Iron Man 2
I saw Iron Man 2. There’s been a hell of a lot of hype and, naturally, every fanboy worth his rainbow suspenders is proclaiming how great it’s going to be. I went to a showing with several friends, had quite a merry laugh amidst the fun and excitement, and ended it with a trip to Bar 12, a pleasant little place where we rounded off the evening with lots of nerdy, nerdy debate. It was a very entertaining night.
I’m a little bit ehhh about the movie, though.
I won’t deny I enjoyed it. What’s not to enjoy? It’s the same old Iron Man antics as last time – Robert Downey Jr. is still fabulous as the ever manic Tony Stark, we finally get some War Machine team-up action, there’s a lot more enemies to fight, and it’s still a fun and entertaining film.
I’m just torn on whether or not it’s better than the first one.
My chums all agreed that it was better than the first one, but I was the only left feeling unsure. Yeah, decent movie, but even though I haven’t seen the original one since I saw it in the cinema, it’s still reasonably fresh in my mind, at least when it comes to the vivid imagery and sensations of Iron Man flying through the sky. As you might remember from my rather love gushing review of the first film (see 28/May/2008!), the movie really grabbed me in just the right way with just the right vibes. It had action, it had heart, and there was a tremendous feeling of whimsy about it, both in what Tony had gone through before making the suit, and then all the fancy abilities and wonders he could achieve with it. I could just be incredibly biased because I haven’t seen it at all since then, but it left a big impression on me and it’s still there.
Iron Man 2 doesn’t really have that. It’s gotten past the mandatory origin story and now it’s more about the ramifications of the Iron Man suit, such as the military wanting their hands on it, other countries making their own knockoffs, and a rival millionaire hiring a Russian villain man to help him build his own suits (which he makes into killer robots, no less). It’s an entertaining story, but I don’t think a lot of the movie really grabbed me the same way the first one did. I saw a review recently by a very jaded internet individual who said that the action “just happens,” there’s no real sense of danger or excitement to it. Having not seen the film when I read it I was a little miffed; what, how can Iron Man action not be good? It’s freakin’ Iron Man! But, yeah, I kinda have to agree with the cynical bastard. It’s moderately decent action, but in all honesty, if you’ve seen the trailer then there’s not much else you’re missing out on. The climatic fight with Iron Man and War Machine versus Whiplash… didn’t really have any true involvement, I felt. There was little to no emotional connection between the heroes and villain, and it seemed to finish way quicker than I was expecting. I’ve certainly seen worse action and by all means it’s not bad, but it didn’t grab me the same way, y’know?
In yet another vaguely defined criticism, I personally felt the film lacked the “punch” of the original. For instance, a few of the brief comedy scenes still stick out in my mind, such as Tony addressing a meeting while sitting on the floor eating some Burger King or Rhodey going ahead with the “training mission gone wrong” excuse (or whatever it was, excuse me for having a bad memory!), and the two really seemed to have a good bonding. Due to the whole military-vs-Tony theme, there’s barely any time for Stark and Rhodes to spend much time together and not arguing, and I’ve a feeling it might also have to do with the new actor. He’s not a bad guy, but he seemed out of place until he actually got into the War Machine suit; my dad commented that without the suit he looked like a bit of a wimp, whereas Terrence Howard looked a bit more imposing. There’s plenty of “punch” in the opening half hour or so, what with Tony’s many, many meetings at the expo, in court and the race, but after those scenes that brand of humour kinda fell by the wayside, I felt.
Still, I’m glad I saw it, and given the stupendous amounts of hype the trailers worked up I would be surprised if I didn’t have anything to nag about. It was still a fun two hours and the conversation value alone was definitely worth the ticket price.
The only knowledge I have of Iron Man other than the basic origin was that he’s an alkie. I don’t know if any of the films touched upon that or not, and some might only know of War Machine thanks to the Marvel vs Capcom thing.
I’d like to see Tony brewing his own moonshine in a cave with a box of scraps though
Drop your chums RIGHT NOW. Hell no this movie was not better than the first one. This movie wasn’t even good!
I’d been holding off from reading your post in case of SPOILARZ, but I just got back from the movie… and meh. I found myself nearly nodding off multiple times, and the only times I found the movie engaging were during the shots of Scarlett in that sexy dress that showed her panty lines. Oh that woman is YUM.
But I thought the movie was boring as hell, and the few action sequences didn’t really seem to make sense — it was like they were like hey, this movie is kinda boring, we’d better make something happen right about now.