“Batman Begins” and “Spider-Man” have something in common in my book. They were both comic book movies that got bested by their sequels. Not just bested but fucking obliterated, to the point where I don’t even remember the original films and that’s exactly what a good sequel should do. “Iron Man 2,” unfortunately, doesn’t make me forget the original but is still a pretty fun ride for the most part.
After the first film thrusted the Iron Man character to the forefront of Americana comic book heroes, I was looking forward to the possibility of a future where we’d see the Marvel Universe expand on the big screen. The origin of the Tony Stark character was laid out pretty perfect in the first film and that made up for what ended up being, to be honest, a superhero movie that wasn’t insanely action packed. But now that that was all out of the way, the sequel would open the floodgates, right? Well, I guess Jon Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux thought otherwise.
The one thing that seemed out of place for the Tony Stark character was that everything he seemed to learn at the end of the first film seemed to have gone out the window. In turn, the Tony Starks we saw at the beginning of the first film was very similar to the one we were witnessing at the start of this one. This kinda of left me wondering if this was the film that Favreau wanted to make last time and this was his chance to do that with a bigger budget. Because of this, I couldn’t help to be skeptical of the introduction of the other Marvel Universe characters, some of which seemed a bit contrived. As I mentioned above, the fanboy in me loves that shit, don’t get me wrong. Seeing the Marvel Universe expand on the big screen in front of me is something I’ve been wanting to see all my life. As a filmmaker on the other hand, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth and therein lies the dichotomy: should I watch this as a fanboy or as a filmmaker? Shouldn’t I be just as tough on this film as I would “Citizen Kane” or should I give it special treatment because of our “history?” In the end, I think the expansion of the Marvel Universe occurred a little to rapidly in “Iron Man 2” and that ended up hurting the film overall.
There’s a lot I liked about the film and the actors were all good at their respective roles. Even found Gwyneth likable! But there were some pretty big problems with the script and that’s where my beef lies. The action sequences were well done and were cool but they suffered from some of the same problems from the first film: they weren’t super duper exciting. Well done but nothing that will make my list of all time best action sequences.
“Iron Man 2” will be getting my butt in the seat again but I’m not as super excited as I was with the original (I watched that one, theatrically, three times). Overall, the film was hella enjoyable and I would recommend that everyone go watch it regardless if this Iron Man is showing a little rust.
Rating: See it theatrically.
Random Thing #1: They nailed Iron Man flying through the air in the first film but one thing that bugged me was Iron Man hovering. And it seems Tony Stark hasn’t been able to figure out how to stabilize the suit to hover without using the hand repulsors which in turn makes the bad ass suit look like they’re children pirouetting in a school play. Might just be me but it’s kinda silly looking.
Random Thing #2: When you hear Tony Stark tell Rhodey “Get down!” prepare to witness the coolest moment in the entire film series, besting only War Machine kicking all kinds of ass. Serio, holmes!
Random Thing #3: Be sure to stay after the credits… the button is NOT a lie!
You should watch it as a fanboy. I know nothing about Iron Man, and I was confused about some things in the movie. It was clearly meant for people who already know their Iron Man lore.
I mean, they didn't even bother to name Scarlet Johansson's alter ego, assuming everyone already knows what it is.
BTW: Rick Bentley disagrees with you on the not-better-than-the-original thing.http://fresnobeehive.com/2010/05/movie_review_ir….
Obviously, he saw the film as a fanboy. Good for him! But an "A-"… that might be a little inflated.
I definitely watched it from the nerd/fanboy perspective and enjoyed it!
You’re such a film snob now, brodie! Come back to your nerd roots! I think you just need to put on an iron man halloween costume and fly around the office a little bit.
Been itching to comment on here, but since I had to wait until the midnight showing like the rest of the peons, I'm a bit late to the show.
I have to disagree with your opinion on how Tony reverted to his old ways. Not giving anything away, but given the situation he was in I don't think he cared much about himself and was more concerned with the future. Only when he was able to rectify his situation was he then able to going back to the more mature Tony Stark. I think the best example is when Iron Man shoots something and credits the kid with it (hope I'm not giving anything away with that). That was just cool and showed he had matured.
One of my key concerns with the movie was the amount of well known actors in it. You had four Oscar nominated actors plus the hotness that is the Scarlett. But they gelled wonderfully and didn't seem to try to steal the spotlight from RDJ, who was obviously the main focus of the movie.
I loved it and will definitely be seeing it again this weekend. Yeah it doesn't have the same feel that the first one did, but honestly I think that was because we were so surprised at how good that was. This was just as good, but we were expecting it so it didn't have that freshness to it.
And this movie isn't supposed to be dissected from a directors or cinematographer's point of view. It's a comic book flick and a pretty damn good one. I know everyone loved The Dark Knight, but that shit was just too depressing. Iron Man 2 knows it's a sequel and it kicks ass at doing that.
this movie didnt really expand on downey's stark character much ( i thought) besides the fact that he got a bit stronger (maybe a ply to make him more on par with the likes of norse gods and gamma radiated beings?)
does this make war machine a reserve/honorary avenger? or just a west coast avenger?
i was hoping that tony would learn how useless he is to the world as its protector without the suit, which would them lead him to "extremis" where he starts infusing the suit into his own body and he himself literally becomes the iron man.
now that he got dissed by S.H.I.E.L.D. to status of consultant for the avengers iniative i feel his role in the avengers will not have such as a big of an impact as i first imagined. he was a founding member!