Iron Man 2 Thoughts
Iron Man 2
Finally had an opportunity to see Iron Man 2 yesterday morning and I have to say, for a movie 5 or so weeks into its' release the theatre was fairly filled for the first showing of the day. I don't know if I can say I was eagerly anticipating this movie but I was expecting a solid 2 hours of entertainment and boy did it deliver. It's been awhile since I saw the first Iron Man movie, but until I see it again I am leaning towards the sequel being my favorite of the two I enjoyed it so much and I can't remember the last time I LOL'ed several times in the theatre for a movie which I did for Iron Man 2 and it isn't even technically a comedy!
Now getting into the meat of the movie, I was surprised by how much of a presence SHIELD had in the movie. I figured that there would be a scene between Fury & Stark, possibly to explain Black Widow's presence and that would be it. I didn't expect the multiple scenes along with the revelation that Fury knew Tony's dad who was a founder of SHIELD. Also, did anyone notice that during the "Avengers Initiative" scene, it sounds like they made a justifiable way to have Iron Man in the Avengers movie and it not be Tony in it. I hope RDJ is there, but if not I guess I'd accept Cheadle's War Machine filling in. If it's someone else that would just be stupid.
Howard Stark was brilliant. Probably my favorite parts of the film had to do with the videos recorded of Howard, and how much he reminded me of Walt Disney with his City of the Future and the presentation of the display. Having a big plot point come from his personal video to Tony and how the land was actually the schematics for the new element was fantastic. I enjoyed seeing little Tony come onto camera for a moment, and the fact that Howard was so smart he was ahead of his time and had to wait for the technology to catch up to his ideas.
Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow was amazing. I was worried about how she would come off on the screen as I'd never seen her as a red head before but I thought she nailed the role solidly. It was hilarious the conversations Tony and Pepper would have on Natalie/Natasha whether it was about hiring her, or later on when Pepper was in charge and Tony was the one on the outside. The fight scene with Natasha and Happy was outstanding with Black Widow taking down the whole hallway of guards while Happy took care of the first one. I do wish they had included a short fight scene at least with Black Widow trying to take down Vanko and have it eventually lead into an Iron Man confrontation. Outside of that, I can't wait to see her in the Avengers movie, which I think she's going to be in.
I thought Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko was an excellent villain for Tony, and very believable as a Russian/foreign citizen. His quiet and simple speech was a great opposite to Tony's loud and boisterous voice. The one nagging negative I have for the movie is the casting change from Terrence Howard to Don Cheadle as Tony's buddy Jim Rhodes. I know Don is a fine actor but it's the continuity geek inside me that is cringing at the fact that they can't keep the same cast together after even one movie. It's not like this was movie 3 or 4. I understand there were some problems with Howard but when it comes to a big franchise that Iron Man has become, I think you have to work hard as a studio to keep the integrity of the cast together.
This has me excited for Thor & the Avengers movie (still on the fence about Captain America) as well as next year's Green Lantern movie. The best thing about this age of comic book movies is that the movie studios are taking these franchises seriously and the comic book companies have taken their time to position themselves into molding the movies in the right way. This is a great time to be a comic fan.