Today, we're focusing on the follow-up, Iron Man 2. And the ride's gonna get a little bumpy, y'all. Because this movie has issues.
Spoiler Warning - Seriously? Six years ago, people. If you haven't seen it and you're upset that I may or may not talk about explicit plot points, I suggest going to Wikipedia and reading a plot summary. Then get mad at them. They were rude enough to publish that shit back in 2010, and I waited until now. Just for you. I'm nice like that.
Back in '08, everyone LURVED 'Iron Man'. Part of it was just that it was a fun movie, and part of it was that people were happy that Robert Downey Jr. had orchestrated a career comeback for himself with the two hits that year (the other being the hilarious 'Tropic Thunder'). The man himself just seemed to be likeable, with all his charitable actions, his hilarious personality, and his overall charm. The real world seemed to embrace Downey with the same fervor the fictional Marvel world had for Tony Stark. Needless to say, not only was Marvel hot to trot on getting an Iron sequel going, those post-credits scenes from 'Iron Man' and 'The Incredible Hulk' had generated enough momentum to get Marvel to fill out the plans for the completion of Phase One. Thor and Captain America were coming, The Avengers were coming, but first we needed 'Iron Man 2'.Despite coming frustratingly close to being a good film, 'Iron Man 2' has a lots of problems. And in a movie with a bunch of problems, maybe this was the source of the biggest one. Maybe Marvel began to get too preoccupied with selling a franchise rather than creating the best possible sequel to a story they'd begun so strongly two years prior. Whatever the cause, 'Iron Man 2', while having the same surface level thrills and laughs, and a better developed villain, doesn't come close to having the same heart of the first one.
The movie starts out promisingly. One of my favorite movie tropes is revisiting the events of the previous film from a different point-of-view, and that's how this one starts. A dying old russian named Anton Vanko watches his television, as Tony Stark reveals to the world that he is Iron Man. His son, Ivan (Mickey Rourke) ignores the goings on, hides in the shadows, and drinks his vodka. Ivan's rage, though, is stoked when his father dies. For reasons clarified later in the movie, Ivan blames Stark for his father's ill fortune and death. In a particularly strong sequence, the opening credits roll over John Debney's menacing score as Ivan builds his own version of Stark's arc reactor and a pair of deadly electric whips to take out Iron Man.
Unfortunately, that's as good as the movie gets. We're then treated to Tony making a pair of public appearances where he arrogantly defends his invincibility, and it seems as though any lessons he's learned from the previous films have been forgotten as his narcissism rears its ugly head. In a storyline cribbed from the famous "Demon in a Bottle" comic arc, Tony's being slowly poisoned by the palladium* powering his suit. And since he thinks he's on his way out, Tony behaves poorly. He inexplicably keeps it to himself, refuses to give up being Iron Man, and acts like a complete ass, alienating Pepper, Happy, and Rhodey.
*While I was willing to forgive the junk science of the first film because it was so entertaining, this time, the science is front and center for a couple of major plot points. Palladium is not radioactive, and not really toxic, so Tony's rapidly increasing "poisoning" is nonsense. Especially since I can't figure out how his blood is being poisoned considering the arc reactor is separated from his actual body by a metal chest cavity. And you can't just create a new goddamn element with a laser. It's such a poorly conceived deus ex machina to a poorly developed problem. I think the original plan was that Tony would just be struggling with alcoholism and the emotional weight of being Iron Man, but Marvel Studios intervened and they decided to go...with fucking Palladium poisoning. It's such a nonsensey thing that, despite living in a completely nonsensey universe, this stands out as being distractingly bullshit.
Stark is questioned before Congress in a scene that doesn't make much sense until you see 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' and Rhodey is called as a witness in perhaps the clumsiest introduction of a recasted character ever. It comes off with the same sort of cheesy wink-wink nature you'd get from a sitcom that just introduced a new Becky. Instead of scene that could have actually explored the global ramifications of a one-man-army, we get Tony being snarky and showing up both a senator and his business rival, Justin Hammer, played by Sam Rockwell.
Hammer's a problematic character because he's so goofy and clueless, there's no way he's believable as someone ingenious enough that he could actually be seen as competition for Stark Industries. He's more of a plot device instead of a character, and his one-sided rivalry with Stark makes no sense when you consider that Tony's company doesn't even make weapons anymore. When Vanko's plan to attack Tony (in another actually pretty solid action sequence, again with Debney's score underlining it) goes predictably awry, Hammer orchestrates Vanko's release from prison, and the freedom to make another attempt on Tony's life. That's. About. It. He moves the plot forward, and provides comic relief** in a film that's never really tense enough to require it.
**Honestly, I'm not a fan of Sam Rockwell, but his idea to smear his palms with the coppery brown goop you use to fake tan was pretty genius. And it does say a lot about the kind of guy Justin Hammer is.
Because Marvel decreed it so, we're also introduced to Natalie Rushman, a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson. She's another wasted asset in a pretty spectacular cast. Instead of actually being essential to the plot, she and Nick Fury are shoehorned into the movie to make sure no one forgets "hey, we're planning an Avengers movie in two years!"
And while the introduction of Rhodey's armored alter-ego, War Machine, isn't as non-essential to the plot as all the S.H.I.E.L.D. elements, it still feels like a pretty dramatic shift from the Rhodey we saw in the first movie. This one has much less patience for Tony's antics, doesn't seem particularly trusting, seems suspicious of Tony's illness more than concerned, and then just flat out steals the Mk II armor. Tony and Rhodey are supposed to be best friends, but instead of trying to talk his friend down when he's being an asshole, Rhodey puts a suit of armor on and tries to kick the shit out of him. Ok. Sure. Whatever. We're just having action scenes now, for like...no reason.
All this leads to another showdown with Vanko, now in full-body armor that seems like they're just copying the climax of the last movie. Tony and Rhodey take out a bunch of paper-droids before squaring off against Vanko. And a fight scene that might have actually had some tension when their first salvo against the new-and-improved Whiplash fails completely, fizzles when the whole thing is over in the next 10 seconds.
You may have noticed in my reviews that I mention character development a lot. To me, that's one of the most important things a good movie does. The plot may be fascinating as hell, but if you, as the viewer, don't really care about the characters, you'll only ever grow so invested in the outcome. You want to see them grow and change and end up somewhere different from where they started. That's what made the first Iron Man as enjoyable as it was. But this movie's ending skips all that. Throughout the course of the film, Tony reverts back to the hedonistic self-serving ass he was before, while alienating his friends and loved ones. But as soon as he fixes his chest piece with his
And unfortunately, other than furthering the Marvel brand, and setting up a few pieces for 'The Avengers' there wasn't much point to this movie. Which is really too bad. It definitely could have been a worthy sequel.
FINAL SCORE 5.5/10
Iron Man 2 is probably already in your library, because you have to own it due to your 'complete collection' mindset. It's the same reason anyone owns 'The Incredible Hulk'. Tony Stark will next be seen in 'Captain America: Civil War' which opens May 6. If I was in charge, I'd kill him off, but you have to wait until my 'Age of Ultron' review to hear why. mwah ha ha ha!!
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