VH1 wrote:'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen' Gets The 'Spoilers' Treatment

'It's full throttle!' actor Tyrese Gibson says of sequel.

On Saturday night, during MTV's sneak-peak-palooza "Spoilers," we brought you an inside look at the set of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." Why? Because you deserve it! And also, our footage was too ridiculously awesome not to share with the world.

When you witness director Michael Bay's production firsthand — before he slathers on all those fancy CGI effects and delivers a polished cinematic adventure — you realize the utter craziness of undertaking a film on this scale. Watch the video for yourselves. Cars hurtle wildly through the air. Helicopters crash nose-first into the desert. Jet planes roar off of aircraft carriers. And stuntmen get tossed around like candy in a gumball machine, except with explosions. Lots and lots of explosions.

As co-star Josh Duhamel said, "Mr. Bay doesn't do anything small. It's gonna be bigger and badder and cooler."

Did we mention there are explosions?

But hey, there's also an actual story line taking place in this franchise sequel. "Sam's just saved the world," Shia LaBeouf said, explaining the situation in which his character finds himself at the beginning. "He's not interested in being a hero. He wants to have a normal life. He wants to go to college and experience the world. And he can't because we're in the middle at war. "

The whole Autobot/Decepticon battle royale over mysterious secrets hidden somewhere on Earth isn't just getting in the way of Sam's higher education — it's also screwing with his love life. And when your love life involves Megan Fox, that just ain't cool. Fox, who plays Sam's girlfriend Mikaela, gave us the lowdown on what happens once she enters into the story. "I go to meet him at college and we get swept up into this world war with the robots and it takes us all over the place."

From Shanghai to the Egyptian temples, "Revenge of the Fallen" will indeed span the globe, and it will do so with even higher production values and with a much darker tone than the 2007 original. This is a Michael Bay popcorn flick, after all — what did you expect?

We'll give co-star Tyrese Gibson the final word: "This is 'Transformers' baby — the second round! It's full throttle!"

VH1 wrote:Cars hurtle wildly through the air. Helicopters crash nose-first into the desert. Jet planes roar off of aircraft carriers. And stuntmen get tossed around like candy in a gumball machine, except with explosions. Lots and lots of explosions.

VH1 wrote:The Five 'Transformers: Revenge Of the Fallen' Robots We Can't Wait To Meet

There are a lot of newbies in the mix — but we can't forget Optimus Prime.

When MTV News recently assembled a few hundred super-geeks to serve as an audience for our latest "Spoilers" TV special, they were thrilled to watch "Watchmen," eager to travel to the "Land of the Lost," crazy about "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and psyched for "Star Trek."

But make no mistake: The never-before-seen featurette that was met with the most frenzied fury belonged to "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

Ever since the mind-blowing concept of aliens-disguised-as-automobiles first burst onto the scene in 1984, kids around the world have expected any decent toy car to unfold, twist and shift into a die-cast robot with a bazooka for an arm. That whir, whir, whir sound effect? Well, if you don't know it by heart, then you might as well turn in your child-of-the-late-20th-century ID badge.

Based on trailers, the Super Bowl ad and other released footage, our Autobot-loving staff has compiled our list of the top five Transformers who'll be wrecking and/or saving Shia's day June 24:

5. Ravage
It typically gets one or two quick shots in the "Revenge" trailers, but this evil jaguar-like robot looks to be a scene-stealer. There's something undeniably cool about animal-based Transformers, and much as Skorpinok became a breakout in the first "Transformers," look for every kid (and 40-year-old virgin) near you to soon be playing with a Ravage figure.

4. Optimus Prime
Who are we kidding? Few of the new characters could hope to compare to the tough-talking truck leader of the Autobots. Although Prime takes some tough hits in "Revenge," he's still likely to emerge as the fan favorite.

3. Arcee
I know what you're thinking: "The 2007 'Transformers' movie was awesome, but I'm concerned about Bumblebee's dating life." Well, don't worry, friend, because Michael Bay has heard your concerns. Despite lacking any semblance of male or female reproductive organs, Arcee will become the first official "female" Transformer in the live-action series and could bring in a story line that had the pink Autobot getting friendly with the yellow breakout from the first flick. Let's just hope Bay keeps their love scenes PG and saves the "13" parts for Megan Fox.

2. The Fallen
Like Judas was to Jesus — if you could compare a fictional transforming alien robot to a biblical character without coming across as mildly blasphemous. One of the original Transformers, he betrays his creator and ends up becoming one of the most powerful among their ranks. The apocalyptic character's revenge is a central theme in the new flick.

1. The Devastator
From the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to the giant Gingerbread Man in "Shrek 2," movies have repeatedly taught us one thing: If something is cool, it's a whole lot cooler when it's enormous. Devastator is a massive Decepticon who stands roughly 120 feet tall and comes about when six Constructicons combine. At full force, with Michael Bay behind the camera, Devastator promises to be so huge that he'll make Optimus Prime look like Optimus Petite Filet.

VH1 wrote:Michael Bay Reveals 'Transformers' Details
'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' director spills on Devastator in IMAX, car chases and Megan Fox.

If you were to say that "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was the most-anticipated film of 2009, you likely wouldn't get much of an argument. But for such a high-profile movie, it's amazing how little we actually know about the blockbuster, due June 24.

Until now, that is.

With an enormous Bumblebee standing guard outside the entrance of the Paris Las Vegas hotel and casino, Michael Bay strode into a recent exclusive interview with MTV and began by venting about the Autobot whose performance disappointed him so much that he killed it. From there, things got even more spoiler-iffic.

"There's no car chase in this movie," the director began, speaking possible heresy for a film about sleek automobiles. "There's a lot of different types of action. In some movies, it's the same action throughout the entire movie. There's a lot of different types of action in this one, and that makes it interesting."

Another interesting element of the "Transformers" sequel is its preference of IMAX technology over the currently-in-vogue 3-D. Bay shot down rumors that the upcoming movie would be three-dimensional and instead revealed that one of the three scenes he shot with the big-screen technology will focus on the biggest of all Transformers.

"You will see Devastator in IMAX," Bay said of the massive Decepticon, glimpsed in the trailer and formed when several Decepticons come together. "You heard it here first."

"[Several scenes] are going to be on IMAX, which is awesome," Bay explained. "Some of our main scenes were shot with IMAX cameras, so the screen will pop wide [if you see the film in an IMAX theater]. It's the first movie to do serious digital effects in IMAX quality."

And if the thought of Devastator in IMAX doesn't have you already setting aside 10 bucks for a "Revenge of the Fallen" ticket, we also asked Bay about his other eye-popping special effect: Megan Fox.

"[Wait until you see] the very first shot in the movie," he replied when we asked whether Megan gets a moment as memorable as her hood-opening flirtation with Bay's lingering camera in the first film. "You'll see."

"It's better," he said of Fox's sexy re-introduction in the sequel. "[While filming] I was at a gas station buying ice cream bars, and these 15-year-old boys were looking at me. They were like, 'You're that dude that directed "Transformers"!' And I'm like, 'Yeah. Do you want to see "Transformers 2"? They were like, 'Yeah!' "

"I said, 'Why do you want to see it?' And together, in unison, they said, 'The hot chick!' " Michael Bay laughed. "It will be a good shot for them."

I was at a gas station buying ice cream bars, and these 15-year-old boys were looking at me. They were like, 'You're that dude that directed "Domino"!' And I'm like, 'No, that's Tony Scott', so they were like "Oh! You did The Bourne Supremacy?' and I was like 'n'ah-ah, that was Greengrass', 'oh!' they said, 'you did 'The Kingdom'?, again, I said 'no'. 'but, you're like that guy who edits like a retard, right?', 'that's me', I replied. Then I asked 'Do you want to see my penis transform into a Magnum and shoot its load? They were like, 'Yeah!' ". "I said, 'Why do you want to see it?' And together, in unison, they said, 'CGI rules!!' " Michael Bay laughed. "It will be a good shot for them."

Sorry. The creator of this video has not given you permission to embed it on this domain

VH1 wrote:'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen' Writers Talk Themes, Sequels
'We wanted this movie to stand on its own,' Roberto Orci says of 'Transformers.'

SANTA MONICA, California — As far as summer 2009 is concerned, the red-hot writing pair behind "Star Trek" aren't finished with us yet. Their second strike hits soon with the June 24 blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," and these days the screenwriting duo are dreaming about further blurring the lines of pop-culture.

"I'd love to write a scene where Spock meets Optimus Prime," Alex Kurtzman laughed.

"I guess we did," his partner Roberto Orci revealed, making reference to the "Transformers" character who uses TV and radio signals to speak. "Because at one point we have Bumblebee [in the new film] using audio from 'Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.'"

It's a sly follow-up to Bumblebee's sampling of "Trek" actress Nichelle Nichols in the original "Transformers" film — and one of many pop-culture touchstones the duo had in mind while constructing the eagerly anticipated film.

"We actually really hesitated on doing the sequel, because when the movie came out and was a success, there was a real mandate to get the movie out quickly — and we felt like we didn't have a story to tell yet," Kurtzman remembered of the second chapter in Michael Bay's robots-in-disguise franchise. "We didn't have a reason to do it that we connected to personally. So we took some time to think about what were the sequels that we loved, and why did we love them. 'The Empire Strikes Back,' 'Superman II,' 'Aliens,' 'Terminator 2' — all amazing movies ... 'Wrath of Khan,' what do those movies have in common?

"They stand on their own — you don't have to see anything that came before for that movie to be a great movie," he continued. "And there was always some massive emotional test that the lead character had to go through and come out the other side of."

And so, in "Fallen," Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky undergoes a challenge similar to the adversities famously faced by Superman, Luke Skywalker, John Connor and Captain Kirk.

"The big themes of the movie have to do with leaving home," explained Kurtzman. "Shia is leaving home for the first time to go off to college, because he just wants to be a normal kid. The Autobots — because the Allspark was destroyed at the end of the first movie — have basically been stranded on Earth, so they are away from their home, and they may no longer be welcome here. ... Even though you might have a hero's calling, what are the consequences of not listening to that hero's calling?"

Another thing that films like "Khan," "Empire Strikes Back" and "Terminator 2" have in common is that the hero gets beaten up really, really badly. "The good guys get their asses kicked," Kurtzman agreed. "Superman gives up his powers for love, or Kirk loses Spock ... you need that darker idea that tests your hero, to really make the sequel sing."

But whereas "Empire" ends with Vader suggesting that he might be Luke's father and "Khan" concludes with the possibility that Spock may be dead, "Revenge of the Fallen" will break with those predecessors by not insisting that a third "Transformers" film be necessary.

"We wanted this movie to stand on its own — even though things are set up, it's not exactly a cliff-hanger," explained Orci. "You're going to get the whole movie."

VH1 wrote:'Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen' Earns Rave Reviews In U.K.
British critics praise sequel's special effects and thrills.

The Autobots, the Decepticons, Shia LaBeouf's reluctant hero, Megan Fox's sultry partner in saving the world, the explosions, the explosions and the explosions — yes, Michael Bay's shape-shifting robot extravaganza, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," is almost here.

Almost. The sequel to 2007's $700 million blockbuster won't rumble into theaters until Wednesday, June 24. But fans in the United Kingdom will get a chance to take in the spectacle five days early, and as such, reviews of the movie have been popping up across the pond. What do they tell us about the story, the characters, the Transformers and, of course, the explosions? Check out our breakdown below. While we've keep the spoilers to a minimum, if you don't want to know anything about the film, proceed with caution.

The Story

With all these reviews out there, you could certainly learn the entire plot before getting a chance to see the movie, but where's the fun in that? So, we'll just relay the setup:

"Autobots and the U.S. military have united to form NEST, an elite unit dedicated to wiping out Decepticons," according to Empire's review. "But when they catch a rogue 'bot in Shanghai, it warns that something very bad is heading for Earth: a diabolical entity known as 'The Fallen.' "

What about LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky, who's now a new college student? He finds "a sliver of the all-powerful All-Spark in his hoodie," SciFiNow writes. "The alien device then uploads secret coordinates into his brain, which subsequently puts him and the Autobots at the centre of another race against time to stop the Decepticons having their way with the world."

And IGN notes a non-spoilery scene that is too delicious not to mention: "One hilarious set-piece that sees his mother accidently eat a chunk of marijuana on Sam's first day at college had the audience in stitches, and confirms Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky as the two most likable characters in the franchise."

The Spectacle

All the reviews couldn't fail to mention the immense size and scope of the sequel. IGN notes that "Revenge" delivers "more lingering tracking shots, cleaner environments and establishing framing. [Bay is] undoubtedly helped by what we're sure is a truly astronomical special effects budget, which sees the denizens of [robot home planet] Cybertron — at the request of fans — given far more screen time than before. He can simply afford to show more 'bots this time around."

"The extended metal-on-metal punch-ups are cartoonish but, thanks to the game-raising CGI, utterly convincing," Total Film writes.

But how does the film compare to other summer blockbusters? "In terms of explosions, firepower and sheer shrill, all-action, popcorn entertainment, it is hard to see how this big'n'bold sequel can be topped this year," The Mirror writes.

Might it outflank the original? That's an affirmative, according to the reviewer for News of the World, who goes so far as to say, "It's bigger. Badder. Boobier. And many other words beginning with B, including boneheadedly brilliant."

The Robots

As the reviewer for TheShiznit.co.uk declares, the real stars of the film are the 'bots. "Optimus Prime is just as cool here as you'd always hoped — his twin-sword showdown with three Decepticons is the kind of kick-ass fight scene that'll make even the hairs on the back of non-fans' necks stand on end," says the Web site. "Bumblebee gets a few chances to shine and is perhaps the best example of having a CG alien robot 'emote' — tellingly, of course, he speaks no actual words.

"Devastator — the 120-foot-high beast made from seven separate Constructicons — though technically astounding, is criminally underused: You can see the money burning every second he's on screen," adds the site.

Bay on Bay

Total Film picks up on an interesting bit of cross-promotional work going on throughout the film: " 'Pearl Harbor' ship sinking, 'Armageddon' metropolis destruction and a 'Bad Boys II' promo on Sam's dorm room wall. But fans of The Bayhem will have their eyes on another poster in Sam's room — the 'Cloverfield' one-sheet, which betrays the glory at the heart of the flick. It's a thrill-ride, plain and simple. And it delivers."

TC wrote: sam's parents become hilarious and lovable while they eat pot. yeah, sounds like something i really need to take my kids to see, thanks for that scene mr. bay.

WENN wrote:Bay To Quit Transformers

Michael Bay has made his last Transformers movie - the director is set to quit the action franchise because he has "had enough" of making big budget blockbusters.

The filmmaker helmed the original 2007 movie and returned this year with its sequel - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

But Bay, who is known for his explosive action sequences, is sick of receiving negative reviews from critics who dislike his movie-making style and is determined to move away from the genre.

He says, "It's easy to go shoot an art movie in a winery in the South of France. But people have no idea how hard it is to create something like Transformers. They (the critics) review me before they've even seen the movie."

And Bay admits that if film bosses give the go ahead for a third Transformers movie, they will have to find a different director.

He adds, "After the three and a half years I've spent making these movies, I feel like I've had enough of the Transformers world.

"I need to do something totally divergent, something without any explosions."

WENN wrote:He says, "It's easy to go shoot an art movie in a winery in the South of France. But people have no idea how hard it is to create something like Transformers.

Clues about moviemaker Michael Bay's decision to leave the Transformers world behind have been revealed in a leaked email to Paramount studio bosses.

Bay has stepped down as the director of the film franchise, starring Shia Labeouf, after two movies, insisting he has "had enough" of making big budget blockbusters.

But a new memo, sent to movie bosses and obtained by TMZ.com, suggests he was unhappy with the way his Transformers sequel was being promoted.

The email to Brad Pitt's former production partner and Paramount boss Brad Grey, dated 4 May, 2009, reads, "I have been waiting, and waiting for the anticipation of an 'event movie' to make it into the public zeitgeist."

Bay calls the print campaign for Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen an "abject failure" and insists the promotion of the movie at the recent MTV Movie Awards was "so lame".

He asks, "Is this is a cash issue with your company?"

It appears either Bay has since reconsidered his comments or Paramount bosses have appeased him with a boosted publicity campaign - because in another leaked email, written earlier this month, the director praises Grey and the studio executives, writing, "Paramount is like family. Thank you all for busting your butts and bringing your 'A game' for the release of Transformers."

The email was a farewell of sorts - last week (ends19Jun09), Bay announced he would not be making a third Transformers film.

He said, "After the three and a half years I've spent making these movies, I feel like I've had enough of the Transformers world. I need to do something totally divergent, something without any explosions."