City screening. So was director Michael Bay concerned about the potentially controversial scene? ”Not at all,” he says. ”When you’re doing a fantasy movie, you can’t think like that.”