Iron Man 2 Reviews (Spoilers)

[Old Plympto]

* The final fight. Nitram summed it up best... "Damn... cherry blossoms..." (anime reference, look up the trope)

IIRC, the final fight was storyboarded by Gennady Tartakovsky.

[Galvatron]

So...is the War Machine armor vulnerable to icing up since it's just the Mark II with a lot of aftermarket accessories attached? Believe it or not, that question preoccupied my mind the entire time Tony was being chased by Rhodey and the Hammeroids.

I would guess that while it is the Mark-2, its been adjusted somewhat. Or, it could be they don't have the exact same capabilities, but the MK2 didn't ice up until it was MUCH higher than we saw in the 2nd movie.

I didn't expect it to ice up at the low altitudes they were flying, but I wonder why Tony didn't even try to shake Rhodey's pursuit by ascending into the upper atmosphere knowing full-well that the Mark II was vulnerable to freezing. After all, it worked against Stane.

[Oskuro]

There's this whole thing about not wanting to actually kill Rhodes. There's no guarantee he would have recovered from the freezing (same reason he tried it on Stane).

One moment I did find icredibly idiotic was when Iron Man flew around the Expo, making the drone's missed shots actually endanger the civilians running around (and probably kill a few). Why the heck didn't he fly straight for the closest uninhabited area?

[SAMAS]

Probably because he didn't want Rhodey to fall from several thousand feet without control of his suit... or do you think Crimson Whiplash would have saved him?

[CaptainChewbacca]

I didn't expect it to ice up at the low altitudes they were flying, but I wonder why Tony didn't even try to shake Rhodey's pursuit by ascending into the upper atmosphere knowing full-well that the Mark II was vulnerable to freezing. After all, it worked against Stane.

Because then his best friend would be falling out of the sky to certain death?

[Galvatron]

Okay, that makes sense. Still I kinda wish it'd been established that the USAF refined the Mark II armor to be capable of high-altitude flight. I don't like the idea that War Machine is so primitive by Iron Man's standards.

Also, someone on another board posted screenshots of the SHIELD HQ displays from the closing scenes between Tony and Fury. It appears that the newscast from the aftermath of the Hulk's rampage at Collier University was being shown as (I would guess) a current event, placing Iron Man 2 at roughly the same point on the timeline as the Hulk movie.

I thought that was interesting.

[Skylon]

Okay, that makes sense. Still I kinda wish it'd been established that the USAF refined the Mark II armor to be capable of high-altitude flight. I don't like the idea that War Machine is so primitive by Iron Man's standards.

Also, someone on another board posted screenshots of the SHIELD HQ displays from the closing scenes between Tony and Fury. It appears that the newscast from the aftermath of the Hulk's rampage at Collier University was being shown as (I would guess) a current event, placing Iron Man 2 at roughly the same point on the timeline as the Hulk movie.

I thought that was interesting.

That makes sense from a timeline POV. The first film ended with Nick Fury mentioning the Avengers, but really didn't say anything about Stark's role. This film was more specific, stating Stark (for now) will serve as a consultant to the Avengers Initiative. Which goes with what he talks about with Gen. Ross at the end of "Incredible Hulk".

[Admiral Valdemar]

Interesting find. Definitely shows SHIELD are on top of everyone at that point.

[Havok]

Just got back from it.

The movie was not any better than the first, however it was not any worse. It was equally as good. I don't think I have seen this type of consistency from a sequel outside of The Godfather 1 and 2. (And no jack off, I'm not saying it is as good as The Godfather, just that it maintains itself just as well)

I will get my first (of two) and biggest gripe out of the way first... Justin Hammer.
They really dropped the ball on this character. I understand that they had to fit him into the movieverse, but they could have done so in a better way. Hammer was not a joking wanna be socially awkward Stark. He was a refined and successful business man in his own right, one who was on par with Stark Industries. The only thing he was jealous of that Stark had was his technology, not his status as a beloved playboy. Nor did he vie for the attention that Stark had and used. What they did get right was that Hammer actively sought out Stark's tech to use for his own gains, but that is about it. The character himself, was about as annoying as could be and I wanted him to get punched in the face repeatedly, so they got that part right. He also served the story well, but man, I think they could have done better with him. Hopefully, since they didn't kill him like Stane, he will be more like I envisioned him if they reprise his role.

The way they rewrote Stane for the first movie, even though they completely changed the character, worked well, because he served as a father figure for Tony and the rest of the world trusted him. Hammer should have been an older character with ties to Howard Stark who then could have served as a father figure type for Ivan and they could have shared a hatred for Stark that extended beyond basic jealousy on Hammer's part.

OK, on to the rest.

I think that Don Cheadle did a great job taking over for Howard, and as good as I thought Howard was, Cheadle was better, although he seemed to have a smaller role this go round as Rhodes and as far as interacting on a friend level with Tony. I still think that they missed on Rhodey again. As I said before, Rhodes was a big burly 'hey sexy mama' black guy, basically a stereotype from the late 70's but he was great with Tony and the character grew in a pretty cool way, eventually becoming Iron Man and then War Machine. I think that Micheal Jai White (Spawn) would have filled the role perfectly.

The Motorcycle Boy was awesome as usual. The way Ivan handled Hammer was great and you are almost rooting for him to be successful because even as misguided as his hatred for Tony Stark is, his father did decimate Ivan's father, and as a consequence, his own life. I like the parallel of Ivan making the same leap as Tony did with their father's work (miniaturizing the ARC reactor technology) and doing it in roughly the same conditions. Really, the only difference between the two was experience in using the suit and some back up. Without Rhodey, Ivan beats Stark.

I like that they used bits and pieces of different Stark enemies to make a new and interesting enemy in Ivan for this movie, and equally glad that they didn't try to adapt solely Whiplash, or The Crimson Dynamo, both of whom would be slightly out of place. The former for just sheer silliness, and the latter for not having a Soviet government in place to back him.

Downey Jr. was again spot on as Stark and Iron Man. Although, he was never quite that over the top in the comics, it fits him well for a live action rendition. Also, his disdain for the government and military is a little out of place for the character, but, again, it is fitting for this world in which the government wants what he has and is not content to just let him run around as Iron Man unchecked as in the comics for 40 years up until recently.

Paltrow was a little less adorable this time around (Oh wow. What's that? Is that like a little device? Like a thing that is going to pick the lock?) but she had a more serious bit this time around, but she delivered as Potts again. Although a dose of Mrs Arbogast is what I think Iron Man 3 needs as obviously, Pepper is no longer going to be his assistant/secretary. I am glad that they didn't draw the romance angle out any further though. But it is funny that Potts told Stark she was quitting for the exact reasons he described jokingly in the end of the first movie and had the same reaction he said she would.

Agent Romanov. I am a little torn on her. They did the character justice, but they could have gave her a bit more humor. Black Widow has a very dry and cutting humor that I think that would have played off this Tony Stark well, shooting down advances and making him look foolish. Look, style and serious character side wise though, Favreau nailed her. I'm glad they didn't try to tie her to Ivan though as that would have been a little too 'neat'. P.S. The scene where she and Potts are walking up the stairs together, camera angle up... best in the movie.

Fury was great and I'm glad they involved him more in this one. I didn't feel like he served as an unneeded info dump as I saw commented, as he was there trying to evaluate and gauge Stark's fitness for involvement in the Avengers. Giving him the data and personal belongings of his father served Fury more than Stark as it kept a valuable asset alive. It is also surprising that Jackson doesn't really need to tone himself down for the role of Fury, as when listening to him talk, I realized that Fury is that rough around the edges and straight and to the point, but they just keep the cussing out of the comics, because, well, they are for little kids.

The story in this movie was solid and again faithful as the struggle over the Iron Man technology has always been an over bearing point in the comics. Stark being haunted by his own mortality, facing the realities of having such a powerful weapon in the hands of a private citizen, and trying to live up to the legacy of his father were all done well if not explored that deeply.

The drunken display in the suit was great and got as close to the struggles that Stark had in the comics that I think the movies will get. Although I think that is a huge mistake as it made for some of the best story telling in the Iron Man series, and like all Marvel characters (as opposed to DC) showed that they are more like us, flawed and prone to mistakes, than their caped counter parts over in the Crisisverse. Of course the narcissism, sexism and hubris that Stark has in this series seem to make up for that.

On to my second gripe.

The one thing that the movie is missing, is a sense of danger for anyone in the Iron Man suit. I know that it is hard to make something so much more powerful than any other tech out there, then give it something to fight in a more 'realistic' setting, but it takes something away from the movie by not having it. This would be my only gripe about the first movie as well, but at that point, there shouldn't have been anything to challenge Iron Man. The only reason Monger was able to, was because that Stark was severely underpowered. However, 40 Iron Men and The Motorcycle Boy should have been made of a little sterner stuff and posed some more danger which the audience could feel.

Overall I am very pleased with the direction the franchise is taking. I would have liked to have seen a little more separation between the first movie (origin) and fighting robot bad guys of Stark's own design. Maybe over a three movie arc instead of two, but I honestly don't know what you would put in that middle movie if you aren't going to touch on the alcoholism that plagues Stark in the comics. Industrial espionage is fun, but I don't think it can carry a movie alone without a big bad. The Armor Wars were awesome and I felt that they could have served as the overall story arc of the series for as long as it lasted, but it seems to have been relegated to the reason for the action and not much else. Although, I suppose they could still work it in since the tech now is in the hands of the military, a point in the armor wars, and Hammer as well. Considering my above point about the lack of danger, having better specialized suits in the hands of criminals and other organizations, may be exactly where Favs is taking us. Lulling us into a false sense of security, then wiping the floor with Stark.

Some other thoughts...

Interestingly, they seemed to drop the pretense and foreshadowing of The Mandarin in this installment. If there were any hints dropped in this movie, I completely missed them.

The suitcase suit was awesome, but I am still partial to the classic armor that was as malleable as cloth until magnetized that Stark carried around in his briefcase all the time.

The big magic bullet that failed in Rhodey's suit is basically the same thing that Tony used to whack the tank in the first movie. Hammertech indeed.

Oh man, Caps shield was great. You could feel agent Coulson bristling with anger that Stark even had it... then when he used it to level his magic laser pipe... oh man. Interestingly enough though, this shows that they are going to go with the classic Cap origin as obviously the history is known already.

I like that they are touching on Rhodey's feeling of inadequacy in regards to Stark. If they add to that the same problems he had using the suit in the comics (making him mentally unstable) it could prove for a very interesting story and an AWESOME fight.

The Motorcycle Boy did an excellent job bringing the same level of menace to this move as The Dude did to the first.

I hope they retain Ms Johansen's services for the Avengers.

Oh yeah... Spoiler

FUCKING MJOLNIR!!!

[Galvatron]

Oh man, Caps shield was great. You could feel agent Coulson bristling with anger that Stark even had it... then when he used it to level his magic laser pipe... oh man. Interestingly enough though, this shows that they are going to go with the classic Cap origin as obviously the history is known already.

About the shield, was it supposed to be an unfinished replica of the original?

[Shroom Man 777]

The shield seemed very flimsy.

[Gandalf]

Oh man, Caps shield was great. You could feel agent Coulson bristling with anger that Stark even had it... then when he used it to level his magic laser pipe... oh man. Interestingly enough though, this shows that they are going to go with the classic Cap origin as obviously the history is known already.

About the shield, was it supposed to be an unfinished replica of the original?

Maybe Stark Industries helped Captain America make his original, and the one we saw was a prototype/demonstration model?

[Havok]

Oh man, Caps shield was great. You could feel agent Coulson bristling with anger that Stark even had it... then when he used it to level his magic laser pipe... oh man. Interestingly enough though, this shows that they are going to go with the classic Cap origin as obviously the history is known already.

About the shield, was it supposed to be an unfinished replica of the original?

Not sure. The way Agent Coulson reacted, it sure seemed to be of some historical value. Perhaps the original template or some such. The way the dude from Mad Money calls Tony's dad, Howard 'Nazi Killer' Stark in the original and the fact that there was what looked to be a completed shield in Stark's workshop in the first movie, perhaps Howard Stark had a hand in creating Cap. Top that off with the fact that they brought in a more well known actor to reprise Howard Stark's role and we may see him in the Cap movie.

[Bilbo]

So I just saw the movie and um, two random observations.

1. Rhodes was following ESD procedures while removing the reactor from the suit. Good for you, Rhodie. Electrostatic Discharge is mostly a non-issue in most circuits, but way to follow protocol with those lovable, dorky wriststraps.

I was under the impression that Rhodes was smart enough to make the suit non-functional and make sure Hammer couldnt get his hands on the mini-Arc to mess with and possibly duplicate. While the Iron Man suit is badass it really is the reactor that sets it above and beyond anything else and Rhodes would be smart enough to know that.

Was there something I missed about Rourke's first power suit with the whips? I kep watching wondering how funny it would be if he was acting all badass and some rent-a-cop at the track put a bullet in the back of his head.

Loved the briefcase suit Tony had. Very, very cool.

When, and why, did Tony bother to install a Arc reactor in the silver model suit that Rhodes used? One perfect level of security would be to not do that. If the only powersource in the world for your uber suits is in your chest then no one is going to steadl one are they.

I stuck around for the mini-teaser in the end and was pretty much blehh over it. Just cannot get interested in Thor.

[Bilbo]

Really, the only difference between the two was experience in using the suit and some back up. Without Rhodey, Ivan beats Stark.

That part was just fucking lame. Oh look its Ivan. The last time I fought him he build a badass weapon that could damage my suit and was absolutely killer if you stand within 10 feet of him.

Look he is back.

Hey Rhodes, lets be a couple of complete fucking douchebags and BOTH stand within 10 feet of him even though we both mouth weapons effective at hundreds of feet so he can grab us with his electric tentacles.

Fucking lame.

[Anguirus]

Okay, that makes sense. Still I kinda wish it'd been established that the USAF refined the Mark II armor to be capable of high-altitude flight. I don't like the idea that War Machine is so primitive by Iron Man's standards.

Why would War Machine NEED to fly that high? Tony only iced up the Mark II because he tried to beat the altitude record of the FUCKING BLACKBIRD. Personally, I like the idea of Tony having the "better" suit, but War Machine's different ordnance making it a better choice for certain missions. Although the failure of the "Ex-Wife" did make him look a little...impotent.

Was there something I missed about Rourke's first power suit with the whips? I kep watching wondering how funny it would be if he was acting all badass and some rent-a-cop at the track put a bullet in the back of his head.

Me too. That was a STUPID scene and the only one I really disliked.

When, and why, did Tony bother to install a Arc reactor in the silver model suit that Rhodes used? One perfect level of security would be to not do that. If the only powersource in the world for your uber suits is in your chest then no one is going to steadl one are they.

I thought about that too. My guess is that it's backup. The Mark III was heavily damaged in the last film. Now, he's got the Mark IV, the briefcase suit (Mark V?), the Mark VI was only built at the end, and then what? Tony doesn't have any backup suit aside from the gimpy briefcase suit and the Mark II. Also, he learned to fly in the Mark II, maybe it had sentimental value.

[Bilbo]

Except I think his Whiplash thinggy was less shit than the Mk. I Ironmang suit.

Except for the part where if Stark had built the Whiplash thingy he would have died of multiple gunshot wounds from the dozens of armed terrorists he had to fight his way through.

As for Ivan and Tony being of equal intelligence. Tony built his reactor in a cave in Afghanistan from memory with no idea that it would work. Ivan built his in his basement with a full set of Arc reactor blueprints and the knowledge that you can build a minature one.

[Bilbo]

Also, he learned to fly in the Mark II, maybe it had sentimental value.

Except by putting the reactor in it you make it useless to Stark. He has the reactor in his chest so the one in the suit is redundant and probably physically in the way.

Now Stark did say that he had things under control. Maybe MK2 was his backup plan. If he found no cure and died then Rhodes or someone else he could trust would have that suit to use in Tony's place.

[Crazedwraith]

You know one minor complaint I had was that I was expecting Tony to, you know, be a genius. Two examples were I kinda expected him to be ahead of the game: 1) Black Widow. A superhot chick that can beat the shit out of your boxer champion Chauffeur just happens to show up for your PA job? I was expecting him to need to contact Fury as some point and just casually turn to 'Natalie' and say 'by the way, I need to see your boss."

The second was him not having any safeguards built into the MkII. I expected him to reboot Rhodey himself. Hammer Software upgrade or not; That's his suit.

[Admiral Valdemar]

When, and why, did Tony bother to install a Arc reactor in the silver model suit that Rhodes used? One perfect level of security would be to not do that. If the only powersource in the world for your uber suits is in your chest then no one is going to steadl one are they.

I thought about that too. My guess is that it's backup. The Mark III was heavily damaged in the last film. Now, he's got the Mark IV, the briefcase suit (Mark V?), the Mark VI was only built at the end, and then what? Tony doesn't have any backup suit aside from the gimpy briefcase suit and the Mark II. Also, he learned to fly in the Mark II, maybe it had sentimental value.

More importantly, how did Rhodes put on the suit? They're not something you can step into unlike some power armour as it's all segmented, and JARVIS controls the hydraulic arms assembly unit. This is clearly something Tony allowed Rhodes to do, else it doesn't make much sense.

As for why the Mk. II and Mk. III are in the workshop, you're not thinking about it the right way.



It's a gallery. Last I checked, Tony didn't walk/fly back to the States in the Mk. I. The Mk. III should finally say "Battle Damaged" on it. The Mk. IV was in general use before the Mk. VI and only looks slightly different in aesthetics, with the Mk. V an emergency piece of kit which was totally trashed fighting Whiplash.

On Whiplash's fight, Tony commented on how he was clearly very smart to make such a suit, but that he didn't put that energy into doing something as effective as even the Mk. I. Although powerful, the lack of armouring and use of melee weaponry limited it.

[The Romulan Republic]

You know one minor complaint I had was that I was expecting Tony to, you know, be a genius. Two examples were I kinda expected him to be ahead of the game: 1) Black Widow. A superhot chick that can beat the shit out of your boxer champion Chauffeur just happens to show up for your PA job? I was expecting him to need to contact Fury as some point and just casually turn to 'Natalie' and say 'by the way, I need to see your boss."

Has Stark ever demonstrated above average intelligence in anything but engineering?

The second was him not having any safeguards built into the MkII. I expected him to reboot Rhodey himself. Hammer Software upgrade or not; That's his suit.

Good point.

And on the topic of Rhodey being able to use the suit how come he was able to use it so effectively without any practice? In the first film Stark was a bit clumsy in the suit at first as I recall, which is realistic.

[Admiral Valdemar]

It could be the suit's software compensated after the maiden flight, that, and Rhodes may have a better affinity for technology from experience in the air force.

[Crazedwraith]

The Iron Man 1 novelisation. Does have Stark try and recruit Rhodey as the MkII test pilot for exactly that reason. Noting on his test flight, that Rhodey would have a much steeper learning curve that him and he was making a lot of mistakes repeatedly and not applying the knowledge correctly. Though he also mentions he doesn't want to be one of those mad b-movie scientists trying out their inventions on themselves.

[SylasGaunt]

They said in the movie that Tony has lockouts to prevent unauthorized use in the suits. So basically if he hadn't allowed Rhodes to take it he couldn't have. But the whole point was that he was trying to set up someone to succeed him as Iron Man when he kicked the bucket.

Interestingly, they seemed to drop the pretense and foreshadowing of The Mandarin in this installment. If there were any hints dropped in this movie, I completely missed them.

It's subtle. There's a listing in the credits for '10 Rings Gangster'. I'm guessing it's the guy who gives Whiplash the ticket to Monaco.

[Anguirus]

Also, he learned to fly in the Mark II, maybe it had sentimental value.

Except by putting the reactor in it you make it useless to Stark. He has the reactor in his chest so the one in the suit is redundant and probably physically in the way.

Now Stark did say that he had things under control. Maybe MK2 was his backup plan. If he found no cure and died then Rhodes or someone else he could trust would have that suit to use in Tony's place.

I thought the suits had reactors as well, but maybe I wasn't thinking it through. They do have some kinda glowy thing in the chest that is not Tony's chest reactor...but in the first movie they only ran on his chest reactor. Yeah, they dropped the ball there.