Let me get the obvious out of the way: I was really excited to see this one. The first one was brilliant and I wanted to see what they were going to do this time. I had plenty of reasons to be hyped, not the least of which being that director Jon Faverau was returning to direct, and that Terrence Howard had been recast and replaced with Don Cheadle, a great actor who gave an amazing performance in Hotel Rwanda. I went on opening night, with huge anticipation, and..... huh. Well now. Let's see.
First off, I know this movie has gotten a very mixed response from fans, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't get why people are mixed towards this movie. It has a ton of problems, and is a letdown in that sense. There's not point in tiptoeing around it: Iron Man 2 is nowhere near as good as Iron Man was. There seems to be a sentiment among fans that not only is this movie disappointing, it downright sucks. I wouldn't say I agree with that. I think this movie is okay. Let me be clear: there is good stuff. Robert Downey Jr. is once again brilliant as Iron Man, and there is a great twist this time. The reactor in his chest is poisoning his blood, slowly killing him. It's interesting to see the fun loving billionaire playboy humbled by his own mortality. We see him trying to cram everything he wants to do with his life in a short period. We also get to see more of his father in this movie. He is presented as a Walt Disney style visionary genius who dreamed of the world of tomorrow. Another strength to this movie is the excitement. The actions is excellent and plentiful, and the set pieces are terrific. The Stark Expo is an amazing visual accomplishment in its own right. The villain, Whiplash is also cool, or at least his portrayal is. Mickey Rourke gives an interesting performance, or at least tries to. We'll get to that. Finally, there is the ongoing friction between Tony and Pepper. I like how the romance develops here, and I look how they take their time in getting them together. Now, for the problems. First off, Don Cheadle REALLY disappointed me as Rhodey. He was boring, boring, boring. I found myself looking at my watch (or cellphone, whatever) every time he is on screen. I was begging to have Terrence Howard back: he is that bad. The movie is also too cartoony throughout. The first one was fun, but took itself seriously. This one took a lot of cues from Transformers. It never does get to that level of stupidity, but it does come close at times. There is also the villain's motivation. He swears revenge after his father dies and attacks Tony. It's implied Tony's father cheated him at one point, but it's never really explained. I don't need everything spelled out for me, but this was way too underdeveloped. I couldn't hate this guy because I didn't get what he was after. The other villain, Justin Hammer is almost played for laughs. Sam Rockwell was clearly having fun with the character, but he did not seem anywhere near as threatening as Obidiah Stane in the first movie. Now for the biggest problem: Marvel's involvement. It was clear this was not Jon Faverau's movie. Marvel had their hands deep into this movie and it prevented Faverau from creating the film he wanted to make. Now let me be clear: Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk both had their share of buildup for The Avengers. It was clear that an Avengers movie was the eventual prize we would get, but both of them were allowed to be their own movies. This movie? Not so much. Black Widow is introduced kind of pointlessly and Nick Fury literally just appears late in the second act. Agent Coulsen is also given a bigger role. I would be okay with this if the connections were less jarring, but the movie does not do a good enough job of blending them in. It feels as if Faverau filmed his movie, and then Marvel went and reshot most of it and edited it in. It's sad, because there was potential. Just ask Mickey Rourke if you need proof that Marvel was wearing the pants on the set:
"When I did Ivan Vanko in Iron Man, I fought... You know, I explained to Justin Theroux, to the writer, and to [Jon] Faverau, that I wanted to bring in some other layers and colours [to the character], not just make this Russian a complete murderous revenging bad guy. And they allowed me to do that. Unfortunately, the people at [Marvel] just wanted a one-dimensional bad guy, so most of the performance ended up on the floor. It's too bad, but it's their loss. If they want to make mindless comic book movies, then I don't want to be a part of that."
So that's Iron Man 2, the first disappointment to come out of Marvel. But this movie had a great post credits scene, involving Thor's hammer. That was the movie that fans hoped would get them back on track. Were they successful? Next time....
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