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"Iron-celebration!"
The movie played out quite differently than what I expect of a sequel. A lot of movies in the past followed the Star Wars' formula with having the second one being darker and bigger in scale. However, this movie felt episodic, with probably the intentions of making more than three film. Like the first, the story has plenty of character development, especially on Tony Stark. He has problems in the first movie. He has problems in this second one too. And that's good, as heroic as a superhero can be, he is still human. We see him trying to deal with his health problem, his relationship with Pepper as well as trying to keep up his company and what his father has establish, dealing with an old family's enemy from Russia, his friendship with Rhodes and dealing with rivalry from the government, while at the same time, he got this really cool toy and loads of money that he wants to enjoy. What's a guy to do? I'm really impressed by Robert Downey Jr's performance. He nailed his role as Tony Stark. Forget Sherlock Holmes and Tropic Thunder, Robert Downey is Iron Man.
Makes you feel small with your Macbook now, eh?
Like
the first, this story is character driven. There's plenty of character
development from Tony, Pepper and Rhodes. Tony's one is what I mentioned
above, we have Pepper dealing with her new position as the CEO of Stark
Industries and Rhode's trying to look out for Tony as well as trying to
deal with the pressure from the government. What I love about this sequel is
not only we got to explore more on our main characters introduced in the
first but we also get plenty of new allies and new villains. For those
die-hard comic book movie fans who waited after the credit end in the
first Iron Man knows who Samuel L Jackson's character is. He has a much
bigger role now in this film but doesn't really play a big importance
just yet, aside from helping out Stark in some issues and dropping a
piece of history on Tony's lap. He is really there to tease us of a
great and epic 'Avenger' movie in the future. We are also introduced to
Scarlett Johansson who plays Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanoff a.k.a
Black Widow, being the new assistant to Tony replacing Pepper Potts, and
an undercover agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. Natalie took the limelight as the
leading lady in this movie, indeed replacing Pepper's place as the
leading lady in the first movie. I personally felt she was put into the
movie and worked into the story for two reasons, an eye candy for the
film and a change in leading lady much like how a Bond girl is. When
Pepper takes on a boring CEO job, the filmmakers gave us a lady who can
'kick butt', giving us much jaw dropping action moments with some of her
moves and a much needed comic relief in some moments. However, I am very impress with
Tony's personal bodyguard and chauffeur, Happy Hogan played by none
other than the director himself, Jon Favreau. I'm pretty sure he was
meant to be a cameo in the first movie but his character here really
provided the comedy in this film, and his chemistry with Scarlett’s
character in some scenes was really good.
Mace Windu gone bad. He most probably lost his left eye from a lightsaber battle.
Like every superhero movie, a hero needs a villain to do his hero thing. We were introduced to Ivan Vanko, who is Whiplash in the comic, played by Mickey Rourke. A person like Mickey Rourke whose face and looks, as well as his tattoo, will now be the representative of Whiplash in the movie version. I'm a little disappointed at the lack of creativity of designing his character. We have Scarlett Johansson who needed to dye her hair red and Samuel L Jackson who needed to wear and eye patch. Mickey Rourke's look is used as the villain look for the character. Attached him with those Whiplashing stripped down version of the Iron Man suit, probably a little smaller than what Doctor Octopus wore in Spiderman 2, and you get the character Whiplash. That aside, I'm surprise he has quite a small role. He was quickly introduced as a villain from the start, pretty much being made a villain by his father, and it's quickly develop that his purpose in life to bring down Tony. He pretty much clashed with Tony only in two occasions, one in the racetracks and one towards the end of the film. So, not only did he have such a short screen time, he probably has one of the least lines in the film as well. Yes, given that's his character is Russian. That's just sad. Like in Hulk and in the first Iron Man, Vanko pretty much used the same formula to how Tony Stark got his "powers". Vanko with his genius Russian brain, developed tech based weaponary similiar to that of Tony's Iron Man. So much for creativity in this one.
Poster motivation to be more villainy during work
Another villain introduced that I felt pretty much stole much of the villain screen time and lines (Yes, he talks way too much) is Justin Hammer, played brilliantly by Sam Rockwell. He is DE rival to Tony Stark, like Belloq to Indiana Jones, like Mac to PC, like Plakton to Mr Crabs (Spongebob Squarepants). Like Tony, he has his own weapon making industry and he has his very own narcissistic personality. The only thing he lacked is the Iron Man suit which he wants to either steal it or get someone to duplicate it. He reminded me of your comical villains of the past, something like Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor in Superman. Annoying sometimes, but I do enjoy his character and some of the comedy he brought to the movie. Another lesser known villain with his bookend scenes (appearing in the beginning and then in the end) is Senator Stern. He represents the United States of the America and wants Tony to give the Iron Man suit 'to the people of America'.
Welcome to Hammer Industries! Behold the Stormtroopers of tomorrow!
Another character that I want to talk about is Lt Colonel James Rhodes. I absolutely love the character and the friendship he has with Tony in the first film, and it is a pity when the original actor Terence Howard was replace with Don Cheadle with reasons unknown. I find it quite odd and find it somehow difficult to reconcile both actors in one character, especially when both actors look very, very different. It was easier to reconcile Katie Holmes' Rachel Dawes with Maggie Gyllenhaal's Rachel Dawes in Batman, but not so with James Rhodes. But halfway down the movie, you become more familiar with Don Cheadle's James and forget about Terence Howard's James. There's plenty of character development of this character like I mentioned above. You feel his turmoil as he struggles between his friendship with Tony and the pressure he has from the government, as well as trying to look out for Tony. Still the best part about his character is that he is the second Iron Man in this film. He gets to don a heavily weaponized Iron Man suit and be War Machine. He stole the limelight in the trailers, posters and finally in the film itself. Don Cheadle in the War Machine suit probably makes him the coolest looking sidekick in movie history. He provided a lot of friendship drama with Tony, plenty of action and fighting with Tony, plenty of special effects eye candy and some laughter among the audience at a particular scene. I felt Rhodey here is a well polished sidekick character written for a superhero movie. He pretty much beat Robin is to Batman.
Son of Robocop!
Balancing out the drama, character's development and relationship part of the story, there's plenty of action installed as well. I understand a lot of people were disappointed at how little action was there between Iron Man and Whiplash, but there were plenty of action I felt people might have overlooked. Tony and Rhodey had a good fight, Natasha Romanoff/Natalie Rushman had the spotlight as she takes down plenty as she storms into Hammer Industries, there were enough of Robot soldiers for Tony and Rhodey to take down as well as provided an awesome flight and chase sequence. Action aside, it's also the visuals that really stole the lime light from this film. When you think the scene when Tony first don the suit or his household computer named JARVIS holographic screen wows you, the filmmakers pushed it further in this movie. The transformation scene at the race course still blows me away (you can see it at the end of the second trailer) and the holographic lab at the basement of Tony's house has dwarfed your Macbook. There are plenty of Whiplashing actions, Robots firing, War Machine exhibiting every arsenal he has and plenty and plenty of explosions. Perhaps another less noticed special effects that we should give credit for is erasing all the wire work that allow Scarlett Johansson to do all her impossible physic defying moves.
Pepper who?
To all those comic book fans, especially Marvel, I feel that this movie does a good job in teasing all of you. I'm not really a big fan of Marvel, I'm more of a DC comic fan. But I've never been more excited to see Captain America's shield taking the limelight, seeing Samuel L. Jackson's Avenger's initiative for the future and if you wait after the credits, Thor's War Hammer! I've never been more thrilled to wait for Captain America and Thor to come out, and I've never been more disappointed at what Warner Bros is doing with their DC licensing. Where are the Batman and Superman movies? I cannot believe we're going to be treated with Jonah Hex soon and we've been treated with The Losers. Marvel is taking the lead....for now. (My hopes are in Christopher Nolan's third Batman film and Christopher Nolan overseeing the upcoming Superman film)
Overall, I left the cinema feeling quite happy with the film. It didn't leave the same impact as it did for the first movie, but I felt the film was good for a sequel. It didn't feel like a second movie, more of a continuation from the first, the feeling of "the continuing adventures of Iron Man", rather than the second act of the bigger story than will soon come to a conclusion. I would give this film a 6.5 out of 10 "Ex-Wife" bunker buster missile.
Comment below, if you were to weaponize your Iron Man suit, what would be the craziest thing you would install in your suit?
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