Hello again my friends, I'm here today to defend the movie known as Iron Man 2. This movie receives a tremendous amount of flak, but does it truly deserve it?? Personally, I liked it very much. I would say its the worst of the Iron Man trilogy, but I loved the first and third and liked the second. So calling it the worst isn't really a bad thing. I feel what makes people dislike it so much is that they were expecting it to be like the first Iron Man film(which is in my opinion, just a hair below the Dark Knight) that's what hurts sequels most. Living up to the expectation of the first, some have managed to overcome this such as Spider-Man 2
and The Dark Knight. Iron Man 2 obviously did not surpass the first Iron Man but it is not as bad as folks make it to be. It isn't even a bad movie, I liked it a lot. I'm here to defend it and give you my reasons for liking it and after I will give you my biggest problem with the film. Here goes!
Cool action sequences
Yes, I am one of the few who actually enjoyed the action sequences in Iron Man 2. They weren't Avengers material that's for sure, but they were very good in my opinion. Let's take a quick look shall we. My favorite action sequence in this one was Iron Man and War Machine vs the Hammer Drones, I thought that one was pretty much the perfect Iron Man action , and all at the very end they duck and Tony uses his last weapon to slice them all in half. This was most likely the best action in the film, but there were others that were good. Second best, I would say was Black Widow along with Happy Hogan vs the goons on the way to find Ivan. That one will stick in my mind for ever, Scarlet Johansen is awesome when she wants to be. She pulled some really sick martial arts stunts right there, I thought it was pretty great. Oh, yeah and Happy gets to show off his boxing skills in the same scene. Next, there was the one right before Iron Man/War Machine vs Hammer on the ground, the flight chase scene is the one I mean. Where Iron Man is chasing Rhoadey trying to get Ivan out of his system. Thought that one was fun. Lastly, there were three more, which were not bad. The first of which was Iron Man vs War Machine at Stark's mansion/house. It was a bit cheesy yes, but enjoyable nonetheless. Second of which was Iron Man vs Ivan at the race track, I actually enjoyed that sequence immensely. The CGI there could have been handled a bit better, but it was fun. The last, and arguably the worst was the very end with Iron Man/Rhoadey vs Ivan in his Crimson Dynamo-esque armor. That one was kinda weak but not really that bad. If you compare the action to Avengers, then I can understand how it seems like an inferior movie. But overall, this film actually had some great action. I feel it's vastly underrated, it's actually very good in my opinion.
Humor that worked, and was actually funny
Well, as most of us saw Iron Man 3 recently, I think we can agree that the humor imposed in that film just doesn't work. However, I feel the complete opposite about Iron Man 2, this was a Favreau movie so it had the same general feel as the first one. The attempts at humor through out this movie worked, I thought it brought this film to life in a way that was somewhat lacking in the third one. Like for example, Tony's remark about Natasha/Black Widow "I want one", or when Pepper says something about a sexual harassment case waiting to happen, or when Tony brings her strawberries because he remembers the "association". Those moments really fit with the rest of the film, it was an Iron Man film. Those moments let it hold the same feel as the first one and they genuinely worked and didn't feel out of place the way the humor did in the third film. I think the jokes here were funny, and actually do a lot to help string together this type of popcorn flick. In all honesty, when I saw Iron Man 3 my biggest problem was that it was torn between trying to be funny and deep/dark at the same time. Iron Man 2 did not suffer from this problem, it was a popcorn flick yet at the same time actually managed to strike a bit of a deeper tone. But I'll get to that part next...
Was a popcorn flick, but still struck a deeper tone
Yes, this was mostly an action flick without too much story. But, I still felt it did a decent job of showing what Tony was going through as far as the suit poisoning his body. The physical and emotional toll that being a superhero had on him, I thought was portrayed very well. That as well as how his father left behind the tech, the legacy of the Stark name...to Tony. Because back then he knew that Tony was one of the few that would know what to do with it. It wasn't as deep as Dark Knight, or even the first Iron Man. But, it struck a deeper, more intense vibe at times including when Ivan manages to escape the prison. Or when Tony watches the film of his father, or when Tony Is rebuilding the suit. Or how Tony realized that his tech could be stolen, but we find out that the tech he uses was stolen from elsewhere. No, it wasn't as intense as Dark Knight, or even Spider-Man 2 or even Iron Man. But it did get a bit intense at times, and went a bit deeper while still keeping the perfect fun vibe that fits an Iron Man film. It held a great balance of emotional depth and playfulness I thought that was very well done, and should be pointed out.
It brilliantly introduced future characters
Last of the big pros, this film introduced three characters that would play crucial roles in later parts of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first of which is Natasha Romanov more commonly known as the Black Widow. Black Widow played a crucial role in Marvel's The Avengers, if not for her introduction in Iron Man 2 they would have had to introduce her as a character and begin development. Which may have messed up the film in a way. Or, she would've just been another Hawkeye. I thought that Iron Man 2 did a great job in introducing her as a character, she was seen as posing as Pepper Potts' assistant, but later reveals herself as a secret super spy, but then later shows she's a great fighter and great at what she does. I thought it did a very good job at bringing her into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and giving us a good feel on who she is and what she can do. Which was built upon more in Marvel's The Avengers. The other two characters further developed in Iron Man 2 were Nick Fury and Agent Coulson, Fury and Coulson were further built upon from the previous Iron Man film. Agent Coulson needed more screen time, so that in Marvel's The Avengers when he is killed the audience who remembers him would feel for him and actually care about him dying. Adding intensity for him to make the big comeback in the SHIELD Tv series. I thought Iron Man 2 gave us good groundwork to build up to Avengers with those two particular characters, Black Widow and Agent Coulson.
Now, here I'm going to tell you the things I disliked about it. The first and main problem with this film, is that the villain was underutilized. First off, I though it was a bit strange that they thought it was a good idea to mesh Backlash and Crimson Dynamo. But that aside, there were a few scenes near the beginning where I thought Ivan seemed like a very cool and interesting villain. Like in the beginning when he's building his own whips and arc reactor or the fight on the race track, in my opinion those scenes were actually really great. I think Mickey Rourke is an awesome actor, and what would've made this film GREAT is if he had a bigger part instead of sitting in a lab half the movie. If they had gone deeper into his backstory with his father who had been working with Howard Stark. That would've been awesome! Overall, my biggest problem with the film is that Whiplash/Crimson Dynamo was underused, which is a shame because Mickey Rourke is a great actor.
But, in truth. I thoroughly enjoyed Iron Man 2. I hate hearing people go around saying it sucked, or that it's the worst film in the MCU. (Thor deserves that title, but that's a topic for a different article) Iron Man 2 was not great, or amazing by any means. But I liked it, it's not the film you watch when you're in the mood for an interesting and emotional superhero film. It's like The Avengers for me, it's one of the ones you watch when your buddies are over and you've got out a huge bowl of nachos. I thought it was definitely worth paying money to watch, and I enjoyed it to the best of my ability. I think the real problem is what people expected of it. Compared to the Nolan Batman films, the Raimi Spider-Man films or the rest of the MCU (excluding Thor), it seems like a bad movie. But in all actuality it's not unbearable and it is enjoyable. Good, not great.
Well, that's all I got for you right now. Agree?? Sound off in the usual place, and thanks for reading.