"Iron Man 2" (2010)
It was an exciting time leading up to the release of "Iron Man 2." Everyone was watching the film as it rounded out the cast and was curious to see how this whole shared movie thing was going to work. The film wasn't without it's share of drama. Terrence Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle due to reports of on set friction between himself and star, Robert Downey Jr. Scarlett Johansson was cast as Natalie Rushman, but really Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. Remember when Mickey Rourke was having that career resurgence after "Sin City" and "The Wrestler?" Marvel snapped him up to play villain Ivan Vanko/Whiplash. Sam Rockwell's sleazy Justin Hammer rounded out the cast.
With the majority of the team from the first film including director, Jon Favreau, returning, it seemed like Marvel was headed towards another critical hit/fan favorite. Not exactly.
Maybe it's because I re-watched "Iron Man 2" so soon after the overblown, overwrought, depressing garbage heap that is "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" but I don't think I was as critical of it as I've been in the past. It's not a terrible movie. "Iron Man 2" has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 72% which is not the lowest score of any Marvel movie. (If you're wondering, the Marvel movie with the lowest score is "Thor: The Dark World" which sits at 67%, and let's be real, most movies would kill for a critical consensus that high.)
The majority of the things that made the first film so great are still present in the sequel. Robert Downey, Jr. continues to own the role of Tony Stark. The movie gives him a lot of room for grandstanding and showing off like when he is on stage at the Stark Expo or racing in the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. He also gets introspective moments as he works to save himself from the arc reactor in his chest poisoning his blood or when he's trying to work out a mystery related to his late father. The movie also touches on a classic Iron Man comic book story "Demon in a Bottle" where Tony struggled with alcoholism. There's no way they could fully explore that in a way that would be appropriate, but the scene where Tony drunkenly brawls with Rhodey after a party is a nice nod for fans.
Sam Rockwell also really shines as Justin Hammer. Rockwell is kind of known for these really laid back, effortlessly cool guys. He plays Tony Stark types and Hammer is not that guy. He tries to fancy himself that guy and so desperately wants to be that guy which makes it so entertaining as he fails. He is constantly put in his place by everyone from Tony to Pepper. It's great to see Rockwell really revel in playing against type and turning his charm into smarm.
The women of "Iron Man 2" are not served particularly well. The writers can't seem to decide who they want Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts to be. They want her to be a bad ass, take no prisoners business woman and also a shrieking damsel in distress. Johansson's Black Widow is basically a blank slate. When she is in disguise as Natalie Rushman, she is just a hot piece of ass in a pencil skirt. Someone for Tony to ogle and Pepper to make sexual harassment jokes about. When she reveals herself, she doesn't gain any semblance of a personality. She's basically a Terminator-esque fembot. Thank god for Joss Whedon.
The movie's other villain, Ivan Vanko, suffers from having an under developed backstory. The idea of the son of a scorned Russian inventor lashing out at the son of the man he blames for his father's downfall is compelling, but we aren't given enough of the story to really invest. Vanko fails to be the sympathetic villain the filmmakers envisioned because it's hard to really care about him. It doesn't help that after his one major action set piece midway through the film, he's relegated to a cackling face behind a computer screen.
The action in the film is stellar, though it sometimes plays as the same climax of the first film except amped up and with War Machine. It feels like they had to reduce some of the story they wanted to tell in order to introduce these elements to further the overall MCU and when the focus moves to those things, that is when the movie starts to falter. It's easy to forgive these initial growing pains especially since Marvel has become much more adept at working these universe building pieces into future films.
"Iron Man 2" has one of my favorite after credits scenes in any Marvel movie. It seems like kind of a throwaway when Coulson tells Pepper that he has to head to the New Mexico desert. That couldn't be further from the truth. Nothing compares to the sight of Thor's hammer sticking out of the sand. It still makes the hair on my arms stand up.
What do you guys think of "Iron Man 2?" Is it anyone's favorite MCU movie? Has time softened your feelings on it? Let me know in the comments.
With the majority of the team from the first film including director, Jon Favreau, returning, it seemed like Marvel was headed towards another critical hit/fan favorite. Not exactly.
Maybe it's because I re-watched "Iron Man 2" so soon after the overblown, overwrought, depressing garbage heap that is "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" but I don't think I was as critical of it as I've been in the past. It's not a terrible movie. "Iron Man 2" has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 72% which is not the lowest score of any Marvel movie. (If you're wondering, the Marvel movie with the lowest score is "Thor: The Dark World" which sits at 67%, and let's be real, most movies would kill for a critical consensus that high.)
The majority of the things that made the first film so great are still present in the sequel. Robert Downey, Jr. continues to own the role of Tony Stark. The movie gives him a lot of room for grandstanding and showing off like when he is on stage at the Stark Expo or racing in the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. He also gets introspective moments as he works to save himself from the arc reactor in his chest poisoning his blood or when he's trying to work out a mystery related to his late father. The movie also touches on a classic Iron Man comic book story "Demon in a Bottle" where Tony struggled with alcoholism. There's no way they could fully explore that in a way that would be appropriate, but the scene where Tony drunkenly brawls with Rhodey after a party is a nice nod for fans.
Sam Rockwell also really shines as Justin Hammer. Rockwell is kind of known for these really laid back, effortlessly cool guys. He plays Tony Stark types and Hammer is not that guy. He tries to fancy himself that guy and so desperately wants to be that guy which makes it so entertaining as he fails. He is constantly put in his place by everyone from Tony to Pepper. It's great to see Rockwell really revel in playing against type and turning his charm into smarm.
The women of "Iron Man 2" are not served particularly well. The writers can't seem to decide who they want Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts to be. They want her to be a bad ass, take no prisoners business woman and also a shrieking damsel in distress. Johansson's Black Widow is basically a blank slate. When she is in disguise as Natalie Rushman, she is just a hot piece of ass in a pencil skirt. Someone for Tony to ogle and Pepper to make sexual harassment jokes about. When she reveals herself, she doesn't gain any semblance of a personality. She's basically a Terminator-esque fembot. Thank god for Joss Whedon.
The movie's other villain, Ivan Vanko, suffers from having an under developed backstory. The idea of the son of a scorned Russian inventor lashing out at the son of the man he blames for his father's downfall is compelling, but we aren't given enough of the story to really invest. Vanko fails to be the sympathetic villain the filmmakers envisioned because it's hard to really care about him. It doesn't help that after his one major action set piece midway through the film, he's relegated to a cackling face behind a computer screen.
The action in the film is stellar, though it sometimes plays as the same climax of the first film except amped up and with War Machine. It feels like they had to reduce some of the story they wanted to tell in order to introduce these elements to further the overall MCU and when the focus moves to those things, that is when the movie starts to falter. It's easy to forgive these initial growing pains especially since Marvel has become much more adept at working these universe building pieces into future films.
"Iron Man 2" has one of my favorite after credits scenes in any Marvel movie. It seems like kind of a throwaway when Coulson tells Pepper that he has to head to the New Mexico desert. That couldn't be further from the truth. Nothing compares to the sight of Thor's hammer sticking out of the sand. It still makes the hair on my arms stand up.
What do you guys think of "Iron Man 2?" Is it anyone's favorite MCU movie? Has time softened your feelings on it? Let me know in the comments.
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