With the highly anticipated upcoming release of legendary director Michael Bay's newest action blockbuster Ambulance, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, what better time to take a look at the iconic filmmaker's best movies according to the thousands of cinephiles at Ranker.

Related: 10 Best Movies Like Ambulance

Michael Bay is best known for his work in the action genre, specifically in the Transformers and Bad Boys franchises. But, the director has proven himself to be one of the best and most experienced filmmakers working in the action genre.

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (2011)

Optimus Prime in Transformers Dark of the Moon

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon is the third film in the Transformers trilogy. The story centers around humanity forming an ally with a bounty hunter in search of Optimus Prime and the Autobots turn to a mechanic and his family for help.

The film is directed by Michael Bay, written by series regular Ehren Kruger, and stars Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and Tyrese Gibson. Despite the Transformers franchise overstaying its welcome, fans often cite this as one of the best live-action Transformers films.

The Island (2005)

Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor in The Island

The Island is a sci-fi thriller about a man living in a futuristic sterile colony who begins to question his existence and purpose when his friend is selected to go to The Island, the last uncontaminated place on earth.

The film is directed by Bay and features an incredible cast including Scarlett Johansson, Ewan McGregor, and Djimon Hounsou. However, despite the solid cast, the film was not very well-received critically due to what was considered a formulaic plot and some rough dialogue.

Pearl Harbor (2001)

Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale in Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor is Michael Bay's historical action drama about two lifelong friends and a beautiful nurse who are caught up in the horror of an infamous Sunday morning in 1941. The film is written by Randall Wallace and has an all-star cast featuring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, and Alec Baldwin.

Related: 5 Reasons Midway Is Better Than Pearl Harbor (& 5 Pearl Harbor Is Better)

Fans of the film love it for the incredible love story that is told at the heart of the action film, making it stand out from a lot of other movies on war.

6 Underground (2019)

Ryan Reynolds on the 6 Underground poster.

6 Underground is Michael Bay's big action thriller made for Netflix, about six unique individuals that are chosen not only for their skills but for their desires to delete their pasts in order to change the future.

The film is written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the writing duo behind Deadpool and Deadpool 2 as they reunite with franchise star Ryan Reynolds for his first collaboration with legendary director Michael Bay. Some fans consider 6 Underground the definitive Michael Bay film.

Bad Boys II (2013)

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence starred as Miami police officers in Bad Boys II

Bad Boys II is the second film in the extremely successful action-comedy franchise starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The movie's about two loose-cannon narcotics officers investigating the flow of ecstasy into Florida from a Cuban drug dealer.

Related: 20 Best Action Comedies That Blend The Genres Perfectly

The film co-stars Gabrielle Union and Michael Shannon and was a commercial hit due to the hilarious chemistry between Smith and Lawrence, as well as the big action sequences the franchise is known for.

Transformers (2007)

Optimus Prime and his Transformers.

Transformers is Michael Bay's first film in the extremely popular franchise, about an ancient battle between two Cybertronian races that come to earth after a major clue about an ultimate power is unearthed by a teenager.

The film has an all-star cast featuring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Anthony Anderson, and Josh Duhamel and was incredibly successful at the box office, despite not being loved by critics. It is widely considered by fans to be one of the best Transformers movies so far.

Armageddon (1998)

Ben Affleck Armageddon

Armageddon is a sci-fi adventure film about NASA discovering an asteroid the size of Texas is going to impact earth in less than a month, so they recruit a team of misfit deep-core drillers to save the world.

The film has an absolutely incredible cast including Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, and Ben Affleck, and is written by another filmmaker known for his work in the sci-fi genre J.J. Abrams. The movie wasn't a hit critically, but fans enjoyed the over-the-top plot and big action sequences.

Bad Boys (1995)

Martin Lawrence and Will Smith looking serious in Bad Boys

Bad Boys is Michael Bay's original action-comedy about two detectives protecting the witness to a murder while investigating a case of stolen heroin from the evidence room of their precinct.

The cult classic film stars Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, and Lisa Boyle and has inspired multiple sequels and spinoffs. Fans often cite Bad Boys as one of Martin Lawrence's best movies, as they loved his extremely funny performance opposite Smith.

The Rock (1996)

Sean Connery in The Rock

The Rock is a cult classic action thriller about a chemist and an ex-con leading the counterstrike when a rogue group of military men threatens a nerve gas attack on San Francisco from Alcatraz. The film features memorable performances from some iconic actors including Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage, and Ed Harris.

The Rock is one of Bay's most iconic films due to its outstanding acting, incredible script, and jaw-dropping action sequences. It was very well received, both critically and commercially, upon release.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi (2016)

John Krasinski holding an assault rifle in 13 Hours

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers Of Benghazi is a historical action drama adaptation of Mitchell Zuckoff's novel of the same name, about a security team struggling to make sense of all the chaos as their compound is attacked in Libya. The film's screenplay was written by Chuck Hogan and stars John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, and James Badge Dale.

13 Hours is one of Bay's few historical action films, but fans seem to love it when the filmmaker sets his sights on real-life events as his subject, and 13 Hours is widely considered one of his best movies by his fans and critics.

Next: 10 Best Action Directors Of The 2010s