Iron Man 2 OFFICIAL: Rate & Review Iron Man 2

[kedrell]

Agreed. It seems like IM2 is going where I read some fan theories about where the [blackout]TDK sequel[/blackout] could go. Basically rather than doing the standard superhero thing of having your hero & central villain(s) in a clash or cat & mouse game, they suspected that [blackout]Nolan[/blackout] would simply have [blackout]Batman[/blackout] hit by lesser threats but all together coming from all sides that threaten to break his will. At least that's one fan theory I heard after [blackout]Nolan[/blackout] said he wasn't out to get a new villain for [blackout]Batman3[/blackout] to top [blackout]Heath's Joker[/blackout](he doesn't think he can find one).

And yes, I realize that I just brought up [blackout]TDK[/blackout] again. Gimme a break, it was relevant.

 

[shogunrua]

I gave it an 8, it was really cool movie

What I liked the most:

Spoiler

-Don Cheadle as Rhodey: I think he dealed the interaction between Stark and him better than Howard (yeah he had more to do in this movie). The birthday party scene was incredibly strong
- The birthday party scene: it's one of the highs of the movie. A lot of stuff that happens before builds up to this. Stark dying and letting loose (my friends and I were laughing, but I thought it was some sort of dark scene too because seeing Stark really letting loose was powerfull) with Rhodey driven over the edge and basically " I've had enough of your bull****" and the fight is pretty cool.
- Mickey Rourke: he works in almost every front. The funny scenes with Hammer were cool, but the serious ones are even better. Hammer isn't Stark's doppelganger. Vanko is. When Hammer just wanted to make suits, Vanko had the idea to make drones, he doesn't try to emulate Stark, he tries to think ahead of the others (and well, he does). His final suit is cool, some sort of "Crimson Whiplash" and he really kicked Iron Man and War Machine's ass for the short time he was there.
- Justin Hammer: Sam Rockwell really did a great job. He's more a comic relief than anything else but there are points in the movie I thought Hammer was more of an evil man in a *****ebag disguise. I hope we'll see more of him in the future
- the action scenes: the Monaco race track: AWESOME. Stark VS Mark II Rhodey: AWESOME. Stark VS the drones: GOOD (not awesome because I thought the chase was too long, but hey I know it was to give black widow her action scene which is: GOOD). Crimson Whiplash VS War Machine and Iron Man: AWESOME (but TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SHORT !!!!!!!!!!!!)
- The funny scenes: they work. They turned a movie who could have been really like a lot more light hearted. The "Hammeroids" line was cool. The ex-wife scene, Iron Man doing stupid stuff on his birthday party, completely drunk and in the Iron Man suit, the final scene. There was really nice moments
- random stuff: Scarlett Johannson was a nice black widow. Brought a lot of sex appeal and thoughness to this role. I think she was a really good pic for the role. The intro scene...wow it was intense and a little bit creepy.

What I didn't like:

Spoiler

- the Avengers/SHIELD stuff: ok lay down the torches before burning me at the stake please there's not much of them in this movie, but I thought they were a bit distractive. The Cap shield cameo, altough funny, was unnecessary because, it was already done in the previous movie, and the casual moviegoer would't get it (at least on this side of the Atlantic). The donut scene was not really necessary either. And the last one, the "textbook narcissism" one, although necessary to somehow bridge all the continuity, felt really out of place. I think I could sum it like that. They were cool/necessary for the overall Avengers stuff, but they felt out of place for me in this movie.
- random stuff: the real last fight, Crimson Whiplash VS WM/IM should have been longer. His suit is more intimidating than the Iron Monger one, he is clearly owning both of them, but it ends to quickly. And when you think about it, with all their realistic approach, this movie bends the suspension of disbelief really hard and with a single line of dialogue. We learn that the big meat of this movie takes place in the spot of one week. So basically Stark has, in one week, 1) discovered a new element 2) drove a car in a F1 race 3)almost died 4) made a new suit 5) made a new arc reactor (ok 1) 3) and 5) go along but I think you get my point) 6) said a big "**** you " to the Senate. Vanko has 1) escaped prison 2)made all Hammer suits into drones 3) upgraded a suit with whips. They are pretty busy people don't you think...but I think the biggest letdown for me was the conclusion of the Rhodey/Stark story, they just go "hey I'm sorry man" I thought it deserved more than that. Oh and the last one but that won't count for the majority of you, the french actors in this movie are HORRIBLE (I'm fluent in French). I understand that Stark has an awkward french and doesn't put the stresses in the sentence the proper way, but when the french guys do it to, nah that's just plain annoying/stupid. And my Russian friend told me he couldn't get a word of what Vanko was saying.

Well here are my impressions. An awesome movie, I enjoyed it a lot some flaws but by far not the dissapointment some reviews have pointed it would be

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Is there any mention of Captain America? Like a hint or suggestion or anything? Thanks

Spoiler

Cap himself is not mentioned, but Tony does gets his hands on Cap's shield, which is battered and broken.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Any truth to this...

Yeah, that's more or less accurate.

 

[Kent]

1. How many action/fight scenes were there in the movie (not just fight scenes featuring Iron Man, but ALL fight scenes)?

2. How long were the fight scenes?

3. Did IM and Whiplash have a final fight scene?

4. How was Whiplash finally defeated in the final fight scene?

5. Was there a scene in the movie showing IM fighting bad guys in a foreign country? If yes, when was the scene shown?

This might give away some stuff, but I made sure to not give you any plot twists or anything. You can probably open the spoilers without seeing anything too spoilerific.

Spoiler

- One fight scene early on set in Monte Carlo (only foreign country fight)
- Another fight scene near the middle.
- A longer action sequence at the end, punctuated by a very short fight involving IM and Whiplash, and intercut with a fight scene that does not involve IM.

 

[danoyse]

A lot of people here have already seen IM2 - don't start a new thread just for your own review.

Moving this to the review thread.

 

[rashad]

not saying i'm going to agree but i liked your review jmc because it was well reasoned and not chock full of hyperbole.

It rocked or it sucked is just not a proper review...period.

+1.

 

[kedrell]

Very short 1 or 2 minute end fights in superhero movies seem to be becoming the norm. Think about it, [blackout]TDK[/blackout] & SM2 did the exact same thing.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

1. How many action/fight scenes were there in the movie (not just fight scenes featuring Iron Man, but ALL fight scenes)?

2. How long were the fight scenes?

3. Did IM and Whiplash have a final fight scene?

4. How was Whiplash finally defeated in the final fight scene?

5. Was there a scene in the movie showing IM fighting bad guys in a foreign country? If yes, when was the scene shown?

I'll just detail all the fight/action scenes for you:

Spoiler

1. Iron Man fights Whiplash at the Monaco Grand Prix. Great scene, full of menace, Tony looks scared and vulnerable.

2. A drunk Tony in the armour fights Rhodey in a silver armour. It's somewhat played for laughs but has a serious elements to it, that Tony is getting out of control and Rhodey wants the armour for the military.

3. The climax. This starts with War Machine and the Hammeroids chasing Iron Man through the sky, this is quite something to watch!; then Black Widow and Happy Hogan breaking into Hammer's building and fighting security guards (Favreau couldn't resist giving himself a fight scene); Iron Man and Rhodey fighting briefly before Rhodey gets back control of his armour; then they fight all the Hammeroids; then Whiplash appears and they fight him.

You might argue there is not enough action in the movie, I certainly think that about the first film. However, the action in Iron Man 2 is absolutely first class, top of the range CGI, and on a much bigger scale than the previous movie. The climax is about fifteen minutes of pure mayhem, I loved it.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

A lot of people here have already seen IM2 - don't start a new thread just for your own review.

Moving this to the review thread.

It wasn't a review thread, it was for the purposes of answering questions for people who haven't seen the movie.

 

[danoyse]

I'll just detail all the fight/action scenes for you:

And you're going to use spoiler tags when you do that from now on. Heed the announcement at the top of the forum:

http://forums.superherohype.com/announcement.php?f=415&a=145

Thank you.

 

[danoyse]

It wasn't a review thread, it was for the purposes of answering questions for people who haven't seen the movie.

Which people have been doing on this thread for days now. We don't need 2 threads for it.

And the movie is not released everywhere yet, so kindly use spoiler tags for now.

 

[TheComicbookKid]

It wasn't a review thread, it was for the purposes of answering questions for people who haven't seen the movie.

there's already a question/answer thread.

 

[jmc]

Not saying I'm going to agree but I liked your review jmc because it was well reasoned and not chock full of hyperbole.

It rocked or it sucked is just not a proper review...period.

I'm not one for hype, I'm a fan of film first and a comic fan a distant second. Glad you liked it.

Does Natasha/ Black Widow speak any Russian or have any hint of an accent after she reveals herself? Was she underused in the movie? Does she kick-ass? Now spill .. lol thanks dude.

Put it simply, she doesn't really do much, she's not even a love interest of any kind, she's just kinda 'around'. No accent either, no Russian. She does speak some Latin though.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Agreed. It seems like IM2 is going where I read some fan theories about where the [blackout]TDK sequel[/blackout] could go. Basically rather than doing the standard superhero thing of having your hero & central villain(s) in a clash or cat & mouse game, they suspected that [blackout]Nolan[/blackout] would simply have [blackout]Batman[/blackout] hit by lesser threats but all together coming from all sides that threaten to break his will. At least that's one fan theory I heard after [blackout]Nolan[/blackout] said he wasn't out to get a new villain for [blackout]Batman3[/blackout] to top [blackout]Heath's Joker[/blackout](he doesn't think he can find one).

And yes, I realize that I just brought up [blackout]TDK[/blackout] again. Gimme a break, it was relevant.

No break for you. I'm beginning to think you LIKE being stuck in rehab. That's 5 more days for each mention in this post.

 

[psyonic]

I'm not one for hype, I'm a fan of film first and a comic fan a distant second. Glad you liked it.

Put it simply, she doesn't really do much, she's not even a love interest of any kind, she's just kinda 'around'. No accent either, no Russian. She does speak some Latin though.

They let her speak another language and it's not Russian? ..

 

[lzzy]

Quick review. Just back, awesome movie. Is more focused on character development than dumb action. The film is funny, always interesting, brilliantly acted, and the action scenes are top notch. Nods to other Marvel films are there, and are exciting. If you missed

Spoiler

Cpt America's shield cameo in the first, well, you won't miss it here

9/10.

 

[Red Mask]

Spoiler

Cap himself is not mentioned, but Tony does gets his hands on Cap's shield, which is battered and broken.

Spoiler

Really? I think that was a prototype his father worked on.

 

[Red Mask]

But it takes over way to much time of the film. The whole second act detours to accommodate that subplot whilst at the same time killing any threat Whiplash may have posed against an already depleted Tony Stark. I mean there's no action at all for nearly an hour, and the story line in place is not interesting, it just comes across as artificial. I'm seeing this film through Joe Average glasses here because I'm not an Iron Man comic fan, it may work for the comic fans, doesn't work for me and if I'm honest I can't see it working for the public. I'll just say on a side note you IM and Marvel fans deserved better.

I'm not bothered by the lack of action. Iron Man doesn't spend his time chasing robbers and organized crime. The people that Stark faces every day are the people we see in this movie. They are politicians, military leaders, spies, rival industries, scientists, and public critics. Few superheroes deal with these people on a professional level as Tony Stark.

 

[Red Mask]

So many 10's being voted for as the score here. It's the same every time a film is newly released. Casual idiots happen by.

This film is in no way a 10. If it is a 10, then what score do you give Iron Man 1, The Dark Knight, Kick-Ass, Spider-man 2, X2 etc etc?

EDIT: Just checked out statistics on some who voted 10. Some experienced folk there. Seriously, guys?

I have NEVER ranked a superhero film a 10. I've watched too many films to give them a 10. But I would rank Iron Man, Spider-Man, and X2 every highly.

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

Can someone please explain to be the deal with the element? Cause the whole thing with the model was confusing.

 

[Red Mask]

For me its up there with Spidey2, I loved the first Iron Man movie but for me this one just killed that one for me.

Spider-Man 2 is my benchmark on a holistic superhero film. They achieved many things there and broke a lot of molds too. One of which is they realized the comicbook fight without imitating kung-fu films.

I'm hoping Captain America will deliver a much stronger message on morality, bravery, and unity because it does start during World War 2. If they can't convey a strong message from that era, then they're thinking too small.

 

[Red Mask]

Can someone please explain to be the deal with the element? Cause the whole thing with the model was confusing.

It reminded me of the Shizuma Drive.

Like that made any sense!

 

[Mantis Rapture]

Just got back from an 11o'clock screening of Iron Man 2.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes, writing this on an iPhone and it's horrible keyboard thingy.

Went into the film fresh and (mostly) unspoiled having not read any reviews from critics or fans.

Having just been quite suprised about mine and my friends feelings on the film, thought I'd fly by here to see what other fans were saying about it.

Gotta say, I wasn't expecting as many positive opinions as this!

The film definitly isn't a disaster, but I'm not sure whether I'm feeling dissapointed or just underwhelmed by what I just saw.

Just to give you a heads up, I'm a big fan of the first film despite it's flaws (specificly that third act, which so many origin films seem to slip up with) and was looking foward to this sequel, although having been disapointed by sequels before, I checked my hype at door.

So...I'll try to keep this as spoiler free as possible.

Man is this film messy. If there's one thing definitly at fault with this film it's the script. It stops and starts - certain scenes nearly bring the film to a standstill - uneeded characters pop up then never show their face again, and amongst all the, admittedly, very snappy dialouge, there's some pretty bad writing going on here. Similar to this review, probably.

The cast all pull their weight - Downey is, well, Downey as Stark - which is never a bad thing, but there's a certain smuggness to Tony this time round that left a bad taste in my mouth. You're still rooting for him all the way, but even by the end of the film your not sure if he's actually learnt anything, except to create a new reactor very quickly due to a very convenient plot point.

The rest of the cast are good - Paltrow is still awesome foil to Downey, and although a fair bit of their dialouge is the two of them essentialy talking over each other, the chemistry is there for all to see. Cheadle is a totally different Rhodey to Howard, but you still get the feeling Tony and him go way back,and is totally likeable in the role. It's just that the Rhodeys development into War Machine left a lot to be desired, specificly regarding his ability to use the suit, which seemingly came out of nowhere, unless the script forgot to tell us something...

Rourke is charasmatic and nearly unintelligable as Whiplash - he pulls it off, but he's a totally throw away villain - he's a guy with a massive chip on his sholder who wants to mess up Tony's life, but seems to have no other motivation at all. He looks cool though, and gets to kick some ass - and gets his handed back to him - a couple of times.

Rockwell looks like he's having a real good time as Hammer, and almost threatens to steal show, but we don't learn enough about him to really hate him as a bad guy - I kinda just thougt Hammer was a bit of misguided nobhead rather than any sort of threatening badguy.

Scarlett Johannsen is hot and has a really terrible fight scene. That's all I remember about her take on Black Widow. A really terrible fight scene. It's just horribly put together - she pulls of a slick move on some goon then - FREEZE - she busts out a pose. The only really terrible part of the film for me.

The rest of the action was good - the Monaco scene was dope, but was suprised with how short it was, and how much Pepper and Hogun played a part in it - they both seemed to get in the way of really promising piece of action, slowing the Stark/Ivan face off to a point of nearly spoiling it. They don't though - just.

The rest of the action is enjoyable, especially a drunken fracus between two good friends - the only piece of action with some real emotional weight behind it. But beware! The final showdown WILL dissapoint a lot of you, especially those expecting something to better that pretty lame confrontation between ol' Shell Head and The Dude at the climax of the first film.

The biggest problem for me is the pacing of the story. We don't get into any action for a least 20 minutes, then the film just seems to slow right the **** down until the final act. I have no problem with a 'talky' superhero film, but when a lot of that talking serves no purpose to the story you end up sitting there waiting for the action to kick in - which is never the sign of really well put together action film. So much could have been chopped out of this film - everything involving Shield and the attempt to set up The Avengers reeeeealy gets in the way. And I was looking foward to seeing all that stuff. Concerning Nick Fury and The Avengers, the people I were with didn't have a clue what the deal was with them. 'What the **** was Sam Jackson all about in that film? He just popped up, talked some **** about something I have no clue about then left' was pretty much what a freind said soon as we came outta the cinema. And don't get me started on Agent Olsen (?) - his appearence was there to do nothing but to hint at Marvels future projects.

I was about to comment on the score, but remember nothing of it. Not a good sign, coming from someone who is complete music geek with a real affinity for film scores.

I don't wanna tear into this film any more than I have cos there are many redeeming factors - the cast, the action (there's nowhere enough of it mind you) the special effects, Scarlett Johansens curves. The tone of the movie is still very light and fun and, well, 'comic-booky' - as much I love TDK (which is a lot), I'm glad they kept it fun instead of trying to make it gritty.

And I have a feeling upon second viewing I'll apreciate it for what it is.

I'm gonna reccomended it, just prepare to leave the theatre with your mind firmly un-blown and a tad underwhelmed

 

[Symbiotic]

Is it true that

Spoiler

at first, Rhodey can't control the War Machine armor? It's going by itself with Rhodey stuck inside?