Recently, the fourth installment of the juggernaut “Transformers” film franchise hit theaters.

Box office predictions for the film are firmly planted about the $100 million opening weekend mark, and much to the protest of many film critics, the franchise is on track to repeat the massive success of its first three films. I was lucky enough to see an early screening of the film, and while my opinion of the film is quite a bit more positive than many professional film critics’, I wouldn’t dare call “Age of Extinction” a “good” film. However, I still had fun while watching it, just as I had fun while watching the other three films in the series. I don’t partake in the belief that every film should be held to the same standard, just as I don’t believe that I should be comparing a five-star New York restaurant to that delicious barbecue place around the corner. The “Transformers” films are successful for a reason, and that reason certainly isn’t because critics are garnishing the film with praise.

So why are so many moviegoers willing to partake in two and a half hours of endless robotic carnage? Well, because they’re fun. Michael Bay has repeatedly proven that he is a master of cool. His cinematography has never won any awards, but it has won the attention of millions of people in theaters around the world. His plots aren’t awe-inspiring, and it would be a stretch to call his films beautiful, but his films are undoubtedly cool. He left his initial mark on American popular culture in 1996 with “The Rock,” brought astronauts and Aerosmith back into the mainstream with “Armageddon,” and singlehandedly began the trend of 1980s cartoon-to-live action film adaptations with the first “Transformers.” He has yet to make a critically successful film, but that doesn’t seem to phase him. Bay can command an audience like very few directors out there, and a large part of that is likely due to his refusal to mature as a filmmaker.

Bay regularly acknowledges that most of his films are designed to please teens and children, and I have a hard time criticizing him for intentionally appealing to his target audience. When I saw “Armageddon,” I had little interest in seeing the emotional side of a group of miners being shot into space to blow up an asteroid. I just wanted to see explosions and destruction on a massive scale.

The same can be said for my wanting to see “Transformers.” I didn’t care about the lore of the Transformers universe, nor did I care about the awkwardly written dialogue between the human characters. I just wanted fast cars and slow-motion robots. I can safely say that Bay has yet to disappoint the teenager (with rather low standards) that still resides in me.

Now, I’m not saying that the critics are wrong about Michael Bay’s films. In fact, Bay regularly over-delivers on the promises he makes to audiences, turning many of his films into a barrage of visual effects and sweeping camera shots that can become unbearable for anyone who wants more out of the cinematic experience. Still, Bay has solidified himself as a director who regularly draws huge amounts of people into theaters thanks to his ability to stay consistent, even if his films are consistently sub-par.

I can still enjoy his films because I have grown to expect nothing less than an onslaught of violence and forced humor from his work. Audiences, it seems, have also grown accustomed to his “more is more” style of filmmaking. Returning to the food analogy, I view Bay as the “hole-in-the-wall” restaurant that serves heaps of buttery mashed potatoes along with diabetes-inducing entrées. I don’t want to consume his media every day for the rest of my life, as it would probably kill me, but there is something undoubtedly alluring about a filmmaker who doesn’t want to show restraint in any form. Do the “Transformers” films have far too much on their plates? Absolutely, but some people enjoy a good old smorgasbord every now and then, regardless of what the Yelp reviews say.