"Iron Man 2" Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

[Spider-Man]

Ivan Vanko: "You come from a family of thieves, and butchers.
And like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your history, to forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed."

Iron Man 2
Release Date: May 7, 2010 (Advance May 6th 11:00pm Previews)
Studio: Paramount Pictures, Marvel Studios
Director: Jon Favreau
Screenwriter: Justin Theroux
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Garry Shandling, John Slattery, Kate Mara, Clark Gregg, Olivia Munn

Plot Summary: Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster film based on the legendary Marvel Super Hero Iron Man, reuniting director Jon Favreau and Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr. In Iron Man 2, the world is aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armored Super Hero Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor because he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands. With Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, Tony forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces.

Comments?

Related Threads:
-Iron Man Feature Talkback (Spoilers)
-Iron Man DVD/Blu-ray Talkback (Spoilers)
-The Invincible Iron Man Feature Talkback (Spoilers)

[DBZALLSTAR]

I just returned home from the midnight viewing. I believe I enjoyed this film as much as I did the first. It does have some drag in the middle, but at least what's going on during this time is important to the film. I plan on seeing this again within the next week because I enjoyed it so much. The performances were good all around, in my humble opinion, and as much as I am a stickler for continuity, I didn't miss Mr. Howard as much as I thought I would. I am pumped for the next Marvel masterpiece.

FYI: Stay after the credits.

[Juu-kuchi]

Got back from a midnight showing of Iron Man 2. Suffice to say... it wasn't too bad. It served as a good continuation from the original movie, and everybody was in top form in this one. The only real detractors were the plethora of sideplots, and also the rather tacked on "There's something you don't know and we did not tell you until now" plot element that just seems forced.

If anything, this movie goes to show how much Robert Downey Jr. owns the role as Iron Man, and propels what could have been a REALLY mediocre movie (with a good role or two). The entire scene of him at the party, would have got a tremendous facepalm from me if Iron Man was another actor. With Robert, it's downright natural and quite unforced.

So yeah, go see Iron Man 2 and stick around after the credits.

*** 1/2

[Hanshotfirst113]

"Now sloe gin fizz works mighty fast, you drink it by the pitcher and not by the glass."
Loretta Lynn and Jack White

Ladies and gentlemen, we have now reached the point where the superhero genre has now started eating itself. The first movie was a nice film, fairly small by its standards and modest as much as a $140 million dollar film can be. It was a nice, fairly underachieving pulp fantasy. I don't know who is the sudden reason behind this new phenomenon of simply allowing actors to riff on something that someone thinks is funny and stall the plot for minutes a time. I'd blame Michael Bay, since the Transformers films suffer from the same syndrome, but even the likes Star Trek Zero seem to be afflicted with it. There're any number of scenes that are unfunny, unnecessary, and outright stupid. Stark babbling to Pepper with a bunch of strawberries, Stark and Rhodes trading incredibly unfunny jokes in the trench before the final attack, everyone arguing in crashed car while Whiplash is still alive, and Justin Hammer's endless stupid manic behavior and attempt to point out that you can't fit a head into something, and the party sequence, which is truly embarrassing. But whoever it is needs to be taken into back room and explained the concept of editing. It's not funny. It's just stupid.

Downey, whose quirkiness once made Stark, as well as Sherlock Holmes, into lots of fun, has now become a touch overbearing, given now almost complete free reign and clearly given too much freedom. Most disappointing is new Iron Man costume, barely redesigned at all, and the War Machine suit, simply a retooling of the old Mark II. The first Whiplash costume is cool, something with a grungy look that looks like it could have been built in a Russian Gulag, but the drones and the Crimson Dynamo suffer from the same problems as the Iron Monger did in the first film: they're just bigger. The film's smallest set piece (the racetrack showdown) is also its best. I expect a movie storyboarded by Genndy Tartakovsky to be less frenetic and more fluid. The showdown between War Machine and Iron Man in Stark's mansion might rank as the single most embarrassing action sequence ever put on film. Iron Man 2 is packed to the gills with stuff: Stark's energy battery is giving him blood poisoning, he tries to give the job of CEO of his company over to his budding love interest Pepper Potts, his new assistant turns out to be a spy for S.H.I.E.L.D. (an almost unbearablly hot Scarlett Johannson, her hair dyed flaming red and oozing enough raw sex appeal to distract from even the most fantastical set pieces and production design with her curves and sultry sensuality, in a smoking hot skintight vinyl catsuit that leaves little to the overactive imagination) Nick Fury wants Stark in the Avengers (Samuel L. Jackson, nicely understated with cool swagger), Whiplash (Mickey Rourke, who's gravelly tones give one the impression of a man who has smoked two packs a day and drank a fifth of Jack every day since he was 16), who spent years in a Russian prison, wants revenge, business partner Justin Hammer wants super suits of his own, the government wants Stark to turn over his armor (in a ridiculously long Senate sequence that take 15 minutes to make a plot point that could have been understood in 30 seconds), and Stark's own strained relationship with his own father has long held a secret. There's enough plot and story in Iron Man 2 to fill two films, and its crammed into the film's 2-hour running time. Whereas the first film's screenplay was Frankensteined together from a number of writers, but still managed to work, Justin Theroux's script here has sever sequelitis. If one was good, ten must be better.

Thematically, the first film's capitalist fantasy was hardly rich allegory, but Downey and company invested it with so much sheer fun that it worked simply as good pulp story with subtle thematic undertones. The new film flirst with these briefly (the responsibility that comes with power, some Watchmen-esque ideas about what things would be like in reality, Rhodes responsibility to the military vs. his friendship with Tony, Tony's feelings about his own father, Whiplash possibly representing the blowbacks that come with "progress" instead of being a two-dimensional villain ), but it loses characterization in favor caricature and good storytelling in favor of cramming in more action figures to sell and more story element to include in the obvious sequels, particularly the new Avengers film (And am I the only one confused about the ending? Do they not want Stark in Avengers? Do they just want Downey, but not his superhero alter ego to avoid using the budget to depict the titular Iron Man? I'm not getting it.).

There are, to be sure, some cool things here, as a $200 dollar movie would be expected to have: loads of special effects and new cool things to look at (Whiplash, the Crimson Dynamo, the drones, War Machine, who in spite of being just a retooling of the Mark II, looks cool with a minigun on his shoulder), as well as seeing the various suits, holograms, and other cool things in action. Johannson is a delicious eye candy bombshell, despite a paper-thin characteriztion and woeful lack of any actual acting, and Jackson's cool is fun as Fury. But the endless, Bay-level excesses of exploding cars and shattering glass ultimately can't hide what's wrong with the film that its predecessor avoided so well: beneath the souped-up blockbuster machine, there's not much of beating heart. The first movie was about redemption and responsibility, ideas that the film dealt with quite well. Iron Man 2 says is concerned with legacies, but its thematic incoherence is such that the only legacy it can truly be said to have a vested interest in is sequels. The parade of beautiful women and cool cars may at first serve to highlight Tony Stark's decadent lifestyle, but they become symbols of what's wrong with the movie. Good pulp fiction looks to the truth beneath its cliches. Whereas Tranformers was about little more than robots that smacked each other, Iron Man had themes and characters that dealt with reality. The cool-looking veneer of special effects and action knew that there was something very real underneath it. This movie loses sight of that, and focuses only on the shallow but pretty surfaces.

Iron Man 2 isn't god-awful by any means. Though he grows increasingly overbearing at times, Downey is still a good fit to Stark, and Cheadle is a nice replacement for Howard. The design work for the film's many fantastic sights is still a lot of fun to look at. Rourke, though he's given far too little screentime, clearly spent a lot more time developing his character than the director or the screenwriter did, and does his best to make an impression with what little he's given. Downey's Stark is given an interesting character arc, especially with the ideas about his father, even if it ultimately degenerates into a pretty pathetic deus ex machina idea about how to sole the film's central problem (Stark is dying). Likewise, the The Dark Knight-like ideas about how the well-meaning borderline facism of superheroism can lead to supervillainous consequences is also here, though once again, thrown by the wayside. The problems that once afflicted third installments of X-Men, Blade, and Spider-Man are now beginning to go to the second installment of Iron Man: There's simply too much going on. Granted, I'm in a pretty bad mood, so perhaps my feelings about Iron Man 2 are colored by my own moodiness, and maybe I'll warm up to it on future viewings. But for now, I can't help but feel like Iron Man 2 is less a few fun Tequila shots at a party and more a four-alarm hangover.

[kaine23]

Quick thought: to me, the new guy playing Rhodes seemed too wooden and stiff when delivering his lines, even out of uniform.

[Nygma]

Am I the only one who thought that the solution to Tony's illness felt a little too easy and convenient?

I also thought they could've done a little more with Tony's plight of him dying.

I agree with Juu that Tony Stark did alot of things in this movie that only Downey Jr. could get away with (his entire birthday party immediately springs to mind). And it really shows just how great RDJ is in the role, in that he could do something very few (if any) could pull off.

Of course Stark provides alot of funny moments, my 2 favorites being him using the captain america shileld to balance a pipe. And him asking Black Widow what she would do if she knew she were dying and it was her last birthday party; why he didn't get it on with her right then and there I don't know.

Speaking of Black Widow I thought Scarlett Johannsen was great in the role, and was very sexy through out.

I kind of liked the guy who played Roadie in the first movie a little more, but the new guy did just fine.

[kaine23]

Howard Stark resembled Walt Disney also.

[TnAdct1]

Howard Stark resembled Walt Disney also.

With his personaility reminding me or Dr. Venture (as in Hank and Dean's grandfather) from the Venture Brothers.

More comments about the film later.

[Hanshotfirst113]

And him asking Black Widow what she would do if she knew she were dying and it was his last birthday party; why he didn't get it on with her right then and there I don't know.

Yeah, that was what I was expecting. Lets face it, if I were dying, that would be one of the formemost things on my mind !

Speaking of Black Widow I thought Scarlett Johannsen was great in the role, and was very sexy through out.

Yeah, talk about a bombshell! She was fantastic looking.

[Spider-Man]

Thursday night preview numbers are in:

"Iron Man 2" got off to a sizable start this weekend, with midnight grosses totaling $7.5 million.

Midnight grosses for the Paramount and Marvel comic book sequel will count toward the film's three-day opening gross, which Par expects could land near Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" $135.6 million debut in 2006.

"Dark Knight" grossed $18.5 million during midnight grosses.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=13&cs=1

[rggkjg1]

ok, what happened after the credits since i do not plan to see this film?

[GWOtaku]

ok, what happened after the credits since i do not plan to see this film?

Well, from what I saw & heard on the net early on....

Spoiler:

S.H.I.E.L.D. agents locate Thor's hammer in the desert. It's basically the first teaser for the Thor movie.

My expectations are significantly lowered at this point, but I think I'll still give it a try. It's a shame no one seems to think it's better than the first one, though. It goes to show that no sequel is a sure thing.

[GregX]

It was probably the most anticipated sequel since "The Dark Knight." Well, anticipated by me anyway. I'm sure some people anticipated "Revenge of the Fallen," although I didn't. So, how does "Iron Man 2" stack up? Pretty damn well, I think.

Robert Downey Jr. reminds us all that he was born to play Tony Stark. Strike that, he doesn't play Tony Stark, he is Tony Stark. He embodies that character, and no where does it shine through more than during the birthday party scene where Stark is as drunk as an Irishman on Cinco de Mayo while wearing the armor. It's a scene that, if played by almost anybody else would be so over the top and ridiculous, it would take you out of the movie. But, RDJ doesn't just make you believe it, he makes you feel it.

Mickey Rourke was our villain in this installment as Ivan Vanko or Whiplash. Like RDJ, Rourke just embodies the character of someone you would think spent many years in a Siberian gulag. He was creepy, scary, and managed to both seem not all there while at the same time knowing exactly what he was doing. Not to mention, they took a pretty lame villain in the comics and made him scary.

Scarlett Johansson was very sexy as super spy, Natasha Romanov. While I definitely missed the Russian accent, I can buy their explanation that when she is on Russian soil, she doesn't speak with one. But her role in the story surprised me. I thought she was infiltrating Stark Industries to steal the armor for Russia. I didn't think she was already working for Nick Fury. They also didn't once say her codename, Black Widow out loud. But she was a lot of fun, and I hope to see more of her.

You will love to hate Sam Rockwell as the slick and greasy Justin Hammer. Played younger here than in the comics, but he is just oozing slime whenever you see him. Figuratively, not literally. Not sure if he'll be back for further installments, but I wouldn't mind.

I missed Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes. Not that Don Cheadle was bad. But with Howard, you got the sense that he and Stark were long time friends. With Cheadle, while you knew that, you didn't feel it at all. They just didn't have that chemistry.

The action in this movie was terrific, which is one would expect since it was storyboarded by Geddy Tartakovsky. There are a lot of fun easter eggs in this movie, which I won't spoil for you, you'll either spot them or you won't... but one of them is impossible to miss.

It's not "The Dark Knight." But it's not trying to be. It's the sequel to "Iron Man" and it is spectacular at what it is... an action-adventure movie with heart and soul. It brings the story and the character development to the table that so many action movies lack. Michael Bay could learn a lot from it... the best action sequences in the world don't matter if your story has no heard to it.

On top of this all, the movie sold me on a concept I was a bit cautious about. The idea of the Avengers as a movie. I was not sure how practical, or even possible coordinating a series of separate movies to build up to the climax that is all these heroes coming together. It's never been done before in the film medium. But here, I can really see it beginning to come together. I'm sold on it now, and very excited.

Terrific movie, I am seeing it again.

[MarineCorps]

Almost as good as the first one.

Some thoughts

They played out the posioning plot better then I thought they would. I thought Ivan would have the cure for it and Tony would be given it by him in the end. Glad to see them not do that.

Gwyneth Paltrow seems to have aged quite a bit since the first movie. She looked rather tired and worn down.

Scarlett Johansson on the other hand was amazing looking. :anime:

Hammer's fate didn't end like I thought it would. I thought for sure Ivan was going to kill him when would reveal that he had betrayed him.



How many suits does tony have I wonder. Theres the Mk1, Mk2 (now war machine or whatever the military called it.)Mk3, and I guess the Mk4 and 5 were the ones shown in this movie???

The one thing I feared with this movie was the replacement of Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle who TBH I have only ever seen in the Oceans movies. But to be honest I think Don did a fantastic job in this movie.

I love the parts where the Tony was reading his personal review. I was laughing the entire time. The part where the senator was forced to present the medals was also very funny.

Last notes. I didn't see the scene where he tells pepper potts that she completes him while jumping out of the plane. What gives???? Also got some short comic book from the theater. no idea if it ties in with the movie at all

EDIT : Didn't relize Jon Favreau has a part in this movie. And not just a split second cameo. An actuall talking part.

[TnAdct1]

Last notes. I didn't see the scene where he tells pepper potts that she completes him while jumping out of the plane. What gives???? Also got some short comic book from the theater. no idea if it ties in with the movie at all.

The director explains the reason for the cut here.

[rggkjg1]

Well, from what I saw & heard on the net early on....

Spoiler:

S.H.I.E.L.D. agents locate Thor's hammer in the desert. It's basically the first teaser for the Thor movie.

ok, still not interested (in thor or iron man). i've felt the avengers movie has been a bad idea since day one, i get the feeling it wont be able to live up to any of the hype it's generated with these post credits teasers.

[SpiderScooby]

8/10. A movie that ultimately trys to do too much but is still a fun movie.

[Lord Dalek]

Boring. Just really boring.

I'm not going waste a chunk of bandwith on some overwritten review, this film... its just dull. Really, really dull. Thats the exact opposite of what I got from the first movie. What the hell went wrong with this flick? Its a remarkable fall from grace.

And were we all watching the same movie? I mean this clearly lacked any sense of narrative energy that it desperately needed. I just felt... very bored at the end. Even the audience I was in didn't seem to be getting into it as much as the screening for the original I was at two years ago.

Mod Note: Unnecessary flamebait removed.

[rggkjg1]

now i heard that there's a captain america reference in the film. what is it? did they dig his shield out of the snow (which i heard was seen in incredible hulk)?

[Gokou Ruri]

I hope this trend of tying movies together isn't going to be a sign of things to come out of superhero movies (as in, DC starts doing it later to play catch up with Marvel). One thing I liked the movies for was they came with no continuity baggage unlike the comics; they were standalone and in their own universe. Here, they're throwing references at you left and right and it came off almost like a prelude to the Avengers movie than an Iron Man movie and I think the writing suffered for it. Black Widow and SHIELD subplot, for example, seemed to not be developed too much and the time could be better spent on the sub-plot of Tony dying (which came off fairly anti-climatic). I think it would have been nicer to exclude SHIELD and focus on just Tony with the government and Hammer/Whiplash. Though I can't say I was too big of a fan of Whiplash in this. His final armor seemed uninspired and just a retooling of the Iron Monger suit. I'm not sure what the movies have against fight scenes, but the climax was a letdown just like the first movie (or maybe it's just a limitation of live-action, who knows). I wasn't a super huge fan of the first movie, but I'd still take it over this one.