Revenge Of The Fallen’s First Scene Was A Trial By Fire For The Transformers Crew

Michael Bay doesn’t do “small” and this particular sequence was no exception. According to Special Air Service Forces member Matthew Marsden, “I think at one time we had two Apache helicopters, two Blackhawk helicopters, and also two additional filming helicopters along with Humvees, Rangers. You know, I mean, it was just massive.”

In an unconventional move, Bay elected to film this scene at the start of production. As Ben Seresin noted, most of the time directors prefer to start off with “something small to get people up to speed, help them to sort of acquaint themselves with each other, and generally help the process gently start. Michael’s not that sort of guy.” Bay concurred with this, stating:

“I like to start ’em hard and fast, very first week. Your first week on a movie sets the entire tone for the show. You wanna do a little bit of action, a little bit of character, a little bit of stuff that’s gonna wow the studio, stuff that’s going to test your lighting, that’s going to establish a look. You try to do a little of everything so that it just sets the tone.”

Perhaps the biggest problem with “Bayhem” (though definitely not the only one) is that it leaves no room for quieter moments. If things aren’t going kablooey in most of Bay’s films, then characters are frantically yelling or the camera is swooping wildly or striking dramatic angles. It works when the film is a feature-long chase like “Ambulance,” but in a film like “Revenge of the Fallen,” where nearly every scene is designed to overstimulate viewers, it just leaves you feeling exhausted.

Bay’s collaborators know that feeling. As Marsden put it, “[…] I was finishing, I’m like, ‘Man, you know what, I wish I was doing this 15 years ago, because I feel like an old man right now.'”

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