Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (film)
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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the first of two planned sequels to Transformers. It was released in North America on June 24, 2009.
- Japanese title: Transformers: Revenge
- French title: Transformers 2: La Revanche (Transformers 2: The Revenge)
- German title: Transformers: Die Rache (Transformers: The Revenge)
- Polish title: Transformers: Zemsta Upadłych (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, except the word "Fallen" is a plural.)
- Italian title: Transformers 2: La Vendetta Del Caduto (Transformers 2: The Revenge Of The Fallen)
- Serbian title: Transformers 2: Najveće govno ikada (Transformers 2: The Revenge Of The Fallen)
- Spanish title: Transformers: la Venganza de los Caidos
- Russian title: Transformery: Mest' Padshikh, cyrillic: Трансформеры: Месть падших (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, except the word "Fallen" is a plural, like in Polish version.)
Main cast
 Plot details for Revenge of the Fallen (film) follow. |
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
Technical details
Short synopsis
The Autobots have found a home in "NEST", a secret military unit created to seek out and eliminate the remaining Decepticons. All is not well, however. Unbeknownst to them, Soundwave is in orbit, coordinating the Decepticon counterstrike. After Ravage steals the Allspark shard from NEST, a team of Constructicons and The Doctor journey to the bottom of the ocean and use it revive Megatron. The Decepticon leader journeys to the crashed Nemesis, rebukes Starscream, and meets with his master, The Fallen.
The Fallen explains that he had constructed a Solar Harvester on Earth, in violation of the Primes' code to never harm an inhabited planet. The Primes turned on him, banished and imprisoned him. However the Harvester still stands, and only one Prime remains. If Megatron destroys Optimus Prime, The Fallen will be freed to activate the Harvester, which will kill off the humans and provide the Decepticons with enough energon to raise an army. Megatron eagerly agrees, and returns to Earth with a vengeance.
It transpires that the location of the Harvester is hidden within Sam Witwicky, who absorbed the knowledge from another Allspark fragment. The Decepticons begin an all-out war across the Earth as they hunt down the human, and the Autobots and NEST are blamed for the ensuing carnage. Witwicky goes to ground, and must turn to unlikely allies in the race to find a solution. Ultimately, the last of the Primes defeats The Fallen, destroys the Harvester, and proves the Transformers' greatest power is found in their unexpectedly-ancient alliance with the humans.
Full synopsis
Quotes
"Ding-a-ling, come out an' get yo' ice cream. Any bad robot out there better get ready for an ass-whoopin'."
- — Skids and Mudflap speaking their first line in the movie as the ice cream truck.
"Sam, fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."
- — Optimus Prime
"Need parts. Kill ze little one!"
- — Scalpel instructs the Constructicons to kill one of their own, which they so happily oblige.
"Starscream, I'm home!"
- — Megatron. And the fangirls go wild!
"I know you’re pissed-I know you’re pissed, I tried to kill you, right? It’s totally understandable. I mean, if you tried to kill me, I’d be pissed, too."
- — Sam Witwicky tries to relate with Megatron.
"Is the fate of our race not worth one human life?"
"You'd never stop at just one. I'll take you all on!"
- — Megatron tries to justify killing Sam, but Optimus Prime disapproves based on the potato chip theory. Beatdown ensues.
"What planet am I on?"
"Earth."
"Earth? Terrible name for a planet. Might as well call it Dirt. Planet Dirt."
- — Jetfire asks Simmons where he is, only to have negative thoughts.
"You know what my father was? A wheel! The first wheel! And you know what he transformed into? NOTHING! But he did so with honor! Dignity!"
- — Jetfire tells a story.
"Beginning. Middle. End. Facts. Details. Condense. Plot. Tell it."
- — Simmons demands more coherent exposition from Jetfire.
"Lemme show ya how we brought the pain in my day!!"
- —Jetfire enters the fray to show us young whippersnappers how it's really done.
"One man, alone, abandoned by the country he loves."
- — Agent Simmons being, well, Agent Simmons as he bravely charges off to lure the Decepticons away.
"GIVE ME YOUR FACE."
- —Optimus Prime warns The Fallen of his violent fetish.
"Not to call you a coward, master, but, sometimes, cowards do survive."
- — Starscream pitches his usual battle plan to an unusually receptive Megatron.
Production staff
- Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman recruited Ehren Kruger to help them write the screenplay. Michael Bay and producers Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura also returned.[1]
Visual effects
Locations department
Prequel material
Titan Magazines Transformers movie comics
While the Decepticons were disgusted with the pro-Autobot propaganda of Bay's first documentary #13's Star Screams, they're quite optimistic about the second film. Starscream has taken a strong interest in it, going to the trouble of personally convincing Soundwave to be in the film 15's Star Screams.
The Decepticons promise this new documentary will show a glorious Decepticon victory #10's Star Screams - whether it's in the script or not. #18's Star Screams
Shockingly, even they are under a non-disclosure agreement regarding the script; Starscream fearfully refers to a greater power keeping him quiet. #22's Star Screams Talking about it could even undermine the Decepticon war effort! #23's Star Screams
In the same week the film came out, the Decepticons suddenly became unhappy with it and the detente period ended. Bay, Kurtzman, and Orci are once again marked for extermination for their propaganda films. #1's Law and Disorder
IDW Transformers movie comics
Adaptations
- Main article: Revenge of the Fallen Movie Adaptation
Children's adaptations
Sequels
Soundtrack
- Main article: Revenge of the Fallen: The Soundtrack
Score
- Main article: Revenge of the Fallen: The Score
- Linkin Park and Hans Zimmer worked with Steve Jablonsky on the score of the movie. Linkin Park also wrote a song, called "New Divide". It was one of the theme songs for the movie, and they did several interpretations on that theme. [2]
DVD release
Theatrical posters
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Teaser poster -
Theatrical poster -
International poster -
Prime poster -
Bumblebee poster -
Wait...Starscream gets a poster but Megatron doesn't? That's just wrong.
Reception
In the week leading up to the United States release, while the film had been released in Japan and the United Kingdom, Revenge of the Fallen was ranking 38% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.com. As American reviews were added into the ranking on June 24, the movie's freshness slipped slowly to 22%. RottenTomatoes.com's consensus was that "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a noisy, underplotted, and overlong special effects extravaganza that lacks a human touch." Roger Ebert, who gave the movie one star, remarked that "if you want to save yourself the ticket price, go into the kitchen, cue up a male choir singing the music of hell, and get a kid to start banging pots and pans together." [3] Todd Gilchrist of Cinematical.com said Michael Bay "has exceeded even the possibilities of sequel-driven 'moreness,' combining his own muscular, high-gloss sensibility with the conventions of blockbusters past, present, and probably future to create a monolithic action masterpiece that feels destined to be the biggest movie of all time." [4] Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune said "the first, comparatively lucid Transformers was a headache, but I sort of enjoyed it....Revenge of the Fallen is more like listening to rocks in a clothes dryer for 2½ hours." [5] Roger Ebert went back for more in a second article, declaring not only that Revenge of the Fallen was awful, but that it'd ruined action films FOREVER. [6]
Despite the overwhelmingly negative reviews, Revenge of the Fallen poised itself quickly as a blockbuster maelstrom. It grossed $16 million in its opening midnight showings alone, an all-time record for Wednesday openings and a second-best for openings on any day of the week behind The Dark Knight. After the full Wednesday was over, Revenge of the Fallen had grossed $55 million in domestic ticket sales, surpassing the previous Wednesday release record, held by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by over $10 million. [7] By the end of the first five days, Revenge of the Fallen had taken an estimated $201.2 million in the United States, just shy of The Dark Knight's record $203.8 million 5-day US total. In the same period, international markets took in $186.1 million, bringing the 5-day worldwide total to $387.3 million.[8]
Trivia
- The official title of the film is Revenge of the Fallen (with a lower-case "t" in "the") even though it is apparently referring to The Fallen (with a capital "T" in "The").
- Leo's room features posters for Naruto, Cloverfield, and Bad Boys 2.
- During the scenes set in and around the deli in NYC, posters for the bands Catch Twenty-Two and Voodoo Glow Skulls are prominently featured.
- Frank Welker dubbed Soundwave not only in English but also in Italian, as a result, in the Italian edition of the movie Soundwave speaks with a strange, foreign accent.
Transformers references
In addition to carryovers from the previous film, various concepts and characters are derived from previous iterations of Transformers:
- The whole concept of "Transformers disguised as a human" used for Alice is inspired by the Pretenders. Roberto Orci even used the term "Pretender" during an interview before the movie release. However, a Transformer with an "organic" alt-mode instead of an external shell is a concept more reminiscent of the Beast Era.
- The Generation 1 iteration of Jetfire is frequently portrayed as switching from Decepticon to Autobot (he's usually a young and technologically up-to-the-minute 'bot, however.)
- Soundwave and his ejectible minion Ravage both have Generation 1 counterparts. Movie Soundwave even has the same voice actor as 1984 cartoon Soundwave, using the same voice, though without the synthetic vocal processing that made the cartoon voice so distinctive.
- Sideswipe bears little physical resemblance to his Generation 1 namesake, but is a vaguely similar character archetype, and he does have that characteristic door armor hanging from his elbows.
- Generation 1 Arcee was the first female Transformer with a starring role, and was likewise a pink-colored girlbot. The idea of Arcee the pink girlbot as a motorcycle dates back to Energon.
- Devastator, the combined form of the Constructicon, was the first combiner robot in Generation 1.
- The characters are new, but the names "Mudflap", "Skids", "Jolt", "Rampage" and "Wheelie" are not. Likewise for the concept of "Seekers".
- Prime dying and coming back to life has been done times beyond counting.
- Prime combining with another 'bot to increase his power (and often gain flight capabilities) is a trope that has occurred in many recent Transformers series (Robots in Disguise, Armada, Energon, Cybertron.) In Armada, a different Jetfire was his most frequent combination partner. This is the first time the other 'bot had to die for it to happen, though.
- The Fallen is based on a comic book character that made his debut in the 2004 miniseries The War Within: The Dark Ages. In fact, according to Hasbro, he is the exact same character!
- The Matrix of Leadership is one of the franchise's oldest MacGuffins.
- Energon (mentioned though never seen) is the Transformers' power source in numerous incarnations, beginning with the original cartoon.
- Though it is almost certainly not an actual reference (it's a pretty generic and predictable sci-fi trope), the solar harvester is quite similar in function to the Solar Needle from the Generation 1 episode "Changing Gears", sucking energy from the Sun to produce energon. Both devices would have destroyed the Sun if allowed to fulfill their function.
- The same is true for Sam having Cybertronian knowledge pumped directly into his brain via a sacred Transformer talisman, which is reminiscent of Buster Witwicky's similar situation in the Marvel G1 comics.
Development details
Cast and crew signing on
On may 30, 2007, a month before the official release of Transformers, DreamWorks announced that two sequels were already being planned.[9] Megan Fox had already been confirmed for the first of those sequels twelve days eaerlier[10], while Shia LaBeouf had already confirmed his participation in an–at that time still theoretical–sequel in November 2006.[11] Director Michael Bay, meanwhile, only once briefly questioned his involvement in a sequel in August 2007, when Paramount Pictures announced that Transformers would be released on HD DVD, but not on Blu-ray Disc.[12] Bay quickly changed his mind, however, and Paramount would later release the first movie on Blu-ray anyway, after the HD DVD had been abandoned.
In September of 2007, Paramount officially announced the first sequel for June 2009.[13] Bay was given a budget of $200 million, and ultimately managed to come in $4 million below that.[14]
The Transformers screenwriters, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, initially hesitated writing the sequel, but ultimately had a change of mind.[15] In October 2007, Ehren Kruger was confirmed as a third writer, who, according to Kurtzman, brought in a "fresh perspective"[16], and who reportedly impressed both director Michael Bay and Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner with his knowledge of Transformers mythology.[17] For the movie, orci and Kurtzman searched the various Transformers comics and cartoons for "the most elemental bad guy", and eventually found one in The Fallen.[15]
In addition to that, they wanted to include many things in the sequel that hadn't made it into the first movie, including the Decepticon Soundwave. Likewise, the Matrix of Leadership had initially been intended to be used in the first movie, but for fear of confusion with the Matrix movies, the cube had been renamed into All Spark. In return, the Matrix in Revenge of the Fallen bears more resemblance to the Generation 1 Matrix.
- In an interview with BANG! Showbiz, Shia LeBouf stated that the injuries he suffered in his recent vehicular collision were written into the script and did not adversely affect the filming schedule.[18]
- Also on January 29, 2009, Simon Furman commented on MTV Movie Blog about how the Dinobots wouldn't fit very well into the movie's universe, and that he is glad they were dropped from the cast very early in development.[19]
- Michael Bay stated in interview with The Collider that he obtained permission to film in Egypt by contacting Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's council of antiquities, who turned out to be a fan of the 2007 Transformers movie.[20]
- In an interview with Sci Fi Wire on March 31st, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman said they had looked through the comics and cartoons for the "most elemental bad guy" that "jumped off the material" and found that in the Fallen. They also stated that due to production necessities (Hasbro and Bay needing characters for scenes and design to begin as soon as possible) and the 2008-2009 Writers Strike, some characters were in their initial treatment while others were designed specifically for the movie production, and that due to the overall numbers of robots, the audience would not get to know all of the Transformers closely. Indeed, Orci and Kurtzman referred to some characters via descriptors such "Volt" (Jolt) and "Wheelbot" (Demolishor). They also confirmed that Nimoy was open to playing the Fallen if the role was offered, and that they were in the middle of hashing it out with Frank Welker over a role in the movie, but the final decision was down to Bay.[21]
- On the MTV Movies blog, Michael Bay reported that they were still doing for the voices for the film, and that he was (jokingly) nervous of asking his relative Leonard Nimoy if he wanted to voice The Fallen in the movie for fear of offending him with the relatively low pay allotted to voice actors.[22]
- In a June 22nd article in Forbes (released online on June 4th), Michael Bay talked about his philosphy in movie-making, his demand of part-ownership of movies he makes, and the revelation that he receives an 8% cut of all toy sales from the Transformers movies.[23]
- On June 8th, 2009, the movie had its world premiere in Japan. Michael Bay, Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Isabel Lucas and Ramon Rodriguez attended.[24]. Other countries such as South Korea[25], the United Kingdom and Germany followed over the course of the next few days.
Disinformation
- Michael Bay has claimed that the studio is putting out deliberate misinformation, to obscure real leaks.[26] (Like our jobs weren't hard enough.)
- During San Diego Comic-Con 2008, in an interview on July 25th, Simon Furman claimed that the film would feature a character called The Fallen, which was a character they created for Dreamwave's The War Within: The Dark Ages[27] Three days later, IDW Publishing writer Chris Mowry corroborated the claim in an interview with MTV Splash Page, calling "The Fallen" the main villain of Revenge (Arcee was also confirmed in the same interview, but the reference to her was mysteriously removed shortly after publication). [28] Less than a week after this, however, Michael Bay reiterated that everything leaked thus far is part of their misinformation campaign and that only a handful of people involved with the production of Revenge have seen the script, contradicting IDW's interviews where their representatives confirm that they have the script. Additionally, Bay claimed the only truth about the film was Sam going to college.[29] Curiously, on August 5th 2008, after a fan posted on Michael Bay's forum pointing out the contradiction, all references to the Fallen were removed from the aforementioned interviews, as well as any references to IDW Publishing having the script.
- Empire magazine's February 2009 issue features information on the role of the Egyptian Pyramids in the Movieverse's backstory. Michael Bay also confirmed The Fallen and denied Megatron would be resurrected (this later turned out to be untrue). Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics resembling helicopters will be revealed to be depictions of Transformers who visited Earth before the pyramids were built.[30]
- After a short and poorly excuted "misinformation campaign" on the part of Michael Bay, Paramount and their licensees where they claimed that Megatron was not in the movie despite all officially released evidence to the contrary (including Megatron's brief appearance in the February 1 Superbowl tv spot and the February teaser trailer), Roberto Orci confirmed that Megatron does indeed return.[31]
- On March 6, due to the reports of Weaving's return, Michael Bay finally admitted Megatron was back, but claimed that Megatron would only appear briefly in a flashback to the past, despite the fact Megatron can be seen pinning Sam Witwicky to the ground in Revenge's tv spot and teaser trailer. One can assume that the director was trying to salvage some form of audience surprise in seeing Megatron return in the movie. In other news of a presumably legitimate kind, Bay said that the movie would go into the distant past and explain the history of the Primes.[32]
Errors
- Bumblebee picks up Sam at a frat party in the evening. He then takes him to a graveyard where it's daytime.
- During Sam's campus freakout, when he drops his notes on the steps, a blonde woman in a suit can be seen coming down the steps to his left, nearly reaching him. However, when the camera angle shifts, the woman is suddenly at the top of the stairs again.
- On the sonar, there are "five contacts" diving down to Megatron's location, and "six contacts" going up after his resurrection. Since one Constructicon was killed to repair Megatron, shouldn't there be only five contacts going up as well? Keep in mind, Scalpel is too small to register on sonar, but Ravage is just large enough.
- When the USS Theodore Roosevelt is sunk by Decepticon transition forms, the hull number of 74 can clearly be seen.[citation needed] CVN-74 belongs to the USS John C. Stennis, a carrier that shows up later in the film and was also the carrier used for filming.
- Simmons has Frenzy's head in a glass case, but Frenzy's head was shattered completely in the previous film.
- When Jetfire is activated at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (actually the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex of the Smithsonian) in Washington, he leaves the exhibition center and exits into the desert location of the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (aka The Boneyard), which is in Tuscon, Arizona. When Jetfire breaks out of the building, we can see a composited image of the Boneyard's rows of planes, so it's arguable that in this universe the middle of Washington DC happens to be a desert full of old planes, and no buildings and uh... heh heh. Given that this and the Transformers are the only changes between this universe and ours, that's a stretch.
External links
- Dreamworks/Paramount's Transformers Movie website
- Hasbro's Transformers homepage
- Interview with Michael Bay 02/09/2009 — Collider.com
References
- ↑ Transformers 2 Writers Confirmed
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Roger Ebert's Revenge of the Fallen review on RogerEbert.com
- ↑ Review: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen on Cinematical.com
- ↑ 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' stars Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel on chicagotribune.com
- ↑ "The Fall of the Revengers" on suntimes.com
- ↑ 'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen' Breaks Wednesday Box-Office Record on MTV.com
- ↑ BoxOfficeMojo.com - Weekend Report: ‘Revenge of the Fallen' Rises with Optimal Debut, June 28, 2009
- ↑ Digital Spy article from May 2007, confirming that two sequels were being planned
- ↑ MTV confirming Megan Fox for the sequel
- ↑ Rebecca Murray: Interview with Shia LaBeouf from 2006, confirming his participation in a theoretical sequel
- ↑ One of many sites reporting Michael Bay's announcement that he would not direct the sequel if the first movie wouldn't be released on Blu-ray. Bay deleted his original post after changing his mind.
- ↑ Variety reporting Paramount's official announcement of the first sequel
- ↑ Michael Bay talking the Transformers sequel at ShoWest“
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman talking to Sci Fi Wire.
- ↑ Another interview with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci
- ↑ Zap2it story about the ROTF writers
- ↑ The List 1 August 2008
- ↑ MTV Movie Blog interview with Simon Furman, January 29, 2009.
- ↑ The Collider article and video interview with Michael Bay, February 9, 2009
- ↑ SciFi Wire March 2009 interview with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman
- ↑ Michael Bay Afraid To Offend Leonard Nimoy With ‘Transformers’ Family Reunion Offer, MTV.com Movies blog, April 21, 2009
- ↑ Michael Bay article on Forbes.com June 4, 2009
- ↑ Japanese Premiere photos at Michael Bay.com, June 8, 2009
- ↑ Korean Premiere photos at Michael Bay.com, June 9, 2009
- ↑ Michael Bay Plays Internet Punk'd
- ↑ Simon Furman confirms The Fallen is a character in an interview with Comic Book Resources
- ↑ MTV Splash Page interviews Chris Mowry
- ↑ A post made by Michael Bay on his forum
- ↑ Empire article entitled "20 to watch in 2009", written by Nick de Semelyn, dated February 2009, pages 68 and 69, issue 236
- ↑ Roberto Orci confirms Megatron's return on TFW2005.com - February 22, 2009
- ↑ Michael Bay on his forum - March 6, 2009
