Few administrators are as devoid of subtlety as Michael Bay. He is a filmmaker who can flip any sort of scene into an motion scene and sometimes movies quieter moments like he is taking pictures a film’s climax. However whereas Bay has crafted loads of spectacular motion scenes prior to now, his newest movie is likely to be his most audacious and spectacular work to this point. It was additionally extraordinarily harmful to shoot, a lot in order that Bay was legally unable to be wherever close to the set whereas the cameras have been rolling.
Whenever you hear the phrases “A documentary by Michael Bay,” many ideas come to thoughts. Nevertheless, upon watching “We Are Storror,” you come to appreciate that, in fact, death-defying parkour daredevils who carry out outlandish stunts on the common can be the topic that captured Bay’s consideration.
There was only one tiny drawback. As a member of the Administrators Guild of America, Bay was legally certain to make sure any set he works on is risk-free, and as protected as humanly attainable. In fact, a film about individuals who bounce throughout rooftops a whole lot of toes above floor is something however risk-free.
“I mentioned, ‘I do not care to know something you are doing. I don’t approve of it. What you are doing is prohibited. That is fully flawed,'” Bay defined throughout a Q&A after the premiere of “We Are Storror” at SXSW. “I am not doing something on this. I am not a producer. I am not a director, so neglect my title, name me later, and I am going to take a look at the footage and see if I license it.”
Bay and his authorized staff spent precise years determining the way to make “We Are Storror” in a approach that would not place the director in authorized hazard ought to something go flawed (and many did). The important thing was that he wouldn’t be allowed on set or be concerned with filming in any respect. “I couldn’t be concerned in any approach, form or type,” Bay famous on the Q&A. He could not even have data of the footage till it was all shot and everybody was alive and nicely — to the purpose the place an enormous accident that occurred early on throughout filming was full information to Bay when he discovered about it a lot, a lot later.
We Are Storror is an intense motion documentary
“We Are Storror” tells the story of Storror, a YouTube parkour staff comprised of a gaggle of parkour artists from London (two units of brothers and three mates). The staff had beforehand labored with Bay on the parkour scenes in “6 Underground,” a film that has one of many worst posters of all time.
As you’d anticipate primarily based on the idea, Bay’s involvement, and Storror’s historical past of unimaginable and wild stunts, “We Are Storror” has a number of the most intense and beautiful motion stunts put to display screen in 2025. The numerous drone photographs that monitor Storror’s extremely choreographed stunts are simply as breathtakingly shot and edited as these in Bay’s thriller “Ambulance.” In the meantime, the acrobatics themselves are as visceral because the climactic climb from “Free Solo,” solely they happen each 10 minutes as an alternative of merely on the finish. When you undergo from vertigo, you should have a foul time with this film … and even when you do not, you may nonetheless go away the theater with sweaty palms and a brand new appreciation for by no means having to carry out any of those harmful stunts in your individual life.
Certainly, even with out explosions or shootouts, “We Are Storror” seems like a Michael Bay venture because of the sheer spectacle of watching these British of us defy gravity on rooftops in Malta or run with monkeys on Indian rooftops. Whether or not you are already a fan of the group or that is the primary time you are listening to about them, their globe-throttling journey is inspiring.
In We Are Storror, parkour is the chums we made alongside the best way
Along with the extreme parkour scenes, the factor that makes “We Are Storror” documentary is its poignant exploration of male bonding. Although Bay was not concerned within the precise taking pictures, he did have one massive be aware for the members of Storror: “Shoot every little thing.” That included the preparation course of for every stunt, the meticulous planning for the choreography, the dusting of the positioning so they do not encounter any surprises, the mess-ups, and their doubts. These are issues the group all the time leaves out of their YouTube movies, so to incorporate them right here made all of the distinction.
You see, the movie begins with the eponymous group working towards their newest stunt at a Portuguese dam earlier than a good friend of theirs suffers a horrifying accident. This occasion casts a shadow on the remainder of the film, as the assorted members of Storror react otherwise to this near-death expertise. In any case, they’re now not youngsters, however males of their 30s whose our bodies do not reply the identical approach to all the damage and tear. We study the sacrifices they’ve made for the group, forsaking research and different profession paths, and see the beginnings of their doubts and regrets as they understand that possibly they need not nonetheless be risking their lives for a YouTube video.
Very similar to “Jackass Eternally,” there is a melancholic vibe to “We Are Storror.” The movie is likely to be a celebration of their journey thus far, however it’s additionally a little bit of a coda to at the least one period of their profession. There is a little bit of a Peter Pan Syndrome facet to the documentary and the way these guys principally achieved their dream approach too early. Now, they should reckon with the vulnerability of maturity, the naïveté of youth, the worth of turning your pastime right into a job, and likewise the foolhardiness of harmful stunts, all of which make for poignant themes that the documentary explores with care and empathy.
Storror will proceed making movies (they’ve shot a number of within the time since this film was being edited) and Michael Bay will proceed making massive, ridiculous movies. Nonetheless, “We Are Storror” reveals a distinct facet of each creatives that I want we may see extra of sooner or later.
