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Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Iron Man 2: Is it Good? Is It Bad? Could It Be Both!? (Film Analysis)


Since the conception of Film Reviewer Jr. and my first review of a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) property, Iron Man 3, I’ve consistently stated my dislike for Iron Man 2.  For a while, it was the only MCU film I gave a thumbs down to, though such placement has since been joined by the likes of Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel.  The thing is, the last time I saw Iron Man 2 was in theaters back in 2010.  That’s closing in on a decade, back when I was just getting into film.  My opinions have changed vastly since that time, look no further than my The Kids Are All Right retrospective.  As such, it stands to reason that Iron Man 2 deserves a second chance at redemption.  Is there a possibility I misjudged the film and it’s better than I remember, or is it still the subpar sequel to the MCU’s fantastic origin film?


Iron Man 2 opens with a recap of its predecessor’s famous final scene, albeit with some extended dialogue, most likely deleted from the first film:

Iron Man Dialogue/Iron Man 2 Dialogue

Tony Stark: Been a while since I was up here in front of you. Maybe I’ll do us all a favor and just stick to the cards. There’s been some speculation that I was somehow involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and on the rooftop…

Christine Everhart: Sorry, Mr. Stark, do you honestly expect us to believe that that was a bodyguard in a suit that conveniently appeared despite the fact that you sorely despise bodyguards?

Tony: Yes

Christine: And this mysterious bodyguard was somehow equipped with an undisclosed Stark high-tech powered battle…

Tony: I know that it’s confusing. It is one thing to question the official story and another thing entirely to make wild accusations, or insinuate that I’m a superhero.

Six months later, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is living up his (additional) newfound popularity as Iron Man at the Stark Expo, an event created by his father Howard Stark to bring together the world’s brightest minds to develop new technology for helping mankind.  Tony is as cocky as ever, joining the Expo by skydiving in his suit and landing on a stage with fireworks, a light show, and a bunch of half-naked women dancing sensually in Iron Man two-pieces (something that would definitely not be allowed in the current Disney-own MCU).  Not all is paradise for Tony, however, as the very chemical within his Arc Reactor that has been keeping the shrapnel from entering his heart is also gradually poisoning his blood.  Doing his best to slow down, though not stop, the rising blood level toxicity, Tony begins making preparations for his inevitable death—unbeknownst to anyone else—including making his love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) CEO of Stark Industries.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) and his dying father watch in envy as Tony revels in his fame.  Ivan’s father helped build the Arc Reactor with Howard Stark, yet when he tried selling it for profit, Howard had him deported.  The father dies stating how Ivan should have been in Tony's Place, sending Ivan into a rage-fueled determination aimed entirely at Stark.  Ivan begins diligently working on building his own miniature Arc Reactor in what could be called an evil version of Tony’s working montage from the first film.  The parallel between Tony and Ivan is an intriguing concept, it's just a shame such comparison is held by one of the MCU’s best heroes, and one of its worst villains.

Rourke has stated that he didn’t want to just play a one-dimensional villain; “I want to challenge myself and challenge the audience to say, ‘I see something redeemable in him.’ That makes it more interesting and not so silly.”  Rourke does not give a bad performance here, and bless him, he tries hard to give Ivan personality, but there’s only so much one can do when given such a flat, uninteresting character.  I can sum up Ivan in one word: revenge.  He wants revenge against Tony and that’s it.  If there’s anything redeemable about him I certainly missed it.  The guy is willing and able to kill anyone—guilty or innocent—in his path to destroy Stark.  His goal is pure destruction and terrorism, yet unlike, say, Helmut Zemo who goes about destroying the Avengers in an unexpectedly creative and effective manner, Ivan’s plan is lame and straight up idiotic.

That last sentence is a good segue into Iron Man 2’s next standout issue: it’s lack of action of the superhero kind.  I praise Iron Man for strategically placing its three major action segments at just the right points, properly setting them up, and rewarding the viewer with satisfying clashes in both length and entertainment.  Iron Man 2 also has three action segments, the first occurs thirty-one minutes into the film and lasts around five minutes.  There’s no build up to the fight, Ivan just shows up at a Grand Prix event Tony is recklessly participating in, wielding two Arc-powered whips in one of the most ridiculous-looking, impractical battle suits I’ve ever seen (and that’s including female video game “armor”)!  What the hell were they thinking with this design?  Ivan is completely wide open for attacks—anyone with a gun and some good aim could headshot him from a distance.  And those stupid whips.  I know that Ivan is partially based on Iron Man villain Whiplash, but they are so impartial.  Why not use a gun, or laser cannon, or just focus on a helmet to protect his head!?  It completely forgoes the realism Iron Man had brought to the table before Thor even gets a chance to.

Ivan’s introduction to the world ends up making him look like a joke as a suitless Tony holds his ground and Happy Hogan (played by director Jon Favreau) temporarily incapacitates him with a car—inflicting actual damage to the “supervillain”.  When the comedic sidekick can give a film’s main villain a run for their money, during their introduction of all things, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.  Thanks to Pepper and Happy, Tony gets his suit and defeats Ivan in literally less than a minute (believe me, I checked—he gets in the suit at 35:50 and defeats Ivan by 36:49).  The “battle” is so underwhelming that Tony only has to throw a couple punches to win—no missiles, no bullets, no flying.  Oh, and don’t get me started on the over-the-top unflinching walk Ivan does as several race cars explode behind him, all from swerving to not hit Ivan (if not for human decency, Ivan would have been killed before the battle even began).

The fight is just bad.  It’s brisk, underwhelming, and the villain is laughably unintimidating, impractical, and idiotic.  Even when Ivan reveals his true goal was to expose that others can make miniature Arc Reactors (thereby disproving Tony’s statements to the U.S. government), the end result wouldn’t be Tony’s demise, just a minor inconvenience where he may have to give the government some of his technology.  The only reason Ivan gains any actual ground in his plans is because plot convenience has an even bigger idiot antagonist helps him out.  Enter Justin Hammer, (Sam Rockwell) a “rival” competitor to Stark Industries and the United States’ current weapons contractor.  The character is a wimpy, wormy man similarly envious of Tony’s success and popularity.  He’s also incredibly forgettable, to the point where I forgot he was even in this film.  Yet now that I remember him, I wish I could forget again because Hammer is a very obnoxious character and takes up way too much screen time (though I do like the demeaning way he refers to Tony as Anthony, using his full name like a grownup looking down on a child).  After Hammer breaking Ivan out of prison, the “brains” and the money go about planning Tony’s doom in a really underwhelming manner.

Enough negative aspects though!  Iron Man 2 isn’t all bad, in fact, I’ve come to appreciate a great deal more on my second viewing.  Amusingly, one of Iron Man 2’s strengths is Tony’s weaknesses.  The first film beautifully balances Tony’s pros and cons, yet wisely plays up his more endearing features.  Now that the audience has grown attached to Tony, Favreau directs his focus towards Tony’s many vices—more prominently displaying his lecherous, hedonist, and narcissistic tendencies in a way that makes Tony come across as an actual a**hole.  These weaknesses are also taken advantage of by others on multiple occasions—i.e., when an attractive government woman effectively subpoenas Tony, or when Tony’s pride falls right into Ivan’s trap.  It’s another development piece for Tony’s character, though unlike in Iron Man, it only works when viewing Tony’s entire MCU journey—feeling incomplete when viewed alone.

Scarlett Johansson makes her debut as Black Widow, aka Natasha Romanoff, aka Natalie Rushman as she calls herself when disguised as Stark’s new assistant, aka a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit as Pepper calls her.  Natasha is the first female in the series to lead Tony speechless and plays upon his lustfulness with lingerie model images on her profile page—nabbing the job easily.  While she leaves a strong first impression on Tony, I wasn’t so easily onboard with the character.  Black Widow is a prime MCU example of growing to love one of its characters because I could not stand her here.  The character feels flat, with her designated qualities being oversexualized (she’s shown in her underwear twice and wears a skintight outfit for battle) and a badass fighter.  Aside from that, she’s quite robotic and monotone in discussions and speech, focused only on her mission.  And this makes sense character-wise, seeing as she’s a trained former KGB agent turned S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, it just doesn’t make for an interesting, likable character.  In the past, I agreed with Tony’s irritation towards Natasha’s deception, yet in hindsight, I now feel bad for her when he asks if anything is real about her or if her name is really Natalie.

Don Cheadle is Darrin’d into the role of Tony’s best friend Rhodey after Terrence Howard was unceremoniously booted from the franchise after rightfully complaining about a fifty to eighty percent pay cut.  Despite being wholly against the way Howard was treated, I do like the manner Cheadle’s Rhodey is introduced, with his remark to Tony being equally aimed towards the audience; “Look, it’s me, I’m here. Deal with it. Let’s move on.”  As both a U.S. officer and Tony’s close friend, Rhodey finds himself in a conflicted situation throughout the film—trying his best to work with both opposing sides.  Yet this becomes difficult with Tony’s increasing recklessness and/or immaturity, coming to a breaking point when a drunk, suited-up Tony begins blasting objects at his (and what Tony believes to be his last) birthday party—endangering the guests.

Having enough, Rhodey takes Tony’s prototype suit and engages him in a brawl.  The second fight segment occurs fifty-seven minutes, and unless the first “battle”. is a lot of fun with the two exchanging metal fisticuffs to such spirited music like Another One Bites the Dust, It Takes Two, and Robot Rock.  As fun as the fight is, it ends as soon as it begins after only two minutes.  An hour into a superhero film and only seven minutes have gone to action—five to a pitifully poor exchange and two to a half-serious battle between friends, one of them drunk.  Unlike with Endgame, Iron Man 2 has neither the proper setup nor the right tone for such a casual approach.  Also, unlike Endgame, Iron Man 2’s comedy is just off.  A lot of the jokes fall flat, such as Tony’s bit about peeing in the Iron Man suit, and that wouldn’t be so bad if the film didn’t waste so much time on then—such as when Hammer gets a two-minute shtick showing off his various guns to various lame puns.  The subpar comedy adds up to a bunch of fluff and filler that racks up the clock and sullies the film’s pacing.

Fortunately, there’s Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) who has his first non-cameo appearance in the film's last third.  Fury meets and summarizes everything Tony's been doing wrong in the film, setting the man straight and back on the right track by giving him some old recorded tapes from Howard.  Jackson is a welcomed presence as Fury, acting tough yet smooth and full of genuinely good humor; “And Tony, remember, I got my eye on you”.  These tapes spark/point Tony in the right direction as he rediscovers/creates a new element to help him survive.

And now for the lightning round of the little things I like in Iron Man 2:

  • Garry Shandling plays the perfect U.S. senator with his monotone, droning voice and underlining and/or direct jabs at Stark; “Mr Stark. Thank you for such an exceptionally distinguished performance. You deserve this. (pricks Tony with medal) Oh, sorry. Funny how annoying a little prick can be, isn’t it? Let’s get a photo."


  • Getting to see Tony practicing martial arts


  • Reporter Christine Everhart’s (Leslie Bibb) returning for a funny bit between her, Tony, Pepper, and Hammer


  • The retroactive young Peter Parker cameos (the kid appears in the opening as well), having Tony saving Peter’s life (who, for a genius, acts quite dumb here) and adding to their father-son dynamic


  • Agent Phil Coulson’s (Clark Gregg) return appearance and amusing conversations with Tony:


          Agent Coulson: We need you.

          Tony: Yeah, more than you know.

         Agent Coulson: Not that much.

  • Agent Coulson fanboying over Captain America’s shield


  • Tony using Captain America’s shield as a stool for his project, much to Coulson’s dismay


  • Coulson going to New Mexico and Mjolnir’s end credits cameo


The finale comes about when Ivan betrays Hammer and baits Tony into showing up at the Stark Expo.  Note at an hour and thirty-one minutes into the under two-hour film, Ivan has only talked to Tony twice, the first time being after their “epic” first encounter.  Saying Ivan is a far cry from Jeff Bridges Obadiah Stane is an understatement, yet it’s remarkable how Favreau went from an antagonist with a close, personal connection with Tony to one that’s loosely connected through past events and has barely talked to him.  The final fight segment is an hour and thirty-six minutes into the film and it actually succeeds on all parts.  It’s effectively set-up, it goes for around fifteen minutes, has multiple battles going on, and is all-around entertaining.  There’s a great nature area in the center of the Expo where Tony and Rhodey team up to fight various droids.  The area is Japanese in aesthetic, complete with cherry blossom petals scattering in the wind as the droids arrive and the two groups have an epic warrior stare down before fighting.  Tony and Rhodey show off some brutally awesome attacks, such as War Machine mowing down a droid to its bolts (with blood-reminiscent oil spraying across his helmet) and Iron Man’s spinning laser slash.  Ivan even gets a cool fight, complete with a new suit and a proper head protector (still has those whips though…so did Ivan train using whips while in Moscow or...?).

The battle is great, it taking over an hour and a half to get there, however, is a problem.  Ultimately, Ivan is killed, Hammer is sent to jail, Pepper learns that Tony was dying (the scene is annoyingly played for laughs and dropped soon after), Pepper steps down being CEO (boo! I like her being CEO), and the two finally share that big damn kiss (I do like that one).  Fury goes over Natasha’s assessment of Tony for the Avengers Initiative—who straight-up calls Tony a textbook narcissist (which Tony agrees)—who determined he would be better suited as a consultant over an actual Avenger.  So yeah, Tony’s totally not going to be an Avenger or the central character in the 2012 film (psst, that’s totally a lie).

Iron Man 2 is a steppingstone towards Marvel Entertainment’s goal of a cinematic universe.  It introduces and/or fleshes out key aspects such as S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers Initiative.  It formally introduces characters like Black Widow and Nick Fury and further develops Rhodey, Pepper, and Phil Coulson.  It continues Tony Stark’s character arc and places more focus on his weaknesses and how they can be exploited.  Lastly, it further advances Tony’s relationships with Pepper and Rhodey, while retroactively establishing a connection between him and Peter Parker.  Iron Man 2 works as a piece of the MCU, there's just not enough material here to work as its own feature-length film.  Ivan and Hammer are two of the worst, most forgettable villains in the MCU.  Two of the three action segments are way too short, and one is flat-out bad.  If Iron Man 2 had ten minutes less of its subpar comedy and replaced it with ten more minutes of action and/or development for its antagonist—either fleshing Ivan out more or giving him more interactions with Tony—the film would have vastly improved in quality.

In a sequel, stakes are supposed to be raised, yet here they are lowered from global terrorism and a backstabbing close ally to a revenge scheme by a guy with some whips and an incompetent manufacturer.  Whereas the first film ends on a bang, Iron Man 2 ends on a whimper, doing its part in progressing towards The Avengers and little more.  My opinion has changed since originally viewing the film.  Some aspects have gotten better and I’ve come to better appreciate several characters, yet many of my complaints remain the same.  Jon Favreau caught lightning in a bottle with Iron Man, yet lightning didn't strike in the same place twice, and while it stands that I no longer dislike Iron Man 2 and see its merit and effectiveness within the MCU as a whole, I do not consider it a good film on its own.

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