Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, co-writers of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, talked to the folks over at SCI FI Wire the other day and briefly discussed the Transformers sequel and what we can expect from it in terms of tone, style and comedy.
Kurtzman and Orci, who together wrote the first Transformers and this summer’s Star Trek, say that Revenge of the Fallen has the same tone as its predecessor and that it’ll flow better than the first.
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“Actually, I think you’ll find that it has all the same tone of the first movie… The story’s a little smoother, and it’s a little bit darker, so it does dip in there a little bit, but it has all the same humor, if not more than the first movie.”
We can definitely see the hints of a darker movie from the teaser and full trailer, but from the ShoWest footage for the movie we were shown an example of the humor that the sequel attempts to balance in the film with the action. That “comedic scene” came in the form of Bumblebee crying and gushing lubricant from his eyes as Sam tells him he’s leaving for college without him. It really wasn’t that funny, but I have higher hopes from the other humorous bits that the movie will include.
While I did enjoy a lot of the funny bits in Transformers, some things were just awful and out of place – the worst being when Agent Simmons tells Mikaela (Megan Fox) “She’s a criminal. And criminals are HOT!” Actually, pretty much all the scenes involving John Turturro’s character that were meant to be funny came off as awkward – to the point of taking me out of the movie experience.
If you haven’t watched the first movie in a while (hard to believe it came out nearly two years ago), I recommend watching it before seeing the sequel. I watched it recently and got a kick out of the action scenes which I loved the first time around but I found myself disappointed in the non-action bits. I had forgotten many of the weak parts of the movie until re-watching it again. Most of those parts centered around scenes or dialogue meant to be funny, but instead are childish (in a bad way) and/or nonsensical. From a stupid cop, to a stupid Defense Secretary, to a modelesque computer analyst and to the infamous government agent, Simmons, many supporting characters are intentionally written to not make sense and act stupid.
Is that what we’re getting more of? Does that sell more toys, tickets or DVDs? There were of course other characters that fans complained about but I enjoyed their comedic scenes for the most part.
I really hope this movie is better-constructed and well-developed. I want the characters to make sense in their roles and for their motivations to be believable. Most of all, I want fans to enjoy this more than the first and for the movie to earn itself some better reviews than the first did two summers ago. I hope it’s not too much to ask for.
What do you think of what the writers say about the humor about the Transformers sequel, is it a good or bad thing?
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hits theaters June 24, 2009.
Source: SCI FI Wire
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93 Comments
Great!
More John ‘Jar Jar’ Turturro. Can’t wait!
We can thank God for 3 great inventions:
Woman, Salvation and the Fast Forward button
(in that order)
Well, like you Rob I didn’t remember the stupid humor until I watched the movie again recently. In fact, I tried to remember how I took it when I watched it in theaters and I didn’t really take it as humor, just crappy dialogue. I guess I was so enthralled though by the graphics and the fights that I didn’t get taken away from it easily though, but watching it again it was very noticeable and barely funny if at all. Although Transformers was always a little kids cartoon, so maybe they are trying to appeal to everyone. I don’t really care that much though, Bay’s film are just fun popcorn flicks with awesome graphics or fights, and some hot women.
I *hated* the “humor” in the film when I saw it in the theater, but a month ago I thought I’d give the movie another shot – maybe I was too hard on it.
Nope.
I’d love to see a fan-cut on youtube of the film with all the dumb-assed humor cut out, and how that would improve the movie.
Vic
I watched the first one again last night, and I have to say that the most frequently cited “bad” scenes are some of my favorites. I don’t know why. I know they are dumb, but I enjoy them nonetheless for their absurdity.
all i save in the first movie is his stupidity! too funny!
i hope it isnt as bad as the first, i reall dont wanna see a transformer “cry”, “piss”,”hump”. or make any other body fucntions, i just wanna see them beat the crap out of each other for 2 1/2 hours and no more masturbation jokes, but i was very dissappointed by the fact that john tuturro’s character was coming back..maybe devastator will step on him.
the quote from simmons, about criminal being hot, its not that dumb.
i have found myself during this last two years on plenty of conversations in which that quote was said. i must say that is one of the most noticeable comments that people will say.
on another hand, the first one wasnt the best, but it wasnt horrible. hopefully tihs time around since they dont have to introduce a story, we will get action from theg get go and have a good movie.
I just watched Bad Boys with commentary (because I’m odd like that) and found out that all the humour in that film (your taste not withstanding as I actually enjoyed it) came from Will Smith and Martin Lawrence adlibbing their way through. As such Bad Boys is Bay’s funniest movie, and we can see why.
This is what we have to take from a Michael Bay film. The humour in his other films aren’t nearly as good, but it’s what we have learned to put up with in order to get to the rest of the film, which is arguably better. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting great comedy from Transformers 2 and the ShoWest footage confirmed this. A darker movie this may be, but if it’s written by the same guys, I’m expecting the same level of quality in most places.
What? Your guys’ opinions on the why the humor is bad are weak! Your opinions don’t count, I can disprove them!
…
I’m sorry, it’s just not the same without ogb…
Oops, one too many “the’s” in there…
I am hoping nobody drags me to the theaters to see this. Good thing my girlfriend isn’t into action movies, I usually have to drag HER to see them, so I think I’m pretty safe. But my friends, they are a different story, I know a few of them are interested… I’ll be “working” all of those days I predict…
I loved the first movie, some of the humor was okay (Bernie Mac), I thought Sam’s parents were pretty funny, but the Agent Simmons crap was indeed horrible. And yes, HOMER, the “Criminals are Hot” line was awful. I cringed and felt embaressed for everyone in the theater when he said that. Michael Bay seems to go out of his way to say “F you fans, this is my movie, I’m doing what I want” example, if anyone remembers the comment he made about Prime’s flames….. Still really pumped for this, the action is awesome, I just wish they’d start attacthing directors who are familiar with the subject matter on these kind of things. Hey Mr. Bay, Devastator was in your first movie remember? That’s what you decided to call the random Tank robot….
@Ken J
Why do you have to start sh**? You lead a sad and pathetic life. But thanks for paying so much attention to me and keeping in your mind for DAYS after the argument happened.
@Ken J
Dude – seriously. Don’t make my life hard. We work hard to make the discussions here civil and I’m getting a bit weary of your antagonistic comments.
Add to the discussion, but please don’t be a dick about it.
Vic
In theaters, I loved the humour in Bad Boys 2 (didn’t see the first in theatres) and same with Armageddon.
For Transformers, I laughed a lot at Anthony Anderson’s scenes “I ate the whole plate!” or his cousin running through the glass away from the cops. That stuff is funny and the crowd got a lot out of it.
On the other hand, the Transformers turning into idiots in Sam’s backyard, or Agent Simmons or Jon Voight were all ill-conceived. Them intentionally being dumb hurts the film as opposed to helping it and it’s those decisions that I can’t comprehend. It’s a waste of such a high-potential movie that can easily be so much better (for all audiences).
Yes, everything with Anthony Anderson and his brother running through the backyard was hilarious. But the Simmons guy wasn’t too funny. I didn’t find it all that annoying, but it wasn’t funny either.
Yeah, I am of the camp of thought that thinks the backyard scene and the parents coming into his room are incredibly stupid. However, I still say that it’s one of my favorite scenes in the whole movie. I can’t explain it, it just is. I think that the “Sam’s Happy Time” line is funnier because Happy Time was what a friend referred to it as when I was in High School. So, I guess I’m lame then. At least I’m man enough to admit it, lol.
Aw ogb, sorry dude, I didn’t think you actually took it that seriously. For me it was just a fun back and forth, kind of like how my friends and I go at each other when we argue a topic, we make fun of each other in good humor. That’s how I saw our argument at least, I thought it was funny. Sorry man, I won’t bring it up again.
I would pinky swear, but the airline ticket would be too much to justify…
@ Ken
I didn’t take the argument seriously, I’m not the one still posting about it on a different page days later.
So let’s all just drop it and discuss what’s at hand here.
well guys at least there isnt any fart jokes of burp gags, but i guess they have to save something for the third film.
I think everyone needs to remember that this was a cartoon for children and the light stupid humor in the first movie was probably aimed at making kids laugh, everyone needs to stop taking this so seriously
but some of the humor wasnt for kids(the masturbation joke) and some were for kids
JMoney is right on the money (har har)…but seriously, you nailed it
Blah blah blah…the humor is intended to be stupid. Give the movie a break.
I didn’t watch too much of the Transformers Cartoon back in 84 (what with not being born and all) but exactly how much accidentally stepping on rose bushes while hiding from the adults and pissing on government agents was there?
I understand they were trying to make it kid friendly by adding some humour, I can appreciate that, the film was a PG-13 after all, so kids were going to see it. But there is a level of humour you can put into a movie like that that kids will like and won’t lower the tone any like it did in the Transformers movie.
I personally like Shia LaBeouf and most of his scenes were appropriately funny for the movie, but the stuff with John Tutorro and the stuff with Anthony Anderson (who seems to have resigned himself to playing the token black idiot in all movies he’s in) was just fluff, in there for the sake of being in there and ultimately, weren’t funny.
I didn’t really want to go into this here, but Transformers made the mistake of trying to do too much at once. The storyline involving pretty much everything to do with John Voight and that supermodel hacker amounted to nothing by the end of the movie, their storyline didn’t add much of anything to the main storyline and amounted to nothing in the end. I honestly didn’t care at all about them fighting frenzy and was annoyed when the move kept cutting to it. That and most of the army stuff. Were this just a tale about a boy who buys a car that turns out to be a robot and then helps save the world from some other robots and along the way gets the army on his side… it would have worked so much better that way.
And yes, I am totally comparing this to the Iron Giant, who was a much much better Transforming robot and also made a pretty good Superman.
Bunch of complainers. It’s a popcorn flick. If you want good acting or something, go watch something else.
Matt K, I’m sure some 11 or 12 year old would have got that part.
@Jmoney
At the risk of re-igniting another huge comment thread…
I still say that if you want to use the “based on a kid’s cartoon” reasoning then the movie should be also aimed at kids: PG, no overly intense/scary action, etc.
@Jim
Here’s our point, bro: You CAN make a popcorn flick that hits on all cylinders – decent acting, awesome action, FUNNY and APPROPRIATE humor, etc. Why settle for less? Then again I *did* like “Punisher: Warzone” for what it was.
Vic
those are tweens not kids.
sexual humor is NOT ok for kids
I am for not having this debate start again. Too many opposing opinions and not enough open minds.
To those defending it, lol, it’s a lost cause, trust me, I tried.
But seriously, let’s be civil.
For those of us that understand and/or accept that the humor can be excused by it’s target audience/nature of the source material/it being a popcorn flick, we are already going to enjoy this movie a hell of a lot more than others that just can’t get past it, and that’s all that matters.
I can’t wait to see this movie.
Agree with Rob, for the most part on what ruined the film,,,
Besides the (lucky to have careers, writing by Orci and Kurtsman) I have to say that Jon Voight’s character ruined the film, more or less for me.
The Secretary of Defense doesn’t go out in the field and wield a 12 gauge in Area 53,,,
His character along with the nose-ring wearing uber-hacker chick just constantly bothered me, not to mention the horrible acting by Torturro.
And what’s with the same battalion of soldiers fighting EVERY battle in the film?
I could go on and on,,,
I’m gonna take Jim’s advice and maybe watch a ballgame on tv that weekend.
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