Rate IRON MAN 2

[abcdefz]

6.5

Decent, but not much more. Cheadle is really good, Rockwell's pretty good, Rourke is pretty good, Johansson is really good with
practically nothing to work with, Downey 's good, Paltrow's okay, Shandling's good.

Not really worth rushing to see, sadly.

[kaiser soze]

Yeah, this was a weird one for me - was it a step up from Iron Man? No not really - the action was impressive but nothing really stood out

There seemed to be a larger focus on characterization (and less on action), but a couple things bothered me

1) Tony's alcoholism was touched up on and then it fizzled out
2) Black Widow was really unnecessary
3) Whiplash definitely deserved more time - the indy race scene was awesome - too bad his whips in the second fight didn't fuck up shit (would have been cool to see the scale of his improvement and maybe take out a building or two)
4) Warmachine and the Drones - could've been cool if they were used in theater first to see how much of a threat they really could be - looked like they weren't much of anything.
5) I can't see the casual Iron Man fan understanding what S.H.I.E.L.D or the Avengers is all about (and where will this go with the Avengers? Will Ant Man be one of them?)

who knows...

I was really hoping that Iron Man wouldn't go the route of Spiderman but this sequel has me concerned.

Straight Up Popcorn fare - not as deep as many fans hoped it would go

[JoLovesMCA]

I went mad on my twitter about this. I seen it Thursday night, or Friday morning I should say at one of the first showings. Was so pumped up but came out somewhat disappointed. I love RDJr. he was amazing as always but I was really mad about Don Cheadle sorta being the side-kick when last time I checked Iron Man doesn't have a side-kick! That ticked me off. Plus he didn't deliver the way Terrance Howard did. Why they thought replacing Howard with Cheadle would be better is beyond me!

Cheadle's character should have been killed off to add more drama to the film or he should have had less to do. They should have given more to Mickey Rourke because HELLO the hero and the villain need to have a big showdown and they totally just MISSED that. I am so upset.

But the chemistry between Tony and Pepper was really good which made it up for me. And Samuel Jackson really helped make it enjoyable too. I'll stop now lol...

[cosmo105]

I SEEN it? Come on now.

And sure, kill off the black guy. Real progressive.

[Burnout18]

It stunk,,, Half the movie dealt with an alcoholic's internal struggles, which ok yea i know part of the story for real but the dialougue was over the top and too corny for me. War machine/cheadle's performance was the only thing i really liked about the movie.

It looked like it was rushed.

[Laserface]

5

[JoLovesMCA]

I SEEN it? Come on now.

And sure, kill off the black guy. Real progressive.

I don't care if he is pink and yellow I just didn't like his character. The script was great though. It's just that Mickey and Robert had such great chemistry it's a shame they missed out on showcasing good VS. bad. Cheadle's character didn't need to fly around and help him and act like he is the next Iron Man. There was just no need for it imo.

[Waus]

I don't care if he is pink and yellow I just didn't like his character. The script was great though. It's just that Mickey and Robert had such great chemistry it's a shame they missed out on showcasing good VS. bad. Cheadle's character didn't need to fly around and help him and act like he is the next Iron Man. There was just no need for it imo.
**SPOILERS**

War Machine has been a Marvel hero for a long time. Just because he hasn't been in recent Iron Man comics (that I'm aware of) doesn't mean they should scrap a useful character and counterpoint to Tony's rampant egotism.

If they make a third movie they can focus on Tony's alcoholism - in this one it was only touched on, but there was too much interference from the paladium poisoning to really make progress with that subplot.

I thought Jackson was kind of hard to watch in that movie. His wardrobe was a little off, and the scale and scope of SHIELD isn't really impressed upon you the way it would be if they used some of the Sky Captain-esque bases and machinery the way they did in SHIELD story lines in Marvel comics.

One of the weird things for me to follow in this one was Whiplash's mindset. His motivations didn't seem to justify the things he did. The first attack on Stark made sense, but from there on it just seemed like he was bent on destroying Stark instead of really showing the world familial injustices.

Anyways, I thought it was reasonably good. It was at least what Spiderman 3 had the potential to be. It didn't topple over into a cesspit of camp and awful dialogue the way Spiderman did. All things considered it felt like it was teetering on the edge of a disaster of a film but held it together and came out alright.

[nodanaonlyzuul]

I thought it was fine. Fun to watch but nothing amazing which is too bad because if they could have kept the momentum going from the first one it would be a fantastic series. Whatever though.

Also,
ScarJo definitely lost weight. Which is not to say she is too skinny now but there was no reason for her to lose any weight anyways. If she kept the weight she lost she would have looked even MORE amazing in that skin tight suit. Also, yeah, her character was kind of useless to the story. They could have worked on that more.

Then the Whiplash fight at the end was really anti-climatic. Usually beating the bad guy is more of a struggle but it seemed too quick and too easy.

[JoLovesMCA]

Then the Whiplash fight at the end was really anti-climatic. Usually beating the bad guy is more of a struggle but it seemed too quick and too easy.

Well yeah that was one of my main issues. I wanted to see more battling going on between Stark and Vanko.

I guess I am looking at it from less of a comic book perspective so I have no real attachment to Cheadle's character or what he's really about. I did still like the film but I just don't like that particular character :D

[kaiser soze]

the end fight was weak - the new whips weren't anything (like I said they should've thrashed a few buildings to show the scope of their improvement)

Maybe Vanko could've had a kill switch for War Machine and turned him off or something a thrash Iron Man around for a bit...

something about that fight was like - so they kicked all the asses without any sense of danger.

[JimmyTheScumbag]

I rated it yesterday and can't remember if I gave it a 4 or a 6. I think that pretty much sums up how I felt about it.

I took the day off work to take the boy to see Iron Man 2 for his birthday. He was all Iron Manned up and we were both really excited to see the movie. Most of the action was good, but I felt like they wrote the screenplay around the scenes they wanted, and thought more about the forthcoming sequels, and setting up for the Avengers. I know it’s a superhero movie, and I can easily suspend belief, but it drives me nuts when irrational things happen in a movie. They wanted a battle scene with Iron Man vs. Whiplash at a race Track at Monaco, so:

SPOILERS:

We see Whiplash get the fake ID & tickets to Monaco; he was going there to attack Stark. Was Whip planning on attacking Tony Stark in the skybox where he was supposed to be? Doesn’t seem like it as Whip disguised himself as a pit crew member for the attack. Problem is, Tony made a last minute decision to drive his race car. They even show the ESPN style coverage scratch the expected driver and replace him with Stark. Everybody was shocked that Tony was going to drive, except Whiplash who we see planning the attack in Moscow.

That didn’t make sense.

I still don’t understand the whole thing where Tony’s father left him clues in the model to create some new element to save his life. Tony’s dad knew he would one day have this strange heart ailment and he would need this info to save himself?

Whacky.

I had a lot of problems with the events in this movie.

Apparently, pc security sucks in the Marvel Universe and everyone is an expert hacker. Whiplash hacks Hammer's government weapons contractor mainframe in about 5 seconds, then Black Widow hacks into what Whip was doing with the same ease. A shield agent was able to break into Tony's system and easily 'cut him off from communication with the outside world'. I guess he just disabled Firefox or something. So Tony walks around his pad swiping the air and manipulating everything and he doesn't have a wifi account somewhere? Maybe he can add that in his Mach V armor for part 3. I still don't understand why Shield found it necessary to cut him off from the outside world. A shield agent is able to hold Iron Man under house arrest with the threat of a taser? The ending bored the shit out of me too. It seemed like War Machine and the drones were chasing Iron Man for about 20 minutes, and then there was a very short final battle with a weak pay-off. At least we were treated with the fart sound effect when the bunker buster missile didn't work. Whiplash must be psychic because he absolutely seemed to know that missile was going to fail. Uh oh, Whiplash has set all of the drones to self-destruct. Iron Man (a) Knows, somehow that Pepper is in danger as she stands motionless next to a droid that is ominously beeping (b) Knows exactly where she is (c) Only has seconds to saves her, and easily does (d) All of the ridiculous statements above are true. I'm not one of these nerds who are going to be overly critical of casting choices but Sam Jackson is a terrible Nick Fury, I keep waiting for him to throw a mother fucker or two in there. You know you are in trouble when people would rather see Hasslehoff don the eye patch.





END SPOILERS:

I can't believe they killed off War Machine, bad decision. Oh wait, that was a spoiler. - EDIT (Move above with spoliers)
Staying for the surprise after the credits was a waste of time too.

I like most everything Jon Favreau has done, but I get the feeling he has grown complacent with the success of the first one. IM 1 was smart, charming, and realistic, especially for a superhero movie. I think Favreau and crew (writers) put forth a lackluster effort knowing how successful IM2 would be. It’s not a terrible movie, but with the strong cast (more Scarlett J in the skin tight body suit please) and the momentum from the IM 1 it was very disappointing.

[abcdefz]

Jackson was pretty close to being campy. It was jarring

[hpdrifter]

Can't imagine why, he rides that line in at least 50% of his performances.

[Burnout18]

Thats it waus thats what bothered me. They had the drinking mixed with the potential natural death. Too much internal struggle for a movie with a decent badguy in whiplash.

sTill too campy for my tastes.

[TAL]

I thought it was fine. Fun to watch but nothing amazing which is too bad because if they could have kept the momentum going from the first one it would be a fantastic series. Whatever though.

Pretty much exactly how I feel. (or maybe I didn't want to write anything:))

I was the only one who stayed for the efter the credits scene. Guess it's not well know over here.

[Waus]

We see Whiplash get the fake ID & tickets to Monaco; he was going there to attack Stark. Was Whip planning on attacking Tony Stark in the skybox where he was supposed to be? Doesn’t seem like it as Whip disguised himself as a pit crew member for the attack. Problem is, Tony made a last minute decision to drive his race car.


In Superman plotlines nobody goes out of their way to attack Superman or even Clark Kent. Obviously that's a generalization, but it makes sense. If it was known all over that Stark would be at Monaco, and Whiplash wanted to showcase Iron Man not being the world-saving tool Stark was touting it as, he'd have to get Iron Man onto the track where there'd be cameras covering it. It was blind luck that Tony was driving the car - he was there to call out Iron Man in front of the world.


I still don’t understand the whole thing where Tony’s father left him clues in the model to create some new element to save his life. Tony’s dad knew he would one day have this strange heart ailment and he would need this info to save himself?


The new element isn't to save Tony's life, that was a coincidence. The new element is a more efficient way to run the arc reactor that can make it a viable sustainable energy source. In an effort to prevent this new energy from getting into the wrong hands, instead of patenting the synthesized element plans he left a coded model for Tony.

That SHIELD may have had an idea that Tony needed the new element would explain why they got him those film reels.


Apparently, pc security sucks in the Marvel Universe and everyone is an expert hacker. Whiplash hacks Hammer's government weapons contractor mainframe in about 5 seconds, then Black Widow hacks into what Whip was doing with the same ease.

I think this was just another way to exaggerate the point that Justin Hammer was incompetent and hires incompetent people to undercut Stark.

Whiplash must be psychic because he absolutely seemed to know that missile was going to fail.

Vankko was probably the one who installed all the Hammer equipment on War Machine. Surely he'd be aware of which weapons could present a real problem for his armor.

You know you are in trouble when people would rather see Hasslehoff don the eye patch.

I know! Right?

tldr; tedious fan-boy retorts to plot holes. I'm not even an Iron Man fan really, I just like to try to explain poor storytelling.

[Rodie]

I was the only one who stayed for the efter the credits scene. Guess it's not well know over here.

I saw it too. Wasn't anything amazing but those little end scenes usually never are. And as to who it pertained to I figured it would be them.

[kleptomaniac]

film was awesome. 10/10.

and i thought that justin hammer dude was hilarious. (y)

[NicRN77]

I thought it was entertaining. Agree the last whiplash fight was anti-climatic.

[mickill]

I wasn't see it yet.

[cosmo105]

^I giggled.

[skra75]

meh, it was aight.
Downey was pretty awesome but the plot was kinda clumsy and they beat Whiplash way too fast. Seriously felt like they a) ran out of money b) ran out of time.

[ToucanSpam]

8

Very good, but not better than the original. It did its job and looked slick.

[abcdefz]

About the whole "How did Whiplash know Stark was driving?" thing:

Yeah, that bugged me, too. Then I read someone who suggested that Whiplash was just on the track to wreck some havock to call Iron Man out, and the fact that his second victim actually WAS Stark was just good luck for Whiplash.

Okay. I can buy that.

[roosta]

I thought it was good enough, but it did have some problems:

Whiplash was beaten way to easy. Very anti-climactic.

Sam Jackson really was super camp. I almost expect him to wink at the camera it was that put on.

It felt a wee bit cynical them using a movie to set up another movie. Let me enjoy this one, now!

But:

The acting was really good, especially Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke.

Action was quite good (dispite anti-climactic finale)

Scarlett Johannson. (y)

[ToucanSpam]

This movie sets up the third one well. We will most likely get the Mandarin AND Demon in a Bottle. It should translate well on screen. I think we're getting an Avengers movie first, which is also exciting.

[hpdrifter]

I didn't mind the truncated finale, I hate when they're hugely drawn out. Also, I thought Scarlett was just okay, Gwyneth was great with more to work with than the last one and I actually didn't see the Sam Jackson campy. I thought he was pretty even keel, didn't shout at the camera once.

I just have one question.

What the FUCK did Garry Shandling do to his face?!?!!??!

:eek::confused::(

[A. Chimendez]

Thats it waus thats what bothered me. They had the drinking mixed with the potential natural death. Too much internal struggle for a movie with a decent badguy in whiplash.

sTill too campy for my tastes.

Read a comic book man. Iron Man/Tony Stark for the years and years he has been published is about his internal struggles. Having that kind of content in a comic book movie doesn't automatically make it "camp".

[A. Chimendez]

This movie sets up the third one well. We will most likely get the Mandarin AND Demon in a Bottle. It should translate well on screen. I think we're getting an Avengers movie first, which is also exciting.

The Mandarin is actually kinda tricky; after two movies that focused on technology based powers to throw in a guy who uses 10 magic rings would be out of place and hokey.
.
I wouldn't say they are setting up a third one more then setting up the entire Marvel Universe coming to the big screen in Thor, Captain America, and finally the Avengers. I don't think with that kinda weight coming first that Jon Favreau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Favreau) has had time to process what a third would be.

Not to say that it doesn't lend itself to setting up a third movie either.

My thoughts:
Just as good as the first. I feel like the first is actually a little over-rated. It was a movie that came out at the right time in terms of what people wanted from a comic book movie so it was celebrated a little more. They are both solid movies for sure, and I think that the this second one is even closer to the structure of what a comic book follows even more then the first and people in general no matter what had their expectations too high.

[ToucanSpam]

The Mandarin is actually kinda tricky; after two movies that focused on technology based powers to throw in a guy who uses 10 magic rings would be out of place and hokey.

Really good point. As long as they don't bring in Fin Fang Foom, we'll be okay.