Iron Man 2 Capsule Review
Just got back from a 12:20 AM screening of Iron Man 2, And since half of America is currently asleep, the other half is about to wake up, and I'm stuck somewhere in the middle, I'll make this brief. It's a morsel of a review, if you will.
Iron Man 2 is never boring, I'll give it that. There's always something new and shiny to occupy the space, even if it doesn't really add up to much. It's a sequel with nothing to say, which means it's bigger, louder, and less intelligent than the original. It is, as I feared, overstuffed with storylines, juggling as many as 9 threads at once (Tony/Pepper, Tony/mortality, Tony/Ivan, Tony/Justin Hammer, Tony/Black Widow, Tony/U.S. Government, Tony/Rhodey, Tony/Avengers, Tony/Tony's father). And ultimately, most of it feels like one big setup for something bigger (which, as we all know, it is).
The strength of the movie lies in its individual performances. Every actor from Sam Rockwell to Sam Jackson to Garry Shandling go above and beyond what is expected of them. It’s a joy to watch Sam Rockwell rock up and down on his tippy-toes while trying to negotiate with Ivan Vanko. It’s hilarious to watch Sam Jackson do anything while wearing an eyepatch. And it’s always great to watch Robert Downey Jr. overcompensate for his mortality with an oversized ego. Uh, and yes. It’s nice to watch Scarlett Johansson wear leather and kick ass.
The only person who gets the short end of the stick is Gwyneth Paltrow, but that may have more to do with her nonexistent character arc.
My biggest issue with Iron Man 2 is that there really aren’t any stakes. We never feel that Stark is in true danger, even in the final (and extremely brief) showdown with Ivan. The first movie had an element of surprise in that you never quite knew if the Iron Man suit would work properly. But now it’s been perfected and Tony can do as he pleases without any real consequences. They spend the entire movie setting up Ivan Vanko as a real threat, and then we pretty much watch him play a video game during the final act.
The pacing is also jerky. Chalk it up to the billion storylines. You’re never quite sure when Tony is having a revelation or just a false start, as evidenced by the tiring back and forth between he and Pepper Potts. And sometimes things divert into a seemingly benign sequence, like when Rhodey straps on the suit for the first time and confronts Tony, just to set up a callback for later in the film. Also, remember how long it took Tony to get used to the suit in the original? Rhodey straps that thing on and is a pro within minutes. Must be all that military training.
Okay, so is it worth seeing? Yes, of course. It’s Iron Man and like I said, you’ll never be bored. The performances are top notch and there are enough memorable moments to keep it afloat. But man it’s frustrating. Like Tony Stark’s arc reactor, the emotional core is burnt out and in desperate need of a replacement. But I guess…what’s that old saying? It’s better to burn out than to be boring.
May 7th, 2010 at 9:55 am
Oh man. You totally hated it. Thanks for the head’s up…I’ll never see this movie now.
May 7th, 2010 at 10:07 am
It’s too scrappy to completely hate. It’ll make for a great Sunday afternoon, half-paying-attention movie where you stop to watch Sam Jackson show up and tell people he has his “eye” on them, then go back to doing whatever today’s version of sudoku is.