Michael Bay, the director of such big-screen blockbusters such as “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor,” and the “Transformers” movies has become the latest Hollywood A-lister to make the leap to Netflix. Bay’s first project for the live streaming service is called “Six Underground.” The premise of the film is that six billionaires fake their own deaths and form a group dedicated to taking down bad guys. The movie will star Ryan Reynolds, best known for playing the title character in the “Deadpool” films. Screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, who previously wrote “Deadpool,” have written the script.

“Six Underground” is due to go before the cameras in the summer for a 2019 release. The budget is a cool $150 million.

Michael Bay is master of the excess

Michael Bay is if he is anything, the master of excess. In “Armageddon,” for example. Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck saving the world from a giant asteroid “the size of Texas” is a story in which the laws of physics had to bend to the plot. The several “Transformers” movies were based around a group of giant, alien robots that could disguise themselves as cars and trucks before assuming their true form to trash entire cities in epic battles in which mere humans were like ants in danger of getting stomped. Thus, we can expect more of the same in “Six Underground.”

Ryan Reynolds to headline the movie

Ryan Reynolds is most famous as Deadpool, the Marvel Comics superhero known as “the Merc with the Mouth,” who patters snarky dialogue, even addressing the audience through the fourth wall, as he deals death and mayhem to evil doers.

He seems to be a good fit to play someone in something like “Six Underground.”

Second blockbuster for Netflix

Mind, the premise of the film seems to be something that regular studios found too implausible, which, coming from the imagination of Michael Bay, is saying something. One is reminded that Bruce Wayne, another billionaire who fights evil, dresses up in a costume and spends money on gadgets to get by.

Nevertheless, it looks like “Six Underground” is a good fit for Netflix. The live streaming service’s last foray into blockbusters was the fantasy buddy cop show crossover called “Bright” which starred Will Smith as an LA police detective who fights magical crime in an alternate universe where humans share the Earth with creatures such as elves and orcs.

Netflix spent $90 million on “Bright” and, even though the critics panned it, the movie apparently did well enough with the audience to cause a sequel to be greenlit. No doubt, Netflix imagines “Six Underground” as another movie franchise.
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