Forget what the haters have been saying, Iron Man 2 was wicked awesome.
Despite being better versed in the movie’s plot than I wanted to be, I was still taken by surprise by the plot’s focus on Stark confronting his own mortality. When the film opens we see Tony Stark (the chameleonic Robert Downey Jr.) contending with the ankle biters that have arisen since revealing his secret identity at the end of part 1. Tony seems ambivalent to this development, despite the US government and a Russian terrorist (Mickey Rourke) being among those nipping at his heels. Turns out the thing that makes Tony so special, the thing that saved his life, is killing him, and not even slowly. With his life flashing before his eyes, Tony is giving away all his stuff, and trying all the craziest stunts he can before he kicks the bucket. It’s a welcome spin on the whole “heavy hangs the crown” stuff they always pull out for heroes like Spider-Man, Batman and The Hulk. Anyways, some allies come out of the woodwork to offer some assistance, even Tony’s long dead father in a weird kind of Howard Hughesy/Walt Disneyesque filmreel apparition. The aforementioned Russian terrorist is the son of Tony’s Dad’s former research partner – making them brothers of sort, and his “Whiplash” suit that mimicks the Iron Man armour is the harbinger of the metal ass-whupping mayhem that lies in wait near the end of the film.
I had read that the film was too jam packed with characters and subplots, and had assumed that the franchise had succumbed to Schumacher syndrome. There are technically 2 Iron Men in this movie, and 2 bad guys, and a few other people who are there for the sake of planting seeds for the coming Avengers film. But to say it was overloaded to the point of characters being squeezed out would imply to me that a character’s time in the spotlight somehow tapered off as the story moved along from one place to another. Nobody was lost in the shuffle though, even Gary Shandling’s Senator Stern was able to have his loose end tied up.
It might have lacked some of the razor sharp craftmanship of Favreau’s first installment, but it has lost none of its entertainment value. The frenentic pace of the story crafted by Justin Theroux is densely packed with character cues and jokes, and every once in a while a fight breaks out, a fight involving a nuclear powered exo-skeleton or Scarlett Johansson in a catsuit. If that’s not satisfying super-powered entertainment, I don’t know what is.
The best thing about it: Sam Rockwell? The post-credit nerdgasm foreshadowing? That it chose to focus on the joy of being special rather than the pandering fashion Super-films these days are trying to make us feel bad for the guys who can do things we can only dream of.
The worst thing about it: Scarlett’s empty performance. Instead of training for her fight scenes, she should have been concocting a character to bring to life.
Loading ...
It was a very well done sequel. To hope for it to be better than the original isn’t a fair expectation to live up to in my thoughts. My seven year old went with me to see it for mothers day and both of us were thoroughly entertained, even through the second acts character evolution.
Sure it had it’s faults (not fully utilizing ScarJo or Mickey Rourke were both a little disappointing) but overall I like you was fulfilled.
And Sam Rockwell kicks effing ass!
The pressure on it was immense, and while it might not have surpassed its predecesor like Batman and Spider-Man managed to do, it certainly avoided screwing everything up…maybe just barely? Any more inflated or glazing over more characters and it would definitely be in Schumacher territory.
I do think they need to back off the Avengers thing a little more. One movie at a time, save the foreshadowing for after the credits…
Scarlett was the only empty performance? How about Jackson, Paltrow, Rourke (yes Rourke), and even Cheadle. Only one who showed up besides Downey was Rockwell. Hammer was awesome suffering from Tony Stark envy…but with class and a fake tan to boot:)
I just wish Whiplash would have had a bigger (and more loquacious) performance…but that’s just me.
I’m hearing what you’re saying, dude. Hey, Jackson’s gonna be Jackson – all that was required from him was style and fury (so to speak). As for Rourke, I’m saying that even if he might not have gotten as much of the spotlight as he deserved, at least he gave the impression that there might be more going on beneath the surface – I didn’t get that impression from Scarlett.
My wife was the one who pointed out Justin Hammer’s orange palms to me, I totally wouldn’t have caught it otherwise. Tough call to know if that was Rockwell’s doing, or that Favreau thought it up.
I guess I was satisfied with what I got from Whiplash because I wasn’t too familiar with him from the comics, so my expectations were pretty low.
My thing is: Could we please have Iron Man fight someone/something that isn’t wearing some kind of power armour?
Iron Man 2 was a pleasantly entertaining movie. I think most of us are just disappointed it wasn’t more. It’s just so… forgettable. Even though the movie lasted for two hours and was heavy in dialogue, there is basically nothing of substance to talk about. It just tried so hard to be this Avengers prequel instead of a Iron Man sequel
POW! You hit right on it, Castor! I’m willing to make a number of allowances for a film to trim here and there in order to cram in as much stuff as possible – but I’m only cool with that if they’re cramming in stuff for the film I’m watching at the time, not planting seeds for a movie I won’t be seeing for another year or two. Heck, they gave SHIELD more screen time than they did for Stan Lee – they should have both been cameos. I understand and appreciate the effort in making it clear that Iron Man exists in a bigger world – we can thank Marvel for it’s licensing for that – but yeah, guest appearances should be for the sake of the movie’s main character, not for Marvel’s own gratification.
Thought it was Ok to say the least.
I think it breaks the OK mark, that’s for sure. It didn’t meet the ridiculous expectations that everyone was setting for it, but it definitely got the momentum rolling for the Marvel films that are to follow. I guess this is the first real sign of Disney at work.
[...] Iron Man 2: I definitely had a great time at Iron Man 2, but I think in its quest to deliver everything to everyone, it fell short in certain areas. It definitely lacked the masterful touch seen in superhero flicks like The Dark Knight, but it was still head and shoulders better than Spider-Man. I had really thought this was gonna be the top dog for the year, and while it was good it clearly does not hit the ranks of being the crown jewel of this year’s releases. [...]