In a just world, “Pain & Gain” would prove some people wrong about Michael Bay.

People love to rag on Bay, dismissing his films as “everything that’s wrong with modern American Cinema.” And, to be fair, I’ve blasted the man’s work a fair amount, particularly his latter two “Transformers” films. He’s made some truly garbage films, there’s no denying.

But typically, those terrible films come when Bay is serving as a hired gun, working with material he doesn’t care about. (He’s said in no uncertain terms that he more or less hates the “Transformers” property.) But when he’s working with original material, material he’s invested in, he shows that he’s one of cinema’s most distinctive (if excessive) filmmakers.

Granted, that typically results a film that is beyond silly and leaves morals, logic and reality choking in its dust, but there is no denying that works such as “The Rock” and “Bad Boys II” are anything less than the visual embodiment of Bay’s cinematic id.

Which brings us to “Pain & Gain,” a film that is not only one of Bay’s best films, but one of the best crime/caper films of the last few years.

This is a perfect marriage of material and director, allowing Bay to craft a film that feels perfectly aligned with the likes of “Bad Boys” and such. It’s a true story, but the facts of it are so outrageous that I’m not quite sure how it could have been translated to the screen in an enjoyable and bearable fashion by anyone other than a director with Bay’s over-the-top sensibilities.

It tells the (mostly) true story of Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg), a fitness nut in Miami who wants nothing less than his fair share of the American Dream. He believes in putting in the hard work it takes to get a hard body, which juxtaposes ironically with his idea that he’s justified in taking millions (and a house and cars) from Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub) because the guy is a huge jerk.

To do this, he employs the help of Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackey), a fellow meathead who worships the ground Lugo walks on, and Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson), a pacifist ex-con who found God while doing prison time. Their plan is to kidnap Kershaw, coerce him to sign over his money and property while under a bit of duress, then let him loose as they enjoy his spoils.

The problem? All three of these guys are complete and utter morons, Lugo especially as he’s certain he knows what he’s doing since he’s “watched a lot of movies.” Naturally, things go horribly, horribly awry.

And when I say “horribly,” I’m not sure it can be understated just how awfully Kershaw is treated by Lugo and Dorbal. We’re talking straight up torture as they beat him, shock, starve him, and that’s before they try and steal money from another rich sleazebag (which ends with even worse results).

If this were handled by almost anyone else, these characters and their actions would be so detestable as to make the movie borderline unwatchable. But the way these guys are characterized and the way Bay shoots and edits the film makes everything feel so heightened that it becomes endlessly compelling and shockingly watchable.

It’s over-the-top, but it fits because the world Bay creates around it feels similarly exaggerated. So even as you’re being literally reminded by the movie that the madness on-screen is, in fact, a true story (at one point a caption zips on-screen to provide such an assurance), it registers on a somewhat heightened level. It’s bonkers, just utter insanity for nearly the full two hours that it rockets forward, bringing a surprising mix of comic silliness and a sense of pitch-black humor that would feel right at home in a Coen Bros. movie.

There are times when Bay comes oh-so-close to pulling off a rather brilliant satire, but I think that requires a bit more subtlety than what the man is capable of accomplishing. This is really my only substantial complaint, in that the script and Bay’s visuals often make the proceedings feel too broad when a little more nuance would have served the film for miles.

The things to truly savor about the film, though, are the performances. Wahlberg is often at his best (and seems to have more or less made his career on) playing guys who are hilariously dim yet consider themselves far more clever than they actually are. Which, of course, makes Daniel Lugo the perfect fit for his sensibilities. Lugo is a horrible person, but he’s driven wholly by his convictions that he’s in the right. You’re both repulsed by him and yet I couldn’t help but find him compelling.

It’s Johnson, though, who steals the show. The man is destined for action icon status, but it’s here that he proves he can play a character that isn’t just muscles and one-liners and attitude. Doyle is a fascinating character, compelled to adhere to his Christian convictions, but who’s mostly too stupid to not fall in with the wrong crowd and thusly slip back into his old ways. He’s a fascinating character and it is Johnson’s performance that helps to form the closest thing the film has to a heart. I so hope the man gets an iconic action role to put his name to, but if he kept landing only roles like this one, I’d be perfectly OK with that as well.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention Ed Harris’ excellent work as Ed DuBois, the private investigator Kershaw hires to help him after he’s lost everything. Harris gave a great (and dare I say nuanced) performance as Gen. Hummel in “The Rock,” and this makes him two-for-two as far as genuinely great performances in a Bay film.

If nothing else, I think “Pain & Gain” only further cements the fact that Bay is much smarter and far more aware of his cinematic image and output that many (most?) are willing to give him credit for. He’s in on the joke, as it were, he just goes for the gusto in a way that seems garish at the outset.

Call that poor filmmaking (it’s not) or what have you, one has to at least admire that he makes precisely the film he sets out to and does so in with a style and panache that remains perpetually exciting and watchable in a way that a lot of movies can only try and be.

With “Pain & Gain,” Bay has proven that he really does have more in his bag than just the desire to stage bigger and louder explosions. He’ll need a producer to reign him in a bit more and a bit better script, but I think it exists within him the capacity to be a genuinely great filmmaker beyond his typical (albeit absurdly entertaining) wheelhouse.

Grade: *FLEX*