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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!

    Iron Man 2 review and a DBR summer movie shoutout!

    First of all, my appearance on the Atlanta radio station (790, the local sports-talk station) this morning can be heard/seen here. It is not nearly as detailed as this post but some folks may enjoy it. It begins with the radio hosts surprising me by talking about my son's baseball game the night before and one of the afternoon radio guys on the station who happens to be my son's batting and pitching coach. Anyway, once you get through that mess, you can hear my thoughts on Iron Man 2.

    Plus, as an added bonus, I talk about the Top Movies of Summer thread that we do on this board every year!!! A little shout-out from me to all of you

    As for Iron Man 2...



    I want to start by reminding everyone that I thought the original Iron Man was one of the better comic book movies. It was not quite up there with the two recent Batman films or Spiderman 1 & 2 but I put it in a league with XMen 1 & 2 -- which is pretty darn good.

    The sequel isn't nearly as good. The story starts out waay too slow and then rushes to an ending that just wasn't all that interesting or dramatic. There are still some cool action sequences, but there is none of the wonder and originality we got in the first film.



    One of the big problems is that the first 2/3rds of the movie centers around the descent of Tony Stark into a depressed and dying billionaire playboy. Woo hoo!! Isn't that fun? Downey Jr. plays it largely for laughs, and he gets some, but I found it hard to sympathize with him. Much of the conflict in the film feels forced and Stark brushes it off so much, I found myself not really caring all that much about his problems.

    The side players are fine -- nothing too special. Sam Rockwell plays Tony Stark's corporate nemesis, a rival weapons-making billionaire, but the character is so over-the-top silly at times, you just cannot take him seriously. I am sure many folks will enjoy Mickey Rourke's take on the Russian villian Ivan Danko/Whiplash but I felt they could have done so much more with this character. They play him as Stark's equal in terms of intellect and creativity -- but we don't get to see enough of that and we just don't get enough of him and Stark together facing off with their minds. A real wasted opportunity. He's a better villian than the cartoonish Jeff Bridges was in the last film, but not by much. Don Cheadle takes over for Terrence Howard in the role of Col. Rhody Rhodes, Tony Stark's buddy and ally. They have a few cool scenes wearing Iron Man suits that are the film's best moments.



    Finally, the comic fanboys out there will go ga-ga for all the Avenger's tidbits hiddin in the film. Several key --- uhhh --- props from the Avenger's world make interesting appearances in the film which prompted cheers from the audience each time. Of course, if you don't know comic books really well, you won't understand these references and may feel lost. As has become a tradition, if you wait around until the credits are done, you will get a hint at where Marvel is taking the comic book franchise next. Also, Samuel L Jackson as Avenger leader Nick Fury is in about 3 or 4 scenes... he is starting to look old and non-fanboys won't understand what the heck is happening in these parts.

    Look, I have dumped on it pretty thoroughly. It is not like Iron Man 2 is garbage. It held my attention and has some funny moments with RDJr. It just does not come close to living up to the first one in terms of story and execution.

    --Jason "I do predict big boxoffice-- well over $275 million" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA

    Iron Man 2 (Spoilers)

    Saw it this weekend.

    My take - pretty disappointing.

    What made the first one so good was the dialogue and the zippy lines of Robert Downey Jr and his interaction with everyone (Pepper and Rhodey especially), and him coming to terms with the new equipment. There were scenes that had you enthralled and laughing, even with no action sequences.

    This one is mainly loud and pointless. The great dialogue only comes out in points (with the best ones in the last 5 minutes, and when Samuel Jackson shows up as Nick Fury). Some of the action scenes were good - but it's all been done before. And there was plenty of bad. In my order they were:

    1) The Villian. Awful. I mean awful. I like Mickey Rourke...but this portrayal was just terrible. From the lame toothpick in his mouth, to his wanting his bird, even if it might have been the wrong bird, to his awful accent. There was no connection, and no energy here.

    2) The Other Villian. Sam Rockwell as the Defense guy was a character we've seen a dozen plus times (the jealous rival who acts tough, even though he isn't, and hires the bad guy who you know is going to turn on him).

    3) The fight scenes. Can someone explain to me how Rourke can get hit by a car at full speed and smashed into a wall - and he's 100% fine. He's not a superhero - he just has a suit that somehow allows him to hold on to whips that have an electrical charge. Yet he can get hit by a car and not have a broken back, or spine, or anything? I don't mind suspending my disbelief in these movies, but come on?

    4) The action scenes. Ditto with Downey being in a car that is cut in half as it is going 60+ miles an hour and he's totally fine. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

    5) Jon Favrou. He had about 5 minutes too much time in this film (and he was in the movie about 6 minutes).

    6) Don Cheadle. A great actor...but every scene he was in, he seemed to be saying, "Yeah, they should have never gotten rid of Terrence."

    7) The new element. It made no sense. It still doesn't. I'm not even sure what the heck it meant, or how he figured it out, or how he made it, or how it helped him. Ughh

    Overall, I would give this movie a C. It's a good popcorn flick, and keeps the energy moving...but the acting was bad, the storyline predictable, the villian(s) terrible, and the comparison to the first makes it seem even worse. I would put it with X-Men 3 and SpiderMan 3 (though likely ahead of both of those thanks to Robert Downey Jr, and Scarlett Johansen who is actually pretty cool in this.

    Sigh - hope the movies get better from here on out...though I have my doubts.

    And yes, this is an absolute lock for the top 5

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Didn't anyone else see Iron Man 2? Seems like Udaman and I had very similar reactions to it. Any dissenting opinions?

    --Jason "don't be quiet-- speak up here" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    wilmington, nc
    I am no movie critic, even more so when it comes to comic book movies since I was never a comic book guy, but my fiancee she loves them a drug me to this one. We saw the first one and I liked it so I was not to upset being drug to this one.

    I also would give it a grade of about a "C" while the first one I would have given a B+. I felt like IM2 was just a little scattered around and thought they could have done more with Rourke. Downey keeps this thing watchable for me, and Scarlett Johansen looking hot in leather helped as well. Other then that I would not buy the DVD like we did the first one. Again it was not a bad movie, but a little predictable and cheesy, but then again it was a comic book movie. It got a few chuckles out of me with its comedy attempts, which i liked because I am more of a comedy movie guy then action movie guy. If I had to do it again I would have just waited to rent it instead of paying movie ticket prices to see it, but my fiancee would not have let that happen anyway...

  5. #5

    blah

    Saw it last night ...

    It wasn't bad, but not thrilled by it. Definitely not as good as the first one.

    Agree that it needed another re-write. Pretty unfocused. I would have enjoyed more of the Rourke-Downey plot and more of the romance between Downey and Paltrow.

    The best part of the film to me was the interplay between Downey and the other characters. The worst part were the action sequences -- they first big set-piece during the Monaco Race was okay, but I thought the big battle at the end was hard to follow and the final showdown was surprisingly abrupt.

    I agree with the "C" grade. Not a waste of time, but nothing to get excited about (except some of the shots of Scarlett in leather!!)

  6. #6
    My initial thoughts:

    I'm with the general consensus on the board that it wasn't as good as the first one, but I don't think I'd be as harsh with the grades; it's still a B or a B+ in my book, with some great moments.

    My major complaint with the movie is that it really has a paint-by-the-numbers feel; perhaps this is the fate of all blockbuster sequels given enough iterations. Still, there's a lot tacked on that really doesn't contribute to the movie very much (yes, to the cold boos of fanboys everywhere, I'm including Black Widow in that assessment). And for all of Jeff Bridges' "cartoonish" feel in the first movie, his motivations and actions were all crystal clear and had some real force behind them; I really didn't get that feel from O'Rourke this time around, although he didn't have that much dialogue to work from.

    Regardless, there are some great set pieces here. The fight at the Grand Prix is electric enough, in my opinion, to weather mild niggling concerns about security and what Stark is doing driving in the first place. And even though the dialogue is a bit more peripatetic than the first movie, it's snappy enough to keep one's attention even when things aren't being blown up or shot at.

    All in all, Downey Jr. has basically become to Iron Man what Christopher Reeves was to Superman -- he inhabits the character so well, and so seamlessly, that it's just about impossible to imagine anyone else portraying him. As long as his character doesn't end up going Gothic Emo and playing the piano, Downey Jr. will always make Iron Man a joy to watch.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Los Angeles
    I saw it last Friday and was disappointed, even going in knowing that it wasn't going to be all that good. The first 2/3 seemed like everyone was too busy patting themselves on the back due to the success of the first one and busy showing how cool they all are (sort of like the later Oceans movies). The last 1/3 really just seemed like it was trying to set the stage for the rest of the Marvel movies coming out. Somehow, making IM2 a good movie just seemed to be completely lost in this whole mess.

    As for the part where Rourke was smashed into the wall, my main thought was "Why doesn't someone with a gun shoot the madman attacking everyone on the track?" I mean, it's not like he was protected from bullets. The whole movie had huge holes along this line (really? The iron man suits aren't custom fit? Anyone can wear one no matter what their size? Cheadle wasn't turned into a pretzel when he put one on?) I thought it hilarious that at the end, when Rourke finally was wearing armor, that he would open it up to make his face vulnerable.

    I knew it would be bad, it was, but it had explosions.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Deeetroit City
    I enjoyed the movie a great deal, but then I was an avid comic book reader back in the day (about the time electric lights became popular). I do recommend seeing it in IMAX, as the sound adds a great deal to the experience.

    OK, popcorn logic flows freely. Stark constructs a particle accelerator with corrugated tubing, a welder, and a hand level. Oh, and a sledge hammer to extend it into other rooms.

    My sons and their friends also complained that the "boss battle" (a gamer's term) was too short.

    I agree with Jason that the downward spiral of Stark was way overplayed. Too much of the script was devoted to plausibly getting a suit into Rhody's hands, particularly when plausibility was not a priority at any other point in the movie.

    That said, I found the action and the remainder of the plot entertaining. I really liked the Black Widow, for reasons that need no explanation. The acting was very good, up there with the Batman franchise (Heath Ledger excepted). The highlight of the movie is the action, which is very well done.

    For all or the implausibility, my big complaint is that the "you complete me" line in the previews was cut from the movie

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Elon, NC
    Based on opinions here and other critics I went in today to see Ironman 2 with low expectations. Was I surprised! I highly enjoyed it and wondered if this was the same movie others have criticized. I would probably see it again and I will definitely buy it on DVD or Blueray.
    Tom Mac

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Quote Originally Posted by Tommac View Post
    Based on opinions here and other critics I went in today to see Ironman 2 with low expectations. Was I surprised! I highly enjoyed it and wondered if this was the same movie others have criticized. I would probably see it again and I will definitely buy it on DVD or Blueray.
    I find that low expectations often lead to a more enjoyable experience. As such, I often attempt to go in with low expectations these days. Just makes life better to be pleasantly surprised.

  11. #11
    What, other than cartoonish violence, makes the movie PG-13? Wondering if it would be appropriate for my 6 year old (who loves super heroes). He saw the first Iron Man on DVD, and aside from having him close his eyes during the opening scene with Stark picking up the reporter and taking her home, it wasn't bad for someone in elementary school.

    Is the language particularly bad?
    "There can BE only one."

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by Highlander View Post
    What, other than cartoonish violence, makes the movie PG-13? Wondering if it would be appropriate for my 6 year old (who loves super heroes). He saw the first Iron Man on DVD, and aside from having him close his eyes during the opening scene with Stark picking up the reporter and taking her home, it wasn't bad for someone in elementary school.

    Is the language particularly bad?
    Not sure if you are aware of Kids-in-mind.com. It is a website that breaks down the content of films so parents can judge whether their child should see it. I find their descriptions to be very accurate and useful.

    Here is their breakdown of Iron Man 2.

    --Jason "I think this is pretty similar to Iron Man 1 and if your child saw that he could se this one too" Evans
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Atlanta, GA/Durham, NC
    To me, it seemed like this movie was presented more to set the tone for the Avengers than Iron Man 2.

    It did start slow and then ended quite quickly. The "boss battle" (meaning you fight the big guy at the end of a stage) was WAY too short. They could have let that go on another 3 or 4 minutes with some flying added in.

    This movie most reminded me of the Superman movie (III?) where Clark gives up his powers to be human and all kinds of boring stuff happens. For parallels - creating the new element is essentially the return to the Crystal Palace before the fight with the bad guys - which is what pretty much happens next...

  14. #14

    Smile

    Quote Originally Posted by SupaDave View Post
    This movie most reminded me of the Superman movie (III?) where Clark gives up his powers to be human and all kinds of boring stuff happens. For parallels - creating the new element is essentially the return to the Crystal Palace before the fight with the bad guys - which is what pretty much happens next...
    Superman II

    Fortress of Solitude


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