IRON MAN 2 (Paramount/Marvel Studios)

Mike LoManaco

WARNING! INTENSE DEGREES OF PLOT SPOILERS DISCUSSED BELOW – IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SEEN “IRON MAN 2” PLEASE STOP READING!


I wanted to see this on opening night -- but I just couldn't get around to it, and the wife had a headache. I recently returned from seeing it, and I don't really know where to start -- the biggest disappointment has to be the removal of Terrence Howard as Rhodes, and the "parlaying" Jon Favreau did with the villain characterization...I'll get to that.

In what seemed like a quick arrival to the screen since the original, Iron Man 2 isn't the standard setter for this genre like Spider Man 2 was or The Dark Knight since it, but it is a kick-**** roller coaster of effects and Transformers-like fight sequences (which may or may not be a good thing). The thing I had the most problem with was the "invention" of Mickey Rourke's "Whiplash" villain character, as I discovered after some online research, was a weird hybrid of the comic based Whiplash (who wasn't Russian) and the "Crimson Dynamo;" it seemed like a Frankenstein of a character creation. But while Rourke was highly criticized for his "hammy" performance of the Russian scientist of sorts out for revenge at the Stark family, I thought he was quite good in it -- tattooed from head to toe and sporting a nasty disposition with a ridiculous physique to boot, Rourke played the Whiplash/Ivan Vanko position frighteningly enough.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here; there are just so many things going on in this film, it almost suffers from the Spider-Man 3 syndrome. First, we have Downey Jr. returning as Stark, who, as it goes in all superhero film sequels, is now enjoying his notoriety as Iron Man -- flying into the "Stark Expo" in Flushing, New York, Stark, as Iron Man, is greeting by screaming hot chicks and ridiculously hot cheerleaders in skimpy Iron Man getups. This reminded me of Peter Parker's stint in Spidey 3, when he kisses the police chief's daughter at the outdoor "key to the city" event. The film actually opens, prior to these Stark happenings, with an audio cue from the first film replaying the final press conference voiceovers from Downey Jr.; we are then taken into the world of Ivan Vanko in Russia, who cares for his dying father as the two of them watch Tony Stark on the TV set. There is some kind of bad blood between Stark Industries and Vanko's father, and while I am uncertain as to how much of this is "genuine" to the comic universe, Rourke's character begins building a suit of armor in order to avenge his father -- and go straight after Stark himself.

Meanwhile, Stark is getting pressure from all sides to hand over his suit technology to the government -- the media, his friend Rhodes himself and the SHIELD operative. When he is called in front of a senate meeting, headed by Gary Shandling, he refuses to just hand over his company's technology secrets. This introduces many new characters to the fold, including a rival weapons developer that ends up joining forces with Rourke's Whiplash character (which is actually never referred to in the film). Before that happens, we are treated to perhaps one of the coolest moments in the film, when Stark decides to race a car in a Grand Prix event in Europe, and Rourke arrives to attack him with his homemade "whip suit," which contains long current-loaded "whips" in the wrist tips. As Whiplash's electric bolts cut through cars in the race, flipping them over, he eventually gets to Stark's car, as he threatens to kill Stark himself with the bolts -- that is, until Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) arrives with Pepper Potts (the uber-sexy Gwyneth Paltrow returning in her short skirts again) and they give Tony his "portable" suit frame so he can transform into Iron Man right there at the Grand Prix racetrack. The ensuing battle between Tony and Rourke, as Rourke deflects Iron Man's energy bursts from his hands with his whips, is sweaty palm-inducing and sets a great tone as the first fight sequence. As Rourke (Whiplash/Vanko) is defeated and arrested, we know that won't be the last we see of him.

Samuel L. Jackson returns as agent Nick Fury of SHIELD, and we get more hints about the upcoming Avengers project as well as the new Captain America film; some of the sequences with Jackson are silly and simply wasted in terms of someone with his acting abilities. Also on Jackson's team now is Scarlett Johansson, playing an undercover SHIELD agent who has infiltrated Stark Industries for the secret of his weapons through posing as a replacement for Pepper Potts when she is suddenly promoted to CEO of Tony's company. I know -- this all gets confusing, and believe me, the script suffered for it. For some reason, in discovering that the technology that's been keeping his heart running is now poisoning him, Stark relinquishes ownership of the company to Potts as he briefly "steps down" from being Iron Man (the conflict of identity we see many comic main leads suffer from, as Parker did in Spidey 2). But my G-d...does Johannson look so sexy in this as the ****-kickin' SHIELD agent that takes out more than a few security dudes towards the end with breathtaking martial arts agility that would give Catwoman and Elektra runs for their money. When she's not donning the black tight pants to kick ****, she's prancing around Downey Jr. as his stand in assistant in ridiculously short, tight skirts and high heels, shakin' that amazing rear end of hers like it's nobody's business.

But this whole SHIELD infiltration/Stark company relinquishment/Johansson involvement made the script much heavier and more complicated than it needed to be. Then, there's the issue of Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle who doesn't do any justice to the character) getting into the backup Mark suit of Tony's to become "War Machine"...these sequences were plain silly, especially the one in which a DJ AM-attended birthday bash for Tony at his mansion is wrecked when Rhodes puts on the silver-finished suit to "battle" Stark in order to stop him from making a drunk **** out of himself in front of dozens of little-black-dress-donning blonde hotties. The two of them fight it out in the two suits, to the backdrop of the late DJ AM spinning "Another One Bites the Dust," and it was utterly ridiculous.

There's also some kind of backstory involving Tony's father Howard, told through Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury character, and after watching old footage of his father speaking about the "Stark Expo" of his age, Downey Jr. finds a way to create a new element in his lab that replaces the receptacle element of his chest piece, thus saving him from imminent death. This new triangular chest piece looks cool beneath his red and gold armor, and signals the new look the comics took in current times with regard to the character. But some of this whole thing about Howard Hughes and then Tony creating the new element was a bit hokey; I just didn't care for it. In the meantime, Tony's rival in the weapons industry plans to put him out of business in the next New York expo, and arranges to have Rourke broken out of prison so he can be of assistance. Returning to his Queens, New York-based lab, "Hammer" makes a deal with Rourke's Vanko character to help him build drone robot suits based on Stark's design. Vanko, of course, has his own plans for Stark, and sets up the film's dramatic final fight sequence.

The premise is that Rhodey and Stark team up as War Machine and Iron Man to take on Hammer's out-of-control robot drones and ultimately Whiplash himself, who arrives at the end of the fight in a massive War Monger-like suit with the whip tentacles. Vanko, in controlling the drones from Hammer's headquarters while Hammer himself hosts the expo, programs the robot drones to attack the expo and Iron Man who has shown up at the event -- to make matters worse, he has taken control of Rhodes' suit as well, which is equipped with a machine gun-like weapon on the shoulder, and has programmed that too to take out Iron Man. Eventually, Tony and Rhodes regain control of the suit, take out the remaining drone suits, and the final fight between Iron Man, War Machine and Whiplash takes place in the middle of a New York park.

CONTINUED...

Mike LoManaco

CONTINUED...

What I didn't like about this approach was what rubbed me the wrong way in Spider-Man 3, in which Spidey "needed" Harry's help to fight Sandman and Venom. There's something about the main hero requiring the help of another ally to take on two -- or sometimes one -- villain that doesn't seem right. In any event, there are key clues to upcoming comic adaptation projects that are hinted at in this film and aren't to be missed -- one involves a connection between Stark's father and the "Super Soldier" program that involved Captain America (as there's a sneak peek into his shield in this, but it's a bit hazy and hokey) and the other is at the very end of the credits...which I won't divulge. Just don't leave the theater until the credits have stopped rolling. It seems we're in for yet another comic character realization on the big screen...

Iron Man 2 was definitely fun. I will be buying it on Blu-ray. According to online rumor, Favreau wishes to introduce The Mandarin as the next super-villain in part 3, but he's having a hard time figuring out where he will fit in this new technologically-advanced world he has created in the film versions of Iron Man; Mandarin was already hinted to in the first film with the inclusion of the "Ten Rings," a reference to the "magical rings" manipulated by the Mandarin comic character. Still, I thought Mandarin was going to show up in this one as the villain.

I'm looking forward to this and the Captain America project, as well as the tie-in second Hulk film...as rumor has it, a Thor motion picture should surface and then Iron Man 3 before an Avengers project hits the big screen...

Could we possibly see a League of Justice project from the DC Film camp? :eek:

cnh

Haven't read everything above...because I don't want to read the spoilers. Just wanted to say, like clockwork...Iron Man II out on DVD in China as of this weekend. I'll probably get to see it in this form soon. It's incredible just how 'fast' the Chinese can intercept and copy these things? After 10 months here I still Marvel over it (pun intended). lol

Will come back later and read the rest Mike!

cnh

Slinger182

Nice review, I saw this last night at a dine and view. I enjoyed it as well and this will be a first day buy on bluray for me. I definitely enjoyed it more than Transformers 2 but not as much as Dark Knight.

Jstas

What's a "Cine"?

Mike LoManaco

cnh wrote: »

Haven't read everything above...because I don't want to read the spoilers. Just wanted to say, like clockwork...Iron Man II out on DVD in China as of this weekend. I'll probably get to see it in this form soon. It's incredible just how 'fast' the Chinese can intercept and copy these things? After 10 months here I still Marvel over it (pun intended). lol

Will come back later and read the rest Mike!

cnh

Thank you for the message, cnh! I appreciate it...

Yeah, if you haven't seen this yet, don't read the review -- come back and give me your thoughts once you have!

I heard China was getting this on standard DVD almost immediately -- that region of the world is nearly instantaneous in terms of home video channels.

Mike LoManaco

Slinger182 wrote: »

Nice review, I saw this last night at a dine and view. I enjoyed it as well and this will be a first day buy on bluray for me. I definitely enjoyed it more than Transformers 2 but not as much as Dark Knight.

Thanks for your thoughts, Slinger!

I can just about agree regarding it perhaps not being as good as Dark Knight -- but it was an awesome followup to the original.

You can just tell Favreau has fun making these...

Where do you live that there's a "dine and view"? That sounds very intriguing, and it would be the way I would want to see my films!

I agree about getting this the first day on Blu.

Mike LoManaco

WHOOPS! I caught an edit problem after running this through a couple of readovers...it happens...:o

This sentence:

But some of this whole thing about Howard Hughes and then Tony creating the new element was a bit hokey; I just didn't care for it.

Should actually read "...some of this whole thing about Howard Stark..." NOT "Howard Hughes"...

I suppose I was thinking of Vegas and the original film when Downey is surrounded by smokin' hot chicks at Caesars Palace when he's supposed to get his APOGEE award...

And this sentence:

First, we have Downey Jr. returning as Stark, who, as it goes in all superhero film sequels, is now enjoying his notoriety as Iron Man -- flying into the "Stark Expo" in Flushing, New York, Stark, as Iron Man, is greeting by screaming hot chicks and ridiculously hot cheerleaders in skimpy Iron Man getups.

should actually read "...flying into the "Stark Expo" in Flushing, New York, Stark, as Iron Man, and being greeted by screaming hot chicks..."

My apologies.

fatchowmein

In one of the trailer, Pepper kisses the Iron Man helmet before tossing it out the back of a C-130(?) and Stark says, "you complete me" as he jumps out after it. I didn't see it in the movie and I'm guessing they used the scene where he's by himself and jumps and lands on center stage at the Stark Expo. Maybe it'll be on a directors cut on Blu-ray because you can never have enough Pepper Potts.

Unless I somehow missed it at the theatre...

polkfarmboy

Whats the point of a review if you cant read it till after you have saw the movie?

Slinger182

www.atriptothemovies.com this company has 2 places out in the west suburbs of Chicago. There are 2 other ones that don't let kiddies in which would probably be pretty nice but it's like 20 bones to get in. I don't go to movie theaters that much anymore and have only been to a "dine and view" twice. We call em "brew and view". It's a fun time the servers in the theater are surprisingly not that distracting from the movie.

Mike LoManaco

Slinger182 wrote: »

www.atriptothemovies.com this company has 2 places out in the west suburbs of Chicago. There are 2 other ones that don't let kiddies in which would probably be pretty nice but it's like 20 bones to get in. I don't go to movie theaters that much anymore and have only been to a "dine and view" twice. We call em "brew and view". It's a fun time the servers in the theater are surprisingly not that distracting from the movie.

Very cool, Slinger...

Mike LoManaco

fatchowmein wrote: »

In one of the trailer, Pepper kisses the Iron Man helmet before tossing it out the back of a C-130(?) and Stark says, "you complete me" as he jumps out after it. I didn't see it in the movie and I'm guessing they used the scene where he's by himself and jumps and lands on center stage at the Stark Expo. Maybe it'll be on a directors cut on Blu-ray because you can never have enough Pepper Potts.

Unless I somehow missed it at the theatre...

I didn't notice that either.

Hardtail67

Good, not great. Took way to long to get to some real Iron Man action. I had much more fun at Kick ****.........best comic movie of the year so far!

IM2 was, overall a little disappointing First movie maybe had me expecting a little too much.

cnh

Ok, I just read through Mike's review and there is a lot that I can agree with. But simply said, I like Rourke period, don't think he was over the top! An interesting talent...if you really want to see what Rourke can do get a copy of Barfly!

Terence Howard...should've kept him. Plot wanders around a lot....being in CHINA at the moment I can't help but think that the Stark Expo is just a rip-off of the Current Shanghai World Expo here...I'll be attending--should be some cool stuff there!

I have no problem with the hybridization of the Rourke villain? I'm not a purist who thinks one should stick to the original story only. That said, there is TOO much information in this film and not enough ACTION! And the action almost gets lost because it takes so long to arrive at the end of the film...oh, BTW..Stark inventing a new element...not particularly 'believable' and again....a reference to something else (CERN)...how does Tony create what a monster supercollider with amazing energies and size might in a small STUDIO space? Not gonna happen....but we can dream, I suppose.

And why does IM breakdown into a sloppy drunk...after he had such a soul wrenching transformation in the LAST FILM? Sorry can't have it both ways...Tony the playboy, Tony the Hero? In the first Marvel incarnation Stark did NOT reveal his identity--in such a context you CAN play both sides?

The SHIELD stuff...a bit extraneous...I suppose a 'mere' prelude for the Avengers. Don't think it works!

Iron Man needing help...I have no problem with that..but why would he? Now that HE has invented a completely NEW element in his Arc technology...that's what doesn't make sense.

That said....It is worth a watch...

Finally, responding to Curt.....I can only utter one of my favorite phrases,

If you can't laugh at yourself who can you laugh at?

That's not a jab at you Mike! That's a bit of wisdom for all of us!

cnh

Ron-P

Saw this last night, equally as good as the first.

millerman 3732

I'll go ahead and put my two cents in. I borderline didn't like this movie. It rambles on and felt like there was no end in sight. Rourke was just ok, I still don't get why Hollywood is so up on this guy. As for Cheadle replacing Howard I'm glad they did it. IMO Cheadle is a MUCH better actor, all of Howards performances come of as whiny and needy to me No offense to all the Howard lovers out there just my opinion. And my biggest grip, I understand that IM turns into a drunk in the comics but what is up with him dancing around and partying in the suit, this is just stupid to me, isn't this thing the most advanced piece of combat equipment ever made? And he's setting in a doughnut shop talking to the head of a super secret super hero team in the middle of the day, I just don't get that maybe some one explain it to me. Unless you've got some free passes to the local cinema I can only recommend renting this when it comes out. Out a possible 10 I'd have to say 6 but just barley.

Lost

How come Mike is still banned?? How long is a temporary ban?

Conradicles

Ask Mike, mike.

KrazyMofo24

lost wrote: »

how come I'm still banned?? How long is a temporary ban?

fyp.

treitz3

Lost wrote: »

How come Mike is still banned?? How long is a temporary ban?

15 years, why?

hearingimpared

Hey LoMo/Lost, it is against the rules to have two screennames therefore the "Temporary Ban" just went up to 25 years.

nooshinjohn

Lost wrote: »

How come Mike is still banned?? How long is a temporary ban?

Appearantly not long enough....

Lost

Okay, looked at the rules:

1st Offense: A private warning sent via PM
2st Offense: A public warning issued and the closing of the thread
3nd Offense: A 7 Day suspension from posting privileges
4th Offense: A 30 Day suspension from posting privileges
5th Offense: A LIFETIME BAN

The warnings have a one year shelf life. They will expire 1 year from the date of the initial warning.

*Polk Moderators can decide to skip the minor warnings and go directly to the lifetime ban based on severity of the offense.

If it is indeed a temporary ban then the most he would get would be 30 days. His last post was May 15th so the temporary ban should have expired June 15th.

FTGV

Keiko wrote: »

The fact is, this area of the forum has been much more peaceful and has healed quite a bit since LoMo was axed. If he's allowed to come back, and I hope he's not, then we go backwards. The Music and Movies board goes right back into turmoil.

Really?I must have missed the fireworks as his posts in this thread are not exactly ban worthy.

nooshinjohn

FTGV wrote: »

Really?I must have missed the fireworks as his posts in this thread are not exactly ban worthy.

You must not have read them. I have found the tone of them to have been derogatory towards others and laced with profanity. When called out on anything that is not factual or about the tone of his statements, he attacks others and then hid behind the mods. They saw throught it after it happened one time to many and he is gone.

Good Riddance!

hearingimpared

Lost wrote: »

Okay, looked at the rules:

1st Offense: A private warning sent via PM
2st Offense: A public warning issued and the closing of the thread
3nd Offense: A 7 Day suspension from posting privileges
4th Offense: A 30 Day suspension from posting privileges
5th Offense: A LIFETIME BAN

The warnings have a one year shelf life. They will expire 1 year from the date of the initial warning.

*Polk Moderators can decide to skip the minor warnings and go directly to the lifetime ban based on severity of the offense.

If it is indeed a temporary ban then the most he would get would be 30 days. His last post was May 15th so the temporary ban should have expired June 15th.

eh, see bolded area! That can come down on anyone especially someone like LoMo who has been reported at least a thousand times for his antics and a constant thorn-in-the-side of the mods in the backround.

hearingimpared

FTGV wrote: »

Really?I must have missed the fireworks as his posts in this thread are not exactly ban worthy.

Oh Freddy you missed a lot!:) You must also take into consideration the backround "thorn- in- the- side" constant complaining to the mods. I know he was given plently of rope and he still kept bitching, I believe his public diatribe aimed at Ken was the final straw.

This was the reason candyliquor was banned.

hearingimpared

Keiko wrote: »

I gotta call shenanigans with this "Lost" poster too. :rolleyes:

No kidding that's why I informed him that two sceen names is against the rules. He's so transparent!

cstmar01

Ummm if Lost misses Mike/Peter/Whatever screen name he chooses on a day, please go visit Hi def forum, there you will see Peter Mallow (spelling?) it is the same person, who does the same exact reviews, ect. Go read them there, but if he's banned here thats that, and should stay that way.

Lost

hearingimpared wrote: »

eh, see bolded area! That can come down on anyone especially someone like LoMo who has been reported at least a thousand times for his antics and a constant thorn-in-the-side of the mods in the backround.

Okay so change it to banned instead of temporary ban then.