Iron Man 2 Review Thread (Spoilers)

[Snikt]

Saw it last night in IMAX last night. Thought it was a great sequel. Loved the bit of Iron Man vs.

[Show spoiler]War Machine with Tony being drunk. It was funny and a little sad at the same time.

Lots of good lines, from everybody in the movie...especially Rhody:

[Show spoiler]"You guys look like a couple of seals fighting over a grape fruit."

I did catch the reference to

[Show spoiler]Hulk

in the movie.

And finally, absolutely loved the bit with

[Show spoiler]Captain America's shield.

[GreenScar]

Originally Posted by CYMBOL

PS

[Show spoiler]Loved Sam Rockwell, the dance on stage was so over-the-top that I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Yeah, I LOL'd.

Loved that part. Hoping to see him again if they indeed do another one. There were a few moments that I laughed out loud, that was one of them.

[csdot]

i just got back. thought it was a solid fun popcorn movie, but it lacked that special something the original had. i cant really put my finger on it. the first one flowed a lot more naturally, this one seemed to be bouncing all over the place scene to scene. definitely enjoyed it thoroughly, just had bit too much going on. not that it was hard to follow but you just didnt really have enough time to take everything in if that makes sense.

[Mike53421]

For Iron Man, I enjoyed it but felt the third act was really boring and as a result... found it overrated compared to how friends of mine were reacting.

With that in mind, for Iron Man 2 I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Not sure what else I can contribute but I really enjoyed this movie, was fun and the cast worked great.

Jon Favreau:

[Show spoiler]Anyone find it funny how he casted himself in the movie and kicked that one guy's ass?

Scarlett Johansson:

[Show spoiler]Holy moly, very sexy.

Don Cheadle:

[Show spoiler]I prefer him to Terrence Howard; seemed like a better fit in the role.

Mickey Rourke:

[Show spoiler]Dude is the perfect fit for a villain. He's massive and just has that gritty look; he worked great for this role.

Funny tidbit:

[Show spoiler]When the droids were locking on targets then saw a kid with an Iron Man mask on I laughed quite a bit because right before the movie some kid walked in with an Iron Man mask on as well.

Plotline:

[Show spoiler]I enjoy how this movie didn't have one villain with Plan A to destroy City X, but rather Hammer with his motives and Vanco with his as well, neither really stole the spotlight and we wound up with two bad-guy plots that intertwined in a logical manner.

Oh yeah, we got the following trailers: Grown-Ups, Inception, Shrek 4, The Last Airbender, and Super 8.

[madlost1]

Going to see it tonight will post my thoughts after.

[Blu-Benny]

Originally Posted by jaejw1

i saw this lastnight with the family.... during the ending scenes.. the wifey leaned over and said... "YOU ARE NOT BUYING THIS BLURAY,,,, YOUR GONNA GET US KICKED OUT THE NEGHBORHOOD"

bring it home day 1 and crank the volume, blow her out the front door!!!

[CYMBOL]

Originally Posted by jadedeath

Really?

I didn't find TDK that suspenseful at all. In fact the last part with the two boats was laughable. Because you KNEW what was going to happen even before it happened, it was classic light vs dark writing 101 {actually it was a high school class} and to see it play out the exact way that everyone thought it would was kind of pathetic.

Logan

Well, I wasn't talking about the boats actually (I completely agree with what you wrote and feel the ending was a bit underwhelming - not the tour-de-force cap off I would have expected. Something bigger should have been at stake - to skyrises or something of that calibur).

However, when Joker crashed the party - I thought it was suspenseful. I've never been in suspense in a comicbook movie.

[madlost1]

Originally Posted by RatedRstar

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios' Iron Man 2 opened to an estimated $52 million on Friday (including midnight showings) in a record 4,380 theaters, marking the seventh-best opening day ever. If the estimate holds, it surpassed Spider-Man 3's opening day of $51.3 million.

The top opening days of all time belong to The Twilight Saga: New Moon ($72.7 million) and The Dark Knight ($67.2 million). The Batman movie went on to set a new opening weekend of $158.4 million, a number Iron Man 2 won't be able to reach, but the Jon Favreau-directed sequel should still be able to enter the top five of the best domestic openers of all time. The original Iron Man debuted to $98.6 million in May of 2008.

Going into Friday, Iron Man 2 had earned about $139.5 million internationally, but that number should be significantly higher once Friday's overseas earnings are released.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=65836

How does this person know this it can have a huge weekend. There is no reason to assume that this can't pass The Dark Knight.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by madlost1

How does this person know this it can have a huge weekend. There is no reason to assume that this can't pass The Dark Knight.

Because its 2nd and 3rd days would have to have zero drop (in fact, they'd have to gain). And Saturday would have to gain huge, as Sunday is Mother's Day, and Iron Man 2 isn't exactly on the top of the list for Mother's Day gifts.

It'll do great, but it won't snag the record. Top 5? Yes. It'll be 3rd, imo, unless Sunday has a bigger drop off than I expect it to...4th at the lowest.




PS: I'm writing up my review right now.

[Meeklo]

Originally Posted by madlost1

How does this person know this it can have a huge weekend. There is no reason to assume that this can't pass The Dark Knight.

Compare the numbers, IM2 made (estimated) $52 million on friday while on TDK's first day it made $67 million. IM2 will probably take in more money today just like TDK took in more money on it's second day. Same for Sunday.

If IM2 made more than TDK on Friday, then I could easily see IM2 beating TDK for the weekend, right now...it's not going to happen.

Plus IM2's midnight showings came to $7 million while TDK's came to $11 million.

[GreenScar]

IM2 will come in between $130/$140 million for the weekend.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by GreenScar

IM2 will come in between $130/$140 million for the weekend.

Therefore I estimate about $800 million worldwide and $375 million domestically.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by madlost1

How does this person know this it can have a huge weekend. There is no reason to assume that this can't pass The Dark Knight.

(Call it lingering anti-Avatard resentment, but what is the obsession with seeing last year's movie "defeated" by this year's one?...Can't we all just get along on Blu-ray?
I mean, does every hit movie have to be "Give us Barabbas" against our former '07 TDK obsession, or is it just that those who had it are now subconsciously embarassed by it?...Aren't there moments late at night where the sudden turncoat-zeal begins to smack of hypocrisy? )

[Diesel]

Alright, here's Diesel's take on the movie.

I'm going to spoiler tag it for both details and length

[Show spoiler]It was 98% what I wanted it to be...and I had high expectations of the movie.

Let's start with the main man himself, Robert Downey Jr. Of course he was fantastic as Stark, the man IS Tony Stark, it's so natural for him. I thought he did even better this time around than he did in the first film, he definitely stepped it up a notch over an already great performance in Iron Man. From the highs of the Senate debacle, to the lows of him staring into the mirror at himself when his blood toxicity was getting really high; all around great. Zero problems with his performance.

Don Cheadle - There was one part about Cheadle's performance that left my head hanging in disappointment...the fact that I have to watch Terrance Howard in the role every time I re=watch Iron Man instead of him. Howard's Rhodey was...not cool. He was a lame character, he didn't act it that well (he wasn't terrible, but wasn't good either...he was passable), and I just generally didn't care for him. That all changed this time. Rhodey was a great character in the sequel. Anytime he wasn't on screen I was waiting for him to come back. Cheadle's interactions with Downey were great, MUCH better than Downey and Howard were together. This time they cast the role 100% on the money, I can't wait to see him in Avengers and Iron Man 3 regardless of the capacity of his role. Part of that 2% I didn't get was more screen time for Cheadle, I wish he had been around more. But when he was around he did great.

Mickey Rourke - No his character wasn't particularly deep...but he didn't need to be. His father helped create the greatest technology in existence and got no credit for it whatsoever....in fact he got kicked out of one country and screwed over by another. Now the son of the man who DID get credit for being a genius is world famous for utilizing Vanko's father's technology and passing it off as his own. Then to top it off his father died in his arms after a long slow death apparently. I've read a lot of people say his motivations were weak...they were VERY strong imo. As for Rourke's acting, he did what he needed to do superbly. And that was...be a bad***. He was an infinitely better villain than Obadiah. Like Cheadle, he was a fantastic addition to the cast that I would have liked to see a little bit more on screen.

Paltrow - First time around she wasn't that great. Mostly because I didn't really care for the character. She also did a decent job, but as most of her scenes where with Downey, she had the impossible task of trying to keep up. This time around, she managed it much better and did well...and didn't become a screaming little school girl in the end again thank God.

Favs - Happy kicked ***, 'nuff said.

Scarlet Johansson - She may not have been around as much as some would have wanted but I thought she was around the just shy of the perfect amount. She was only supposed to be a supporting character and that is exactly what she was. I thought she did well with her role as well. No there was no Russian accent like the purists probably wanted but I liked that she didn't have it, one bad*** Russian accent is enough If they plan for her to reappear later on in other films, I'm all for it and would love to see her return.

Sam Rockwell - He was annoying, a loser and lame....and I LOVED IT. Great job by him as well. Unlike Rhodey, Vanko and Widow, I thought he had the right amount of screen time for his role in the film. And he was utilized properly for that screen time.

Sam Jackson - I know he wasn't a star or anything and his role was just a glorified extended cameo again, but he is really good as Nick Fury so I felt he should at least be mentioned

Alright, now for the movie itself.

It was definitely better than the first film (Diesel's Iron Man score - 4.5/5).

The first had problems that could not be ignored....3rd act anyone? Obadiah screaming "I'M THE BAD GUY!!!!!" from the first time you meet him to even people who don't know his story. Dragging in parts early on.

This time around, none of those were an issue or even present imo.

The film never once drug on for me, and was always exciting or interesting to watch and pay attention to. Which is a great accomplishment as the entire 2nd act is mostly devoid of action (save the fight between Rhodey and Stark) and is almost completely character and dialog scenes. I've read some of the reviews and it holds this against the movie. A lack of action....yet if a movie has a lot of action they will complain about that too. Some people are never pleased. I thought the movie had the perfect amount of action to dialog scene ratio that it needed.

Speaking of the dialog...I love that the dialog in this movie (and in the first, but more so this time around) has them talking over each other so much. Because that's how it is in a real life conversation. People talk over each other and try to get a little louder than the other person and get their say in and not always 'ok you talk. My turn. Your turn'. And these movies capture that perfectly imo. Especially the scenes with Stark/Pepper.

The issue that plagued the villain of the first film is that they wanted you to be surprised by who it was...but they executed it VERY poorly. This time around, we meet the villain from the very first scene and know he's the bad guy. So it isn't an issue.

The 3rd act was a drastic improvement upon the first films. Much, much, much better. I would have liked the fight between War Machine/Iron Man and Vanko to last a little longer, say 30 seconds more? But it is just a small nitpick as the rest of the sequence with the drones was great imo, and a very fast paced fun ride.

Another complaint that I read was that they tried to shoehorn too much Avengers' plugging into the film. Not so I say. The movie did much more to set up Avengers than Iron Man or Incredible Hulk obviously, but the movie was very much about

So, the only things I would have liked to see the movie improved on are:
Tto maybe have another 10-15 minutes for more Rhodey (particularly Rhodey/Tony scenes), Widow and Whiplash. Besides that I wouldn't change a thing, as everything else worked (for me at least) and the perfected the imperfections that plagued the original. I said a while back I hoped and prayed that Iron Man 2 was to Iron Man as The Dark Knight was to Batman Begins (a greater sequel to an also great movie). And it is my opinion that it achieved that.

And to also the Monaco sequence. Someone explain to me how Happy pinned Vanko to the wall TWICE (once while moving pretty quick) without breaking his legs or killing him? He didn't have a suit on or anything, just pants. That part made me sit up and say...wait a second...

Not a deal breaker or anything, but just a simple head scratcher. And also, as a nitpick from a NASCAR fan...as soon as Vanko was out on that track, a yellow (or red) flag would have been thrown in any auto racing series to slow down/stop the other cars from coming around several more times, yet in the movie that didn't happen. It was probably to just be more dramatic, and I can understand that but when I saw it that's the first thing that came to my mind


...oh and let Stan Lee be in it for a few more seconds

On a technical note, the audio of the film was fantastic. Dare I say better than The Incredible Hulk?

....not better than Terminator Salvation though of course

The dynamics of it, the bass of the effects/explosions, the clearness of the dialog...

I can't wait to hear the blu-ray come September (when I think it'll be out).


To finish....

For the last two years my top two comic book films were The Dark Knight (1) and The Incredible Hulk (2). But now, and I can't believe it actually did it, but Iron Man 2 has unseated The Incredible Hulk as my #2 comic book film. Not by a vast margin or anything, but enough to be better.

I also liked it more than my favorite 2009 movie, Star Trek, by quite a bit.

Rating: 5/5

In case you don't want to read my whole long post (Microsoft Word says it's 1,487 words ) here's a summary:

[Show spoiler]

Attachment 18391

I respect any of you who have the patience to sit and read that whole thing

[masoud90]

^ I would read it but I'm afraid it'll give away something.

Seeing it tonight

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by masoud90

^ I would read it but I'm afraid it'll give away something.

Seeing it tonight

Yea I'd hold off until you see the film before reading. Nothing too in depth spoiler wise, but there are some there.

[Gamma_Winstead]

I just saw it for the second time.

still just as good. I'm going in Imax tomorrow. It's my favorite superhero sequel yet!

[GreenScar]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Alright, here's Diesel's take on the movie.

I'm going to spoiler tag it for both details and length

[Show spoiler]It was 98% what I wanted it to be...and I had high expectations of the movie.

Let's start with the main man himself, Robert Downey Jr. Of course he was fantastic as Stark, the man IS Tony Stark, it's so natural for him. I thought he did even better this time around than he did in the first film, he definitely stepped it up a notch over an already great performance in Iron Man. From the highs of the Senate debacle, to the lows of him staring into the mirror at himself when his blood toxicity was getting really high; all around great. Zero problems with his performance.

Don Cheadle - There was one part about Cheadle's performance that left my head hanging in disappointment...the fact that I have to watch Terrance Howard in the role every time I re=watch Iron Man instead of him. Howard's Rhodey was...not cool. He was a lame character, he didn't act it that well (he wasn't terrible, but wasn't good either...he was passable), and I just generally didn't care for him. That all changed this time. Rhodey was a great character in the sequel. Anytime he wasn't on screen I was waiting for him to come back. Cheadle's interactions with Downey were great, MUCH better than Downey and Howard were together. This time they cast the role 100% on the money, I can't wait to see him in Avengers and Iron Man 3 regardless of the capacity of his role. Part of that 2% I didn't get was more screen time for Cheadle, I wish he had been around more. But when he was around he did great.

Mickey Rourke - No his character wasn't particularly deep...but he didn't need to be. His father helped create the greatest technology in existence and got no credit for it whatsoever....in fact he got kicked out of one country and screwed over by another. Now the son of the man who DID get credit for being a genius is world famous for utilizing Vanko's father's technology and passing it off as his own. Then to top it off his father died in his arms after a long slow death apparently. I've read a lot of people say his motivations were weak...they were VERY strong imo. As for Rourke's acting, he did what he needed to do superbly. And that was...be a bad***. He was an infinitely better villain than Obadiah. Like Cheadle, he was a fantastic addition to the cast that I would have liked to see a little bit more on screen.

Paltrow - First time around she wasn't that great. Mostly because I didn't really care for the character. She also did a decent job, but as most of her scenes where with Downey, she had the impossible task of trying to keep up. This time around, she managed it much better and did well...and didn't become a screaming little school girl in the end again thank God.

Favs - Happy kicked ***, 'nuff said.

Scarlet Johansson - She may not have been around as much as some would have wanted but I thought she was around the just shy of the perfect amount. She was only supposed to be a supporting character and that is exactly what she was. I thought she did well with her role as well. No there was no Russian accent like the purists probably wanted but I liked that she didn't have it, one bad*** Russian accent is enough If they plan for her to reappear later on in other films, I'm all for it and would love to see her return.

Sam Rockwell - He was annoying, a loser and lame....and I LOVED IT. Great job by him as well. Unlike Rhodey, Vanko and Widow, I thought he had the right amount of screen time for his role in the film. And he was utilized properly for that screen time.

Sam Jackson - I know he wasn't a star or anything and his role was just a glorified extended cameo again, but he is really good as Nick Fury so I felt he should at least be mentioned

Alright, now for the movie itself.

It was definitely better than the first film (Diesel's Iron Man score - 4.5/5).

The first had problems that could not be ignored....3rd act anyone? Obadiah screaming "I'M THE BAD GUY!!!!!" from the first time you meet him to even people who don't know his story. Dragging in parts early on.

This time around, none of those were an issue or even present imo.

The film never once drug on for me, and was always exciting or interesting to watch and pay attention to. Which is a great accomplishment as the entire 2nd act is mostly devoid of action (save the fight between Rhodey and Stark) and is almost completely character and dialog scenes. I've read some of the reviews and it holds this against the movie. A lack of action....yet if a movie has a lot of action they will complain about that too. Some people are never pleased. I thought the movie had the perfect amount of action to dialog scene ratio that it needed.

Speaking of the dialog...I love that the dialog in this movie (and in the first, but more so this time around) has them talking over each other so much. Because that's how it is in a real life conversation. People talk over each other and try to get a little louder than the other person and get their say in and not always 'ok you talk. My turn. Your turn'. And these movies capture that perfectly imo. Especially the scenes with Stark/Pepper.

The issue that plagued the villain of the first film is that they wanted you to be surprised by who it was...but they executed it VERY poorly. This time around, we meet the villain from the very first scene and know he's the bad guy. So it isn't an issue.

The 3rd act was a drastic improvement upon the first films. Much, much, much better. I would have liked the fight between War Machine/Iron Man and Vanko to last a little longer, say 30 seconds more? But it is just a small nitpick as the rest of the sequence with the drones was great imo, and a very fast paced fun ride.

Another complaint that I read was that they tried to shoehorn too much Avengers' plugging into the film. Not so I say. The movie did much more to set up Avengers than Iron Man or Incredible Hulk obviously, but the movie was very much about

So, the only things I would have liked to see the movie improved on are:
Tto maybe have another 10-15 minutes for more Rhodey (particularly Rhodey/Tony scenes), Widow and Whiplash. Besides that I wouldn't change a thing, as everything else worked (for me at least) and the perfected the imperfections that plagued the original. I said a while back I hoped and prayed that Iron Man 2 was to Iron Man as The Dark Knight was to Batman Begins (a greater sequel to an also great movie). And it is my opinion that it achieved that.

And to also the Monaco sequence. Someone explain to me how Happy pinned Vanko to the wall TWICE (once while moving pretty quick) without breaking his legs or killing him? He didn't have a suit on or anything, just pants. That part made me sit up and say...wait a second...

Not a deal breaker or anything, but just a simple head scratcher. And also, as a nitpick from a NASCAR fan...as soon as Vanko was out on that track, a yellow (or red) flag would have been thrown in any auto racing series to slow down/stop the other cars from coming around several more times, yet in the movie that didn't happen. It was probably to just be more dramatic, and I can understand that but when I saw it that's the first thing that came to my mind


...oh and let Stan Lee be in it for a few more seconds

On a technical note, the audio of the film was fantastic. Dare I say better than The Incredible Hulk?

....not better than Terminator Salvation though of course

The dynamics of it, the bass of the effects/explosions, the clearness of the dialog...

I can't wait to hear the blu-ray come September (when I think it'll be out).


To finish....

For the last two years my top two comic book films were The Dark Knight (1) and The Incredible Hulk (2). But now, and I can't believe it actually did it, but Iron Man 2 has unseated The Incredible Hulk as my #2 comic book film. Not by a vast margin or anything, but enough to be better.

I also liked it more than my favorite 2009 movie, Star Trek, by quite a bit.

Rating: 5/5

In case you don't want to read my whole long post (Microsoft Word says it's 1,487 words ) here's a summary:

[Show spoiler]

Attachment 18391

I respect any of you who have the patience to sit and read that whole thing

I agree with everything you said, well, except for your ranking of The Incredible Hulk. Personally I would rate them TIH, IM2, BB, DK, IM.

PS - I did read the entire thing.

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by GreenScar

I agree with everything you said, well, except for your ranking of The Incredible Hulk. Personally I would rate them TIH, IM2, BB, DK, IM.

PS - I did read the entire thing.

Would that happen to also be your top 5 in comic book movies or of just those five?




Good job!

[GreenScar]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Would that happen to also be your top 5 in comic book movies or of just those five?




Good job!

Yeah, not including Graphic Novels. I'd rethink it for a day or two if graphic novels were concerned.