The Transformers series, a much maligned continuity of films bemoaned for lazy writing, poor editing, and overuse of CGI to attract a less then intelligent audience. However, many people were not so much as angry at Michael Bay, the director of this franchise, as more or less disappointed. Transformers is a teeming universe filled with interesting characters brimming with personality. In fact, the Transformers universe as a whole was underappreciated in the movies, due to the insistence from the movies it had on focusing solely on human characters. Granted, while this does enable the audience to relate with the humans, it also distracts us from the main focus, an action adventure sci-fi flick featuring alien robots.
So, let's begin our Rewritten with Revenge of the Fallen. While some would expect me to rewrite the first movie as well, it was rather decent in my opinion and therefore should be kept untainted by change. However, Revenge of the Fallen is an extremely flawed movie I only enjoyed for its crude humour scenes and eye-candy action packed ones. As time went on, I began understanding the finesses of good writing and storytelling, and therefore the 12-year old appeal of this movie quickly died down.
But, Revenge of the Fallen had extraordinary amounts of potential to be a great sci-fi action flick with an intense story and character development, along with our favourite Autobots and Decepticons fighting for more then just the script's requirement to make money. So, with all of this out of the way, let's dive right into this!
Firstly, to say the story of this movie is convoluted is an understatement. Poorly edited clips of exposition in the beginning, compacted with scenes that make little sense of ancient-looking Transformers stomping on primeval human cavemen already start off the movie with a confused at best audience.
The beginning of the movie sets the tone and introduces the plot elements that will move the rest of the plot along. However, all we have is Optimus Prime's vague narration of the fact that Transformers were here long before Megatron crash-landed into the ice as established in the first movie.
However, while many disliked this sudden change in mythology, I found it quite believable that Cybertronian life would encounter our fleshy, organic selves at one point before the 1920s. This is due to the fact that it was stated Transformers were centuries ahead of us technologically, and therefore they'd have access to space traversing technology. A scene or two should've been dedicated to an overview of a Transformers spaceship, with the ancient Transformers we saw in the movie's beginning all clustered around a command table.
At this command table, we see the Primes, whom, in Transformers lore, can be equated to the disciples. One could even make the religious connections if able to see through the subtlety.
On this command table, we see the Primes debating over their creator, Primus, whom is revealed to be the one whom made the Allspark. Primus is a god in Transformers lore and therefore paramount to the story I'm going to set up here.
The Primes discuss ways to increase their Energon supplies, seeing as how Primus has expended most of his energy making large reserves of the energy material for his Transformers creation, but is starting to slowly die due to overproduction of Energon. The Primes are worried for the survival of their race, before one of them, Megatronus as his name will be revealed, suggests to harvest Energon through another mean.
The Primes are interested, and Megatronus reveals the creation of his newest scientific wonder, the Star Harvester, a machine capable of using the limitless energy of stars to create bountiful supplies of Energon. The Primes rejoice, but when Megatronus reveals that he's used the Harvester several times, they get worried. This is due to the sacred moral code of the Primes that, in the original movie, was just explained in a vision with Shia LeBeouf.
The head Prime, Prima, explains the moral compass of the Primes and that destroying a star obviously destroys all life on the planets it provides energy too. Megatronus lies and says that he's only used the Harvester on uninhabited solar systems, but the Primes soon see through his guise when a servant Transformer enters and says that Galactic Broadcasts are warning of imminent apocalypses. Why? Because Megatronus has driven several thousand species to extinction already due to his antics.
Of course, the Primes are pissed, but Megatronus defends his actions by saying that Cybertron has endless Energon reserves. After a long winded discussion, Megatronus attacks his Primes in rage, and that's when the introduction/prologue to the movie ends.