Transformers Producer Calls Out The Single Factor For Revenge Of The Fallen's Downfall
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was dead on arrival because of one defining factor.
Paramount Pictures found itself sitting atop a goldmine in 2007 when Michael Bay debuted "Transformers," a live-action epic based on the iconic Hasbro property. A crowd pleaser that was awarded an A CinemaScore, the picture grossed over $700 million worldwide theatrically, emerging as a valuable hit for the studio. Naturally, work began on a sequel, with Bay at the helm once again.
Calling "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" a critical misfire is an understatement, as it's widely considered one of the most disappointing projects from the 2000s. In his one-star review of the picture, veteran film critic Roger Ebert suggested prospective viewers "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" instead of buying a ticket. That's a harsh review, but one that even the film's producers might find fair. In a chat with Empire Magazine (via Readly), producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura blamed the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike for the project's shortcomings, namely its widely criticized story and dialogues. "That really screwed us up," di Bonaventura said. "The problem is you don't get to evolve your script [...] Paramount didn't have a lot of other assets at that time, so the decision was to plough forward."
In short, the production of "Revenge of the Fallen" was troubled as Bay didn't have a concrete script in place for his $200 million blockbuster, which forced the action maverick to stretch himself thin.
The chaotic writing process behind Revenge of the Fallen
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is perhaps the biggest large-scale causality from the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, which kicked off on November 5, 2007. Paramount Pictures was adamant about having a "Transformers" sequel shoot as soon as possible, which is why "Revenge of the Fallen" didn't technically have a script when pre-production kicked off. The project was rushed into production, something co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci discussed in an interview with FirstShowing months before the film's release. "We literally started breaking stories two weeks before the strike," Orci expressed, revealing that an outline for "Revenge of the Fallen" was cooked up incredibly quickly. "It was pens down the minute the strike hit. We didn't deal with Michael at all during the strike."
Kurtzman added that the sequel was "prepped" off of that initial outline, which was submitted just before the strike manifested in late 2007. The strike wrapped up in February 2008, but pre-production on the sequel was already in full force. "And the second the strike ended, it was like two months — I'm not exaggerating — two months between starting to write and day one of direction," Orci said. "So it was a crazy, crazy race to get it done."
Even director Michael Bay took a stab at writing the sequal, confirming to Variety that he wrote a 60-page script. Filming on "Revenge of the Fallen" would ultimately begin in early June 2008, mere months after the strike concluded.
Michael Bay blames Revenge of the Fallen's missteps on the strike
Criticism of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" is consistent across the board; just as producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura blamed the WGA strike, so did director Michael Bay. "When I look back at it, that was crap," he told Empire Magazine (via The Hollywood Reporter). "The writers' strike was coming hard and fast. It was just terrible to do a movie where you've got to have a story in three weeks," Bay added, echoing the race-against-the-clock sentiments expressed by co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Bay continued by pointing out that the film was prepped over a handful of months, calling the entire process a "BS way to make a movie..."
Even lead star Shia LaBeouf was critical of the sequel, saying he "wasn't impressed" with the direction the sophomore flick took. "There were some really wild stunts in it, but the heart was gone," the actor told The Associated Press (via CTV News).
But even though the final product was nothing to get excited about, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" became a box office triumph, grossing over $800 million, but positive financial receipts didn't lead to solid word of mouth. It has a 57% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and was vilified by critics, with CNN and The AV Club both labeling "Revenge of the Fallen" as one of the worst films of 2009. That said, despite a negative sophomore effort, Bay returned to direct three more "Transformers" films, finally calling it quits after 2017's "The Last Knight."