Finally it’s come, Iron Man 2 is now in theatres and it’s chock full of snarky Robert Downey Jr goodness.
So I really doubt there’s any merit in the question “is Iron Man 2 good?” because we all knew it would be really hard to screw up what they made out of Iron Man; I mean they would have to try to screw this up to make it a bad movie.
So the movie picks up at the very end of the first, with Tony Stark declaring “I am Iron Man” and the press going nuts. Problematic aftermath for Tony Stark now is that he’s got a lot of people putting him in their crosshairs. The gov’t wants the Iron Man suit for their armed forces, competitive companies are looking to rip off Stark’s tech, and an old rival of Tony’s father comes out of the woodwork.
The last of these brings us the movie’s primary villain, Whiplash, played stunningly by Mickey Rourke. Whiplash could have been the breaker in this movie if it had been played by a lesser actor. I can just see the look on Rourke’s face when he sat down and the director said “okay, Mickey, your character is enigmatic even though we’ll be covering your back story. You’re a physicist but also a certified badass, you have a legit reason to have a vendetta but try to become a character that the audience can hate but not too easily … oh yeah and throw in a Russian accent… ya know what just learn Russian while you’re at it.”
Whiplash easily could have been a character that Rourke could have don a shoddy job at, or hammed up and made weak, but he handled the role expertly and at times threatened to steal the spotlight from the bar-setting Downie.
The previous foundation characters return with Pepper Pots being given a heaping amount of more screen time and character development and she doesn’t disappoint; her depiction of a regular person trying to make sense of being in the middle of ridiculous sets of circumstances is handled brilliantly. Col. James Rhodes is back, but now played by Don Cheadle, who at first gives the audience a less military screen presence and at first glance seems like he would be a less militant version of the previous Rhodes.
I’m pleased to say that Cheadle proved me wrong.
The character of Rhodes does suffer a bit in the character development department, as it seems the rush is just to get him in the War Machine suit, but that’s the fault of writers, not the actor. Cheadle sells it and sells it well, his one liners are limited, but they’re all solid and his wisecracks are enough to break the military man shell that the previous Rhodes had created.
Speaking of wisecracks.
As one would expect, very few scenes go by that don’t somehow include Stark making smart aleck remarks; more often than not at the expense of someone else. The humour in the previous movie flirted with risque several times, where now Stark’s jokes push that envelope just a bit more into adult territory but done so subtly that the jokes go right over the heads of kids. The visual gags are also terrific, they’re ridiculous moments that are handled so matter-of-factly that the sight gags become even more funny as a result of that treatment.
The movie’s pace is very enjoyable as the film establishes right away what the issues and circumstances of the film are, and then takes us through these situations at a very smart pace.
Another strength of this movie is that it knows its place in the story. Iron Man was the origin story, and focused more on character development but made sure to lead to the epic melee at the film’s end. Iron Man 2 knew that the audience didn’t need a full refresher of the previous film, the audience wanted to see Iron Man fly around, blow crap up, have a few epic battles and get a little bit more of Tony Stark time but not too much. The movie balances the scales very nicely as the story has multiple issues that Tony is dealing with while at the same time filling the kablooey quota but making sure the action scenes aren’t just there for the sake of action; it felt like not a single action scene was unnecessary, drawn out sometimes maybe, but never unnecessary.
Another nice feature about the movie is that it continues to embrace the trend of recent Marvel movies by including little wink nudge moments for hardcore comic fans. The film is packed with little Easter eggs that for the most part are so subtle that the mainstream crowd will totally miss them, but comic fans will get a lot of chuckles from the fan service; they’re nice additions that give long time fans the comfort of knowing “yes the movie is for mainstream audiences, but this is for us”.
The review also can not be complete with acknowledging Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury and Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow. Jackson puts on his standard badass persona for the role, but you can tell he’s trying sometimes too hard to pull it back and not go into Shaft mode, he would clearly be more comfortable if the rating was just bumped up so he could drop his signature F bombs.
Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow can be received in mixed fashion. There are scenes that she’s rock solid, and then the next scene her character seems flimsy; the inconsistency is a bit of a turn off of the character as it feels that the director is relying too much on the “hot girl who can kick ass” aspect of her character… which is hot, but you can’t build a character on that.
So if I have to try and find any downsides of the film, I would be pretty hard up to make a list. As I said, the character of Rhodes suffers from being a little overlooked for development and seems to only be there to don the War Machine suit. The end of the final battle with Whiplash felt a little hollow, it would have been nice to see the battle go on a bit longer, but the ending was done to solidify Stark and Rhodes, so it is permissible. At times the movie felt too much like it was being used as a vehicle for Marvel to promote other upcoming films, but why not take advantage of your currently strongest franchise to help the lesser ones?
All in all, Iron Man 2 is a solid film and very enjoyable. Every aspect of the story from the dramatic to the comedic is handled extremely well and is never overdone or hammed up. Majority of the cast, and I mean a large majority, play their roles perfectly and make the characters as believable as comic book circumstances can be portrayed.
You’re already going to see this movie, so just go, have fun and enjoy, knowing that you should not at all be disappointed.
Oh yeah and hardcore Marvel fans should know by now to always stay until after the credits, but just to remind you… stay until after the credits…
I’m out
written by Lee Clifford
Finally it’s come, Iron Man 2 is now in theatres and it’s chock full of snarky Robert Downey Jr goodness.
So I really doubt there’s any merit in the question “is Iron Man 2 good?” because we all knew it would be really hard to screw up what they made out of Iron Man; I mean they would have to try to screw this up to make it a bad movie.
So the movie picks up at the very end of the first, with Tony Stark declaring “I am Iron Man” and the press going nuts. Problematic aftermath for Tony Stark now is that he’s got a lot of people putting him in their crosshairs. The gov’t wants the Iron Man suit for their armed forces, competitive companies are looking to rip off Stark’s tech, and an old rival of Tony’s father comes out of the woodwork.
The last of these brings us the movie’s primary villain, Whiplash, played stunningly by Mickey Rourke. Whiplash could have been the breaker in this movie if it had been played by a lesser actor. I can just see the look on Rourke’s face when he sat down and the director said “okay, Mickey, your character is enigmatic even though we’ll be covering your back story. You’re a physicist but also a certified badass, you have a legit reason to have a vendetta but try to become a character that the audience can hate but not too easily … oh yeah and throw in a Russian accent… ya know what just learn Russian while you’re at it.”
Whiplash easily could have been a character that Rourke could have don a shoddy job at, or hammed up and made weak, but he handled the role expertly and at times threatened to steal the spotlight from the bar-setting Downie.
The previous foundation characters return with Pepper Pots being given a heaping amount of more screen time and character development and she doesn’t disappoint; her depiction of a regular person trying to make sense of being in the middle of ridiculous sets of circumstances is handled brilliantly. Col. James Rhodes is back, but now played by Don Cheadle, who at first gives the audience a less military screen presence and at first glance seems like he would be a less militant version of the previous Rhodes.
I’m pleased to say that Cheadle proved me wrong.
The character of Rhodes does suffer a bit in the character development department, as it seems the rush is just to get him in the War Machine suit, but that’s the fault of writers, not the actor. Cheadle sells it and sells it well, his one liners are limited, but they’re all solid and his wisecracks are enough to break the military man shell that the previous Rhodes had created.
Speaking of wisecracks.
As one would expect, very few scenes go by that don’t somehow include Stark making smart aleck remarks; more often than not at the expense of someone else. The humour in the previous movie flirted with risque several times, where now Stark’s jokes push that envelope just a bit more into adult territory but done so subtly that the jokes go right over the heads of kids. The visual gags are also terrific, they’re ridiculous moments that are handled so matter-of-factly that the sight gags become even more funny as a result of that treatment.
The movie’s pace is very enjoyable as the film establishes right away what the issues and circumstances of the film are, and then takes us through these situations at a very smart pace.
Another strength of this movie is that it knows its place in the story. Iron Man was the origin story, and focused more on character development but made sure to lead to the epic melee at the film’s end. Iron Man 2 knew that the audience didn’t need a full refresher of the previous film, the audience wanted to see Iron Man fly around, blow crap up, have a few epic battles and get a little bit more of Tony Stark time but not too much. The movie balances the scales very nicely as the story has multiple issues that Tony is dealing with while at the same time filling the kablooey quota but making sure the action scenes aren’t just there for the sake of action; it felt like not a single action scene was unnecessary, drawn out sometimes maybe, but never unnecessary.
Another nice feature about the movie is that it continues to embrace the trend of recent Marvel movies by including little wink nudge moments for hardcore comic fans. The film is packed with little Easter eggs that for the most part are so subtle that the mainstream crowd will totally miss them, but comic fans will get a lot of chuckles from the fan service; they’re nice additions that give long time fans the comfort of knowing “yes the movie is for mainstream audiences, but this is for us”.
The review also can not be complete with acknowledging Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury and Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow. Jackson puts on his standard badass persona for the role, but you can tell he’s trying sometimes too hard to pull it back and not go into Shaft mode, he would clearly be more comfortable if the rating was just bumped up so he could drop his signature F bombs.
Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow can be received in mixed fashion. There are scenes that she’s rock solid, and then the next scene her character seems flimsy; the inconsistency is a bit of a turn off of the character as it feels that the director is relying too much on the “hot girl who can kick ass” aspect of her character… which is hot, but you can’t build a character on that.
So if I have to try and find any downsides of the film, I would be pretty hard up to make a list. As I said, the character of Rhodes suffers from being a little overlooked for development and seems to only be there to don the War Machine suit. The end of the final battle with Whiplash felt a little hollow, it would have been nice to see the battle go on a bit longer, but the ending was done to solidify Stark and Rhodes, so it is permissible. At times the movie felt too much like it was being used as a vehicle for Marvel to promote other upcoming films, but why not take advantage of your currently strongest franchise to help the lesser ones?
All in all, Iron Man 2 is a solid film and very enjoyable. Every aspect of the story from the dramatic to the comedic is handled extremely well and is never overdone or hammed up. Majority of the cast, and I mean a large majority, play their roles perfectly and make the characters as believable as comic book circumstances can be portrayed.
You’re already going to see this movie, so just go, have fun and enjoy, knowing that you should not at all be disappointed.
Oh yeah and hardcore Marvel fans should know by now to always stay until after the credits, but just to remind you… stay until after the credits…
I’m out
written by Lee Clifford
Finally it’s come, Iron Man 2 is now in theatres and it’s chock full of snarky Robert Downey Jr goodness.
So I really doubt there’s any merit in the question “is Iron Man 2 good?” because we all knew it would be really hard to screw up what they made out of Iron Man; I mean they would have to try to screw this up to make it a bad movie.
So the movie picks up at the very end of the first, with Tony Stark declaring “I am Iron Man” and the press going nuts. Problematic aftermath for Tony Stark now is that he’s got a lot of people putting him in their crosshairs. The gov’t wants the Iron Man suit for their armed forces, competitive companies are looking to rip off Stark’s tech, and an old rival of Tony’s father comes out of the woodwork.
The last of these brings us the movie’s primary villain, Whiplash, played stunningly by Mickey Rourke. Whiplash could have been the breaker in this movie if it had been played by a lesser actor. I can just see the look on Rourke’s face when he sat down and the director said “okay, Mickey, your character is enigmatic even though we’ll be covering your back story. You’re a physicist but also a certified badass, you have a legit reason to have a vendetta but try to become a character that the audience can hate but not too easily … oh yeah and throw in a Russian accent… ya know what just learn Russian while you’re at it.”
Whiplash easily could have been a character that Rourke could have don a shoddy job at, or hammed up and made weak, but he handled the role expertly and at times threatened to steal the spotlight from the bar-setting Downie.
The previous foundation characters return with Pepper Pots being given a heaping amount of more screen time and character development and she doesn’t disappoint; her depiction of a regular person trying to make sense of being in the middle of ridiculous sets of circumstances is handled brilliantly. Col. James Rhodes is back, but now played by Don Cheadle, who at first gives the audience a less military screen presence and at first glance seems like he would be a less militant version of the previous Rhodes.
I’m pleased to say that Cheadle proved me wrong.
The character of Rhodes does suffer a bit in the character development department, as it seems the rush is just to get him in the War Machine suit, but that’s the fault of writers, not the actor. Cheadle sells it and sells it well, his one liners are limited, but they’re all solid and his wisecracks are enough to break the military man shell that the previous Rhodes had created.
Speaking of wisecracks.
As one would expect, very few scenes go by that don’t somehow include Stark making smart aleck remarks; more often than not at the expense of someone else. The humour in the previous movie flirted with risque several times, where now Stark’s jokes push that envelope just a bit more into adult territory but done so subtly that the jokes go right over the heads of kids. The visual gags are also terrific, they’re ridiculous moments that are handled so matter-of-factly that the sight gags become even more funny as a result of that treatment.
The movie’s pace is very enjoyable as the film establishes right away what the issues and circumstances of the film are, and then takes us through these situations at a very smart pace.
Another strength of this movie is that it knows its place in the story. Iron Man was the origin story, and focused more on character development but made sure to lead to the epic melee at the film’s end. Iron Man 2 knew that the audience didn’t need a full refresher of the previous film, the audience wanted to see Iron Man fly around, blow crap up, have a few epic battles and get a little bit more of Tony Stark time but not too much. The movie balances the scales very nicely as the story has multiple issues that Tony is dealing with while at the same time filling the kablooey quota but making sure the action scenes aren’t just there for the sake of action; it felt like not a single action scene was unnecessary, drawn out sometimes maybe, but never unnecessary.
Another nice feature about the movie is that it continues to embrace the trend of recent Marvel movies by including little wink nudge moments for hardcore comic fans. The film is packed with little Easter eggs that for the most part are so subtle that the mainstream crowd will totally miss them, but comic fans will get a lot of chuckles from the fan service; they’re nice additions that give long time fans the comfort of knowing “yes the movie is for mainstream audiences, but this is for us”.
The review also can not be complete with acknowledging Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury and Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow. Jackson puts on his standard badass persona for the role, but you can tell he’s trying sometimes too hard to pull it back and not go into Shaft mode, he would clearly be more comfortable if the rating was just bumped up so he could drop his signature F bombs.
Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow can be received in mixed fashion. There are scenes that she’s rock solid, and then the next scene her character seems flimsy; the inconsistency is a bit of a turn off of the character as it feels that the director is relying too much on the “hot girl who can kick ass” aspect of her character… which is hot, but you can’t build a character on that.
So if I have to try and find any downsides of the film, I would be pretty hard up to make a list. As I said, the character of Rhodes suffers from being a little overlooked for development and seems to only be there to don the War Machine suit. The end of the final battle with Whiplash felt a little hollow, it would have been nice to see the battle go on a bit longer, but the ending was done to solidify Stark and Rhodes, so it is permissible. At times the movie felt too much like it was being used as a vehicle for Marvel to promote other upcoming films, but why not take advantage of your currently strongest franchise to help the lesser ones?
All in all, Iron Man 2 is a solid film and very enjoyable. Every aspect of the story from the dramatic to the comedic is handled extremely well and is never overdone or hammed up. Majority of the cast, and I mean a large majority, play their roles perfectly and make the characters as believable as comic book circumstances can be portrayed.
You’re already going to see this movie, so just go, have fun and enjoy, knowing that you should not at all be disappointed.
Oh yeah and hardcore Marvel fans should know by now to always stay until after the credits, but just to remind you… stay until after the credits…
I’m out
written by Lee Clifford
Finally it’s come, Iron Man 2 is now in theatres and it’s chock full of snarky Robert Downey Jr goodness.
So I really doubt there’s any merit in the question “is Iron Man 2 good?” because we all knew it would be really hard to screw up what they made out of Iron Man; I mean they would have to try to screw this up to make it a bad movie.
So the movie picks up at the very end of the first, with Tony Stark declaring “I am Iron Man” and the press going nuts. Problematic aftermath for Tony Stark now is that he’s got a lot of people putting him in their crosshairs. The gov’t wants the Iron Man suit for their armed forces, competitive companies are looking to rip off Stark’s tech, and an old rival of Tony’s father comes out of the woodwork.
The last of these brings us the movie’s primary villain, Whiplash, played stunningly by Mickey Rourke. Whiplash could have been the breaker in this movie if it had been played by a lesser actor. I can just see the look on Rourke’s face when he sat down and the director said “okay, Mickey, your character is enigmatic even though we’ll be covering your back story. You’re a physicist but also a certified badass, you have a legit reason to have a vendetta but try to become a character that the audience can hate but not too easily … oh yeah and throw in a Russian accent… ya know what just learn Russian while you’re at it.”
Whiplash easily could have been a character that Rourke could have don a shoddy job at, or hammed up and made weak, but he handled the role expertly and at times threatened to steal the spotlight from the bar-setting Downie.
The previous foundation characters return with Pepper Pots being given a heaping amount of more screen time and character development and she doesn’t disappoint; her depiction of a regular person trying to make sense of being in the middle of ridiculous sets of circumstances is handled brilliantly. Col. James Rhodes is back, but now played by Don Cheadle, who at first gives the audience a less military screen presence and at first glance seems like he would be a less militant version of the previous Rhodes.
I’m pleased to say that Cheadle proved me wrong.
The character of Rhodes does suffer a bit in the character development department, as it seems the rush is just to get him in the War Machine suit, but that’s the fault of writers, not the actor. Cheadle sells it and sells it well, his one liners are limited, but they’re all solid and his wisecracks are enough to break the military man shell that the previous Rhodes had created.
Speaking of wisecracks.
As one would expect, very few scenes go by that don’t somehow include Stark making smart aleck remarks; more often than not at the expense of someone else. The humour in the previous movie flirted with risque several times, where now Stark’s jokes push that envelope just a bit more into adult territory but done so subtly that the jokes go right over the heads of kids. The visual gags are also terrific, they’re ridiculous moments that are handled so matter-of-factly that the sight gags become even more funny as a result of that treatment.
The movie’s pace is very enjoyable as the film establishes right away what the issues and circumstances of the film are, and then takes us through these situations at a very smart pace.
Another strength of this movie is that it knows its place in the story. Iron Man was the origin story, and focused more on character development but made sure to lead to the epic melee at the film’s end. Iron Man 2 knew that the audience didn’t need a full refresher of the previous film, the audience wanted to see Iron Man fly around, blow crap up, have a few epic battles and get a little bit more of Tony Stark time but not too much. The movie balances the scales very nicely as the story has multiple issues that Tony is dealing with while at the same time filling the kablooey quota but making sure the action scenes aren’t just there for the sake of action; it felt like not a single action scene was unnecessary, drawn out sometimes maybe, but never unnecessary.
Another nice feature about the movie is that it continues to embrace the trend of recent Marvel movies by including little wink nudge moments for hardcore comic fans. The film is packed with little Easter eggs that for the most part are so subtle that the mainstream crowd will totally miss them, but comic fans will get a lot of chuckles from the fan service; they’re nice additions that give long time fans the comfort of knowing “yes the movie is for mainstream audiences, but this is for us”.
The review also can not be complete with acknowledging Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury and Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow. Jackson puts on his standard badass persona for the role, but you can tell he’s trying sometimes too hard to pull it back and not go into Shaft mode, he would clearly be more comfortable if the rating was just bumped up so he could drop his signature F bombs.
Scarlet Johansson as Black Widow can be received in mixed fashion. There are scenes that she’s rock solid, and then the next scene her character seems flimsy; the inconsistency is a bit of a turn off of the character as it feels that the director is relying too much on the “hot girl who can kick ass” aspect of her character… which is hot, but you can’t build a character on that.
So if I have to try and find any downsides of the film, I would be pretty hard up to make a list. As I said, the character of Rhodes suffers from being a little overlooked for development and seems to only be there to don the War Machine suit. The end of the final battle with Whiplash felt a little hollow, it would have been nice to see the battle go on a bit longer, but the ending was done to solidify Stark and Rhodes, so it is permissible. At times the movie felt too much like it was being used as a vehicle for Marvel to promote other upcoming films, but why not take advantage of your currently strongest franchise to help the lesser ones?
All in all, Iron Man 2 is a solid film and very enjoyable. Every aspect of the story from the dramatic to the comedic is handled extremely well and is never overdone or hammed up. Majority of the cast, and I mean a large majority, play their roles perfectly and make the characters as believable as comic book circumstances can be portrayed.
You’re already going to see this movie, so just go, have fun and enjoy, knowing that you should not at all be disappointed.
Oh yeah and hardcore Marvel fans should know by now to always stay until after the credits, but just to remind you… stay until after the credits…
