Iron Man 2 review

As I stated in my last post, the hype machine got to me and I actually started looking forward to the return of Tony Stark. To recap my feeling on the first film they are now as they were two years ago. "Iron Man" was an good origins story, a nice character piece, but a slight bore of an overall movie. The few action set pieces weren't anything new and the finale was drawn out and yet still unimpressive. At the end of the day it was something I thought of on the same lines as Bryan Singer's first "X-Men" film. It works, but it's got problems. So this brings me to "Iron Man 2". At no point did I think, 'man this movies gonna suck'. Because I didn't feel that way, I just didn't feel like it would blow me away like the first did for everybody. Interestingly enough the films been capturing favorable reviews, but not as favorable as the first. Perhaps it's me but could someone out there explain why the first was considered so damn wonderful. Anyways, no I actually liked "Iron Man 2" more than expected, but it continues to suffer from a few very key flaws. The biggest one is that they pack the film with characters and major names, but tend to under use them. For example Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow has almost nothing to do in the movie and the little she does do could have come from a number of blank characters and actors. I'd have been more impressed if they used her in the same grand reveal way as Sam Jackson at the end of the first film. Paltrow doesn't really perk up till the final act or Cheadle for that matter so really it's a one man show for the majority of the film. That said when they do have a chance to really bring something to their scenes they do so quite well. I just wish they were given Downey Jr. screen time to a certain extent.

The climax arrives quickly after massive amounts of build out however it is more impressive than the first film's ending so I'm thankful for that. 'Tropic Thunder' co-writer and Lynch Mob member (group of actors connected with filmmaker David Lynch, not a group of people going around hanging other people. I can't stress this enough) Justin Treroux mainlines a surprisingly funny and quirkier than before story that isn't afraid to push Tony's disregard for peoples feelings or safety into the forefront of the picture. They show him more so for who he is which is a bad drunk and kind of a horse's ass. But it always boils down to he's our funny horse's ass and I guess that's something. Now for Micky Rourke, he fuckin' sold it. He plays Ivan to a tee and isn't a snarling villain, but a slightly more dimensional villain that does have a reasons for what he's doing and it's fairly valid. Samuel L. Jackson's extended Nick Fury cameo is also great because he really decides to lay into the role. He doesn't play it quiet and reserved but much more human. He's funny and witty, but on the level so as to never become a comical character there just for laughs.

Another beef I had with the first film was the lackluster action scenes which thankfully and to the films saving grace have been fixed. It appears director (and actor) Jon Favreau has learned some new tricks and puts them to use well within the movie. The best part of it... is that it's not all CGI. There's quite a bit of live action practical stunts being done and they really make a difference in some of these big sequences. Now they have a better feel to them whereas before it was like a cut scene from a video game. The race track sequence where Ivan attacks Tony is a prime example of the use of practical stunts that were noticeable and impressive as well as doing some very fine CGI and real world integration work. Neither film is action heavy which is a good thing and also neither films plots have calling for them to be action heavy. No, the main focus is very much Tony, his major problem and the man that he is at this point. He's flawed as all hell and is on a self-destructive path. At the end of this film we don't feel like he's any closer to a break through which will allow him to not do the things he does to people; we simply feel that Tony has lived to play another day.

But what can you say really? It's a big summer tent pole movie that kicks off the season and honestly it did a nice job of that. It's a solid super hero picture that'll provide it's share of enjoyment for a few weeks and works on those nice geeky, but not too geeky levels that the public can really dig into. Hell there's nothing wrong with popcorn fun as long as it's actually fun and this is. Now... for the secret scene or whatever you wish to call it. Unlike with the first film where the world was buzzing about what was at the end, I heard almost nothing about this one. Luckily someone told me to just stay and watch and I'd see for myself and that I did. It's a fabulous little tease of who we'll be seeing next summer from the Marvel universe. On a film lovers note said film in discussion has a fantastic cast and an interesting an extremely against the grain director behind it which could equal something very fresh for the genre. As a fan of the character in question I must say FUCK YES! No longer are we dealing with simple men and their devices, for now we have a film about a man born into badassery. I wait with baited breath that first official teaser trailer.