Ben’s Review of Iron Man 2
Starting the summer big movie blockbuster season, we have Iron Man 2. This is the highly anticipated follow up to the very cool and fun Iron Man. Rejoining Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark is his personal assistance and now vice president of the company Pepper Pots, once again played by Gweneth Paltrow, SHIELD leader Nick Furry, reprised by Samuel L. Jackson, and his chauffer once again played by Jon Favreau, who also retains directorial duties. Joining the cast are Mickey Rourke as a scary Russian physicist, Ivan Vanko/Whiplash, industry rival to Tony Stark, Justin Hammer, played by Sam Rockwell, and Tony Stark’s new assistant and maybe more, Scarlett Johansen. Additionally, Tony’s friend and foil Rhody, is played now by John Cheadle, substituting for Terrence Howard who felt this type of movie is now beneath him. As you can already see, there are a lot of new faces to deal with in this installment of Iron Man.
This edition of Iron Man finds Tony Stark fully embracing his Iron Man alter ego and dealing with the notoriety and demands of this life style. Tony has also realized that that the high tech pacemaker that is keeping the metal out of his heart is slowly poisoning him. Tony’s notoriety has also gained him notice from Ivan Vanko/Whiplash, who is bent on destroying Tony Stark and avenging his father, a one time colleague of Tony’s father Howard Stark until he is deported by the elder Stark back to Russia. Additionally, a wannabe Tony Stark, Justin Hammer, enters the picture and tries to desperately to upstage Stark at every opportunity. The story picks up steam when Ivan Vanko decides to try and kill Stark during the Monaco Grand Prix but is subdued by Stark long enough for Vanko to be detained. Seeing his opportunity to get a leg up on Stark, Justin Hammer springs Vanko out of jail and makes a deal with him to produce military style suits that are just as good as Iron Man. But just like all deals with the devil, Vanko cannot be trusted and instead of building these suits, he resumes his quest to destroy Tony Stark. Meanwhile Stark, realizing his own mortality, has become self destructive. Rhody tries to stop him but to no avail. Nick Furry comes out of nowhere to counsel Stark and offer assistance in the form of his new assistance Black Widow. What will become of Stark? Can he cheat death and stop Vanko? When is the Avengers movie coming out?
Well unfortunately Iron Man 2 falls into the same trap that previous sequels such as the Matrix and Pirates of the Carribean stepped into which is it overloads the second movie in anticipation of a third. Here there is a very promising premise with Mickey Rourke’s character in which he appears to be a very calculated and scary villain. Additionally, Sam Rockwell is introduced as a conniving and weasely competitor who appears to cause problems for Tony Stark. However, these characters are never allowed to fully develop and the script does not allow for these Actors to shine. Mickey Rourke is his generation’s Marlin Brando and while this is supposed to be a big summer movie, Rourke character does not get nearly the time and attention that he should have to make him a truly scary villain. Sam Rockwell, who was brilliant in last year’s Moon, is not given much a script to work with and also fails to fully develop his villain status. Scarlett Johansen is crammed in as Stark’s mysterious assistant who ends up playing a larger role toward to end of the movie, but again, she is not given nearly enough of an opportunity to showcase her ability or talent. This movie ends up being nothing more than a prelude for next year’s Thor movie and 2012’s Avengers flick. With a cast of this much star power, which includes 6 Oscar nominees and one Oscar winner, there needed to be much more of a script to work with. There are plenty of explosions but not enough plot development to make this movie work along the same lines as other superhero sequels such as Spiderman 2 and the Dark Knight. These two sequels focused on the story line and the characters and did not focus on providing desperate attempts lure an audience back for another movie later and, strangely enough, both those movies left the audience wanting more.
I give Iron Man 2 two Hammers of Thor out of 5. Maybe Terrence Howard knew something we didn’t.
Elisa's Review
All right ladies, if you have a husband or a boyfriend who wants to see this movie, just go—the movie is not that bad. Iron Man is a “comic book” character, with his own a series. Think “Superman.” If you are unfamiliar with “Superman” comic books are those cartoon-filled books that teachers would take away from boys during class in the third grade. Your husband/boyfriend/whatever will like the movie because it is about a comic-book character. It will remind him of all aspects of the third grade: recess, dodge ball, brown-bag lunch made by their mom, and of course, the previously mentioned comic books. Mostly, as the husband/boyfriend watches the movie, he will not think about: mowing the lawn, painting the bathroom, or taking out the garbage and this will make him happy. Also, as the title of the movie declares, this is a sequel, so your husband/boyfriend has watched the first movie and probably liked it. Moreover, he has been thinking about the sequel ever since.
Reveling in his own fame, fortune and having “successfully privatized world peace” Tony Stark (Iron Man without his costume, played by gorgeous Robert Downey, Jr.) takes his narcissism for a world tour. Side-kicks Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Jon Favreau’s character join Stark for a glamorous car race in Monaco when Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) arrives to cause Iron Man angst. The United States government is badgering Stark to hand over the “Iron Man Weapon” and Stark’s artificial/Iron heart batteries are failing. Don Cheadle plays Stark’s best friend, Rhodey; A military man torn between service to his country and friendship to Stark. Rhodey finds middle ground in turning over an Iron Man suit to the military to dissect and then joins his friend Stark to take-down Whiplash.
As a stand-alone film, "Iron Man 2" just does not hold its own. The original established how Iron Man came to be and created a likeable character. "Iron Man 2" is the movie that will hold the “trilogy sandwich” together, clearly, a Iron Man Tres is in the works, just stay and watch ALL the credits to see for yourself.
If you have any desire to see Iron Man 2, then the theater experience is a must. The special effects are “really cool” and the movie is actually beautiful—the colors are sharp, bright and everything looks like wet paint.
