Alright, so here is the movie review I promised for Iron Man 2, cut for spoileriffic text. I watched Iron Man 2 last Wednesday, so there may be fogginess about some of the details.
-So, yes. Clearly I loved the awesome secret agent Romanoff. (Black Widow! Although I don't think anyone calls you that in this film.) I adored the scene where she was taking down guard after guard, and Happy was still stuck with his one. That scene was class.
-I'm a little stuck on whether or not I like Tony's character in this film. On one hand, I do enjoy RDJ's portrayal of him, and he is pretty damn hilarious, and it's not like he doesn't show the character as being more interested in his company policies and world peace and other such superhero concepts in this film, because he has. I'm just a little irritated that the character has to go through the same cycle in this film: we see him as a stupid, overconfident, irresponsible prick, and then he goes through a bucket of ice cold reality to the face, straps on some maturity, and starts being less of a jerk. Meanwhile, he walks over Pepper and Rhodey and doesn't really apologize for his bullshit, although they do a good job calling him on it. I hope that the next movie we see him in will have him behaving with more, um, foresight. Because really, drunkenly blasting stuff in a room full of people? Stupid. Dangerously stupid, I don't care if you did plan it, Tony.
- So the villains are Russian this time. Last time Middle Eastern, this time Russian. Color me shocked. I do enjoy the villains, but I would like them to start with some comic book nemesis at some point. But apparently the next movie is going to be Thor.
- Speaking of villains, I hated the sleazy weasel guy. As a person, yes, but I was also teetering on the brink of hating him as a character. It wasn't that he was poorly played or conceived, it's that every single action this twit carried out grated against my every nerve to the point where I quite literally couldn't watch the screen when his smug little face appeared. I spent the whole movie hoping, praying, begging he'd get either physically trashed or publically humiliated. Sadly, he only got tugged off to jail. As a villain, he did a good job making me despise him. Maybe too good?
- The Russian guy was really cool. I wish, though, that they hadn't given Tony's dad such a golden martyr personality. He's the CEO of a weapons manufacturing company. He shouldn't be firing his head of engineering (if that's who he was), because he's fiscally-oriented. I mean, they're businessmen. Of course they want the money. Good god, they're making weapons, for crissake. I would have much preferred it if Tony's dad had fired the Russian guy because he wanted the money and patent for himself. It would have been more morally interesting.
- Samuel L. Jackson will always be cool. So will Nick Fury. Enough said.
- I want a morphing Iron Man briefcase of my very own. That was the coolest transformation scene ever. EVER.
- Now, I shipped Tony/Pepper like mad in the last film, and I wanted to in this film, too. But Tony didn't seem to need Pepper as much in this movie. He didn't have that reliance that I liked from their relationship in the last film. And Pepper seemed like she was more stressed out by Tony than anything else, with him flailing around all over the place and her having to constantly clean up messes. I liked it, but some of the spark was gone.
- Of course, the entire plot sort of hinged on a specialized Idiot Plot. It all worked as long as the Whiny CEO failed any ability to think critically at all about...anything. He hired some felon with absolutely no sense of loyalty to him, his company, or his country, he allows him full access to all his technology, and he doesn't have any idea what the guy is making. He could have easily assembled a bomb or twenty and fitted them in the dummy suits. This man is an imbecile. I missed Obadiah. He was evil, but classy about it.
- As always, I adore the nifty doohickeys that Tony always carries around. His awesome tech is just awe-inspiring.
- Side note: I hate how Marvel sets Iron Man and the Avengers in the same universe as the X-Men, but doesn't have any of the mutant backlash spilling out into Avenger-verse. You think we would have seen it in The Incredible Hulk, or even mentioned in Iron Man, but no. Even though this is the same time period, and these guys work together on occasion. I wish they'd just set them in separate universes, like Watchmen was wise enough to do.
- Am I the only one who was shipping Romanoff/Potts there? I had a brief Happy/Agent Romanoff moment, but went right back to the femmeslash.
- I really want Tony interacting with the rest of the Avengers, like, yesterday. Or at least the Hulk. I can't wait for them to get together.
I did enjoy the movie. Highly entertaining, funny, great explosions. Worth my ten bucks and popcorn money.