Iron Man 2 is a superhero movie released Friday May 7, 2010. It stars the acting god Robert Downey Jr., and is directed by Jon Favreau.
Now the only reason I mention Jon Favreau is because I didn't know that I knew who Jon Favreau was apperently I do its this guy.
 |
Now if you cant recognize him from this picture alone this is the guy who was Vince Vaughn's best friend in Couples Retreat, Four Christmases, and the break up. He also acted in Daredevil, Elf, and G-force, but that is beside the point. The man who's acting resume reads the same as my next six blog posts couldn't possibly be that great of a director could he? ... Well he directed Iron Man, and to many including myself that movie was a piece of genius. I thought Robert Downey carried Iron Man, but in actuality everything about that movie except for the story was enjoyable. so was Iron Man a stroke of genius? or a great directors starting point? (probably a stroke of genius)
So seeing how this is a movie review on movie still in theaters, and based on the type of movie it is I'll review the movie on three sets of criteria. Characters, Story, and action.
Lets start with the character that hogs the most screen time in the movie Tony Stark / Iron Man.
Robert Downey Jr. Reprises his role as the eccentric billionaire Tony Stark the weapons engineering who in a decision to stop building weapons creates a flying tank that shoots lasers, bullets, and missiles.
 |
Spoiler Alert
Ok so the trailer for the movie shows you many things however it doesn't show you one of the major plot points of the movie. Now if you want to watch this movie some time, and don't want to have one of the most boring plot points ever ruined for you either stop reading now or skip ahead to another character, and with that being said the spoiler shall begin.
So with the world knowing that Tony Stark is indeed Iron Man Tony's new past time becomes arguing with the department of defense over whether or not he should hand over his "Suite". He also becomes more self destructive, ego centric. Yes more ego centric that he was in the first movie. he also drinks much heavier than he did in the first movie.
This movie attempts to show Tony Stark as a truly flawed man. Gone is his bravado, and self confidence. Its replaced almost completely with cries for help. Cries that almost completely go unanswered. The movie spends so much time going into the problems of our Tony Stark we get almost a full 30 minutes without Iron Man. The much cooler, and at this point more interesting personality among Tony's dual identities.
I just don't like as a whole what was done with the character. I know the comic dives into the faults of tony in an attempt to show some of the inner turmoil that comes with the life of a billionaire genius, with a super suite. ... Turmoil?
The comic just had much more time to work with. That extra time gave them the ability to flesh out the character show many aspects of Tony Stark that the movie just didn't have the time for. I felt although it was kind of interesting to see tony at his worst I think for a sequel we still needed a little bit more of tony at his best.
James Rhodes / War Machine.
Don Cheadle Takes over the role of James Rhodes from Terrence Howard.
Its interesting to see the change in Rhodes between the two movies. Essentially the change occurs because the two actors takes the character, and makes it their own. Under Howard Rhodes seems more in charge. He seems to have the ability to command his subordinates, and persuade his superiors. Howard plays Rhodes as Tony's best friend a man who used his position to make sure his friend was in the best position possible.
Now Don Cheadle plays the same person but Rhodes seems like a whole new person. Now instead of being the man in charge, Rhodes seems like a victim of his position. Having to be the example to his subordinates, and forced to follow the misguided command of his superiors. Now this change in character could of just been written. The character himself could have changed in response to his best friend becoming a super hero. However I think its more on the lines of the character being changed to better fit the actor. I'm sure that in the first movie Terrence Howard greatly affected how he portrayed the character, and Don Cheadle in this movie does the same. The character changes because two great actors decided how the character should be changed, but this creates a bit of disconnect when you view the two movies back to back. It isn't that Don Cheadle does a bad job at playing James Rhodes, just that Terrence Howard played a more confident, more powerful Rhodes, that honestly seemed to have more fun, and seemed to be more useful to Tony that Cheadle's Rhodes.
Pepper Potts
Gwyneth Paltrow Reprises her role as Pepper Potts, Tony's secretary and main love interest. She seems to be in the movie for not much more than to help push the plot along. She is their for many of the movies important scenes, but never really does much. She seems to be a background character their simply because she was their in the first movie. Her dialog is pretty good showing just how much Pepper knows about Tony, but overall their just wasn't many interesting things that this character did.
now in an attempt to save you some time ima take a look at the remaing characters in a more snapshot form.
Black widow- Had one really great action sequence, but overall was just eye candy. Her character was used in a way to connect this movie with the upcoming avengers movie, and didn't really do anything to help push the plot of this movie along.
Nick Fury- Another Character who seems to be here for the sole purpose of Connecting this to the avengers. He does pass along a major plot device but overall I felt that if he wasn't in the movie nothing would have been sacrificed.
Happy Hogan - Played by our director Jon Favreau this is probably one of the best characters in the movie. His scenes are always the funniest, and most enjoyable. He is involved in two fight scenes, and an action sequence, all of them are the best sequences in the movie. Jon Favreau may not have directed the best movie in the world but he damn sure knows a good scene when he sees one, because he is in all of em. If you see him on the screen pay attention something good is about to happen.
Our bad guys - forgettable.
Now that Ive got the characters out of the way lets take a look at the story.
one part of the story shows tony trying to get his life in order in response to his imminent death. This part of the story is the longest, and weakest part of this movie. His death sends him down a spiral of self destruction culminating in him alienating himself from his friends, giving away his company, and giving away one of his suits. This plot point is a very boring one to watch, and it robs the audience of seeing the Tony Stark found in Iron Man. I feel the original movie had a much more upbeat tone, and was overall more enjoyable.
The other part of the story revolves around our main antagonist wanting to destroy Tony Stark because Tony Stark's father destroyed his father. He is a genius, and devises a plan to destroy Iron Man by creating his own suit, and making the world turn against Iron Man. His plan quickly fails, and when he is approached by our films other antagonist he makes a new plan. What is his new plan exactly? ... ??? I have no idea.
The whole thing revolves around him using Hammer industries to create weapons that he uses to try, and destroy Iron Man directly. A Staggering difference from his original plan, but equally as stupid, and it fails just as quickly.
So far the characters are not nearly as charming as they were in the first movie, and the story is immensely striped down. However the action sequences are improved significantly when compared to the original Iron Man.
The original Iron Man's action sequences all involved one sided fights. Their was the fight between the terrorists, and the original Iron Man suit. (One sided Iron man won) the scene between the terrorists, and Iron Mans Mark 2 suit. (one sided Iron Man one)
Their are a plethora of action sequences in Iron Man two, and the three involving the Iron Man suit are all fair fights involving a bit of back, and forth. All are enjoyable.
Its now time for another breakdown.
Did the critics think it was good?
Yes. Iron Man two so far has 74% fresh rating on rotten tomatoes.
Do I think its good?
Yes and No. Its not nearly as good as its predicesor, but as an action movie it hits many of the marks required.
Is it worth watching?
Yea. The story, and characters aren't probably the best around, but i would be crazy to not recommend that everyone go and see this movie. granted its just another turn your brain off action movie, but since when were those not enjoyable?
All in all Iron Man 2 wasn't the best super hero movie in the world, but with some strong action sequences, and some really cool dialog Iron Man two surpasses the faults of many Super Hero movies and deserves to be seen.
3-5.
No comments:
Post a Comment