The Only Movie Stephen King Ever Walked Out Of Was Directed By Michael Bay

When Travis Knight's "Bumblebee" was released in 2018, it was almost unanimously hailed as a breath of fresh air, a sort of watershed moment for the "Transformers movies (a blockbuster franchise that had begun to run out of steam). It is rare for the sixth installment in a property to elicit such reactions, but "Bumblebee" proved that a fundamentally silly franchise like "Transformers" could cut the cake and eat it too, with meaningful, grounded charm going hand in hand with the flashy thrills that the "Transformers" movies are known for. The first Michael Bay-directed "Transformers" films that came before this had set a very different precedent when it came to quality, yet they all have a few things in common: they're pulpy, tonally inconsistent, feature jokes that haven't aged well, and elicit divisive responses among longtime fans of the property.

Regardless of how you feel about Bay's first "Transformers" film, however, Stephen King does not like it, not even a little. In a response to a tweet by crime novelist Linwood Barclay — who stated that "Jurassic World Dominion" was the first movie he ever walked out of — King tweeted the following about Bay's 2007 "Transformers:"

"I have walked out of only one movie as an adult: TRANSFORMERS. Would like to know what other movies people have walked out on."

Although King did not offer any clarifications regarding his statement, it is not tough to gauge why someone would walk out of "Transformers," despite the film being relatively well-liked (at least when compared to the other Bay-helmed entries in the franchise). There is an argument to be made in favor of this particular film, too, a chunk of which is invariably tied to nostalgia and its impressive use of digital VFX on the big screen. Of course, there are other parts of "Transformers" that have decidedly not gotten better over time, and never will.

"Transformers" has its high points, most of which can be attributed to the central battle between the Transformers and the Decepticons (if you have an affinity for long-winded CGI battles) and the rocky relationship shared between human leads Sam (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela (Megan Fox). Most of the wonder inherent to the film, if any, stems from the robots-in-disguise themselves, be it Bumblebee or Optimus Prime, and a haphazard mixture of nonsense, mindless fun, and split-second tender moments that almost work even as the movie continues to prioritize sweeping style over any kind of substance. This is not a bad thing at all, especially when it comes to a Michael Bay joint — a case in point being the delightfully gonzo Bayhem in "Ambulance," where the un-seriousness is part of the reason why it's so good.

However, "Transformers" is no "Ambulance," and some of its flaws are so glaring that they're difficult to gloss over, even when you're having fun with the rest of the film. The misogynistic framing of Mikaela — insistent and ever-present, and impossible to divorce from how she's fleshed out — haunts every scene she is in, and some of the humor in the film comes at the cost of her integrity as a lead. You can divert your attention to some of the better aspects, such as John Turturro's Agent Simmons or Josh Duhamel's (rather flavorless) character Captain Lennox, but is that enough? Well, that boils down purely to personal opinion and how willing you are to focus on the authentic simplicity of a good versus evil storyline that retains its charm on some level.

I believe that "Transformers," although inconsistent and flawed, is ultimately a much more coherent and enjoyable experience than, say, Bay's first sequel, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," which is pure cacophonous nonsense. The less we speak about the latter, the better.