As far back as I can remember, SEQUELS have usually meant one thing for movie audiences. BIGGER and BETTER … nuff said. John Favreau’s initial directing take on the Golden Gladiator had fresh “new car” sheen on it. Audiences lapped it up to the tune of $585,174,222 easy. I was initially enamored of shots using some practical SFX.
However, after a couple of repeat viewings the movie plays kinda thin on story and feels nervous and rushed in some scenes. Basically “IRON MAN” felt like a car commercial. I liked Robert Downey Junior as Tony Stark. He brought a kind of acerbic quirkiness in his approach to the role that I hadn’t seen him unfurl since James Toback’s independent film “Black and White” (1999).
John Favreau has elicited laughter from me in a number of films ranging from his director / acting turns in “Elf to his interpretation of Foggy Nelson in “Daredevil”. Favreau more likely than not can bring the funny. He had demonstrated a more than capable directing hand in Zathura (The film was horribly marketed and released unfortunately, with its title intact.).
So that being said, Favreau is a capable director… with the RIGHT material.
The question was posed … How would Favreau directorially; top himself in the follow-up to IRON MAN?
IRON MAN 2
Featuring: Robert Downey Jr. Gwyneth Paltrow, John Favreau, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, cameo by Garry Shandling, Clark Gregg & extra special cameo by Samuel L. Jackson (The Akta’)
Written by: Justin Theroux
Producer: Kevin Feige, Susan Downey
Director: John Favreau
Studio: Marvel Studios (Distributed by Paramount Studios)
Theatrical Release Date: May 07, 2010
Budget: 170-200 million dollars
Gross Revenue: $621,730,345
Disclaimer: Part of this review uses digital information culled from Wikipedia and YOUTUBE. The writer of this article claims or infers no rights to the outside material posted as part of this composition. All rights to Iron Man as an intellectual property belong to Marvel Comics and their inherent company Walt Disney Studios (With licensing by Paramount Studios).
Plot:
Russian television shows Stark Industries CEO Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) revealing his identity as Iron Man to the world. Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), whose father, Anton Vanko (Yevgeni Lazarev), has just died, sees this and begins building a similar weapon.
Six months later, Stark has used his Iron Man armor to help maintain world peace. He re-institutes the Stark Expo in Flushing Meadows to continue his father Howard's legacy. Senator Stern (Garry Shandling) demands that Stark turn over the Iron Man technology to the government. Stark refuses, claiming that foreign nations and business competitors are decades away from successfully recreating his achievements, and that the armor is in fact his own property.
The palladium core in the arc reactor that keeps Stark alive and powers the armor is slowly poisoning him, and he has failed to find a substitute. Stark becomes despondent and begins displaying erratic behavior.
He promotes his longtime assistant and casual love interest Pepper Potts to C.E.O of Stark Industries and hires a new assistant, Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson).
(Note: It’s no big secret to the movie going audience that Natalie Rushman is actually an undercover agent of S.H.I.EL.D & is acting under the direction of the organization’s clandestine leader, Nick Fury (Sam Jackson). Rushman is actually comic book character “Black Widow”.)
Character Note(s): BLACK WIDOW-also known as Natalia “Natasha” Romanova a former super spy from the Soviet Union trained in their covert “Black Ops” program dubbed the Red Room.
Favreau’s version of the character bears no more than a superficial resemblance to her four colored counterpart. Scarlett Johansson makes no attempt to fashion any sort of soviet accent for the role and as many know…Johansson has a somewhat, husky voice that gives some the impression of a world weary individual.
Anton Vanko has in the meantime jerry rigged his own weaponized harness and makes his presence known to the world by attacking Stark at the Circuit De Monaco.
Business rival, the equally quirky, yet less-than-brilliant Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) observes Vanko’s rather brief confrontation with Stark and decides to sponsor his criminal activities in exchange for his indentured servitude in creating a rival armor chassis to win the lucrative government contracts Stark has rejected.
To make matters worse, after nearly endangering a house full of sycophants, Stark’s best friend and military liaison, Col. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle standing in for Terrence Howard.) dons the Mark II armor and attempts to subdue him. Rhodes eventually absconds with the armor and has Hammer customize it for military application …Thus the audience is treated to the emergence of comic character “War Machine”.
How does it turn out? You’ll just have to go out and get yourself a copy of IRON MAN 2 to find out.
RDJ definitely had a full plate in his second outing as Stark / Iron Man.
WARNING: SPOILERS contained in the remainder of this article.
First of all, I would like to point out that RDJ changes little about his take on the character this second time around, simply making him more manic and childish at times. As a viewer, I found myself becoming exasperated with his character as the film progressed.
This time out unfortunately, Stark is all over the place as a character. The quiet brooding as he mulls his apparently immanent death a stark (pun not intended) contrast. The direction of RDJ reeks of desperation as I began that Favreau was desperate for you to like the character and allowed RDJ’s natural eclectic nature to run rough shod through some of the scenes.
Imagine trying to follow a laser pointer as someone randomly flicks it across the screen. This is the closest I can come to describing RDJ’s performance in this film.
Also of note is the fact that in this second outing of IRON MAN, Favreau has cast himself as more of a pivotal player in this movie’s cinematic universe.
This is a BIG PROBLEM with some the elements that went into this sequel.
John shares quite a number of scenes with Scarlett Johansson, even going so far as to place himself into a somewhat exciting action sequence later in the movie when the “Black Widow” finally goes into costumed action to combat the bad guys (In this case a moderate number of security guards at Justin Hammer’s weapons plant.).
Favreau actually has a sustained fight scene with a rather large and burly security guard which is used editorially to break up the Widow’s skirmish with the rest of Hammer’s staff.
I do realize that it is done for intended comedic effect, but it takes away from the Widow’s impact as a hero considering she will appear in the much hyped future AVENGER’S film.
Note: The choreography for this fight scene is a little too “staged” looking with Johansson striking a pose each time she executes a series of maneuvers.
JOHN FAVREAU’S VIEWS ON BRINGING THE CHARACTER TO LIFE & HER CINEMATIC FIGHTING STYLE:
VERY INTERESTING TAKE ON THE CHARACTER.
(Personally, I was asking myself why she didn’t use her fire arm or why didn’t she just just sneak into the plant to exact a serious beat down on Vanko.)
HERE’S ANOTHER DIRECTION THAT FIGHT COULD HAVE GONE.
FANBOY sez: “Just putting it out there… that’s all.
Note: Josh Whedon should give Johansson a run for her money. The guy knows his female superheroes (See: Sarah Michelle Gellar & Summer Glau).
That being said, I was rather surprised that SLJ’s Nick fury character didn’t play a BIGGER ROLE in the film. It’s common knowledge that MARVEL Entertainment hit a snag in the road with SLJ after the release and initial success of the first IRON MAN film. Apparently from his cameo appearances in certain points of this movie, they found the money to pay “THE COOL”.
It seems like a waste of time, legal departments and money not to use SLJ for more in this film. It certainly couldn’t have hurt. This movie could have benefited from a FULL APPEARANCE by S.H.E.I.L.D at least in some capacity.
IRON MAN 2 could have benefited from another go around by the writers. Some plot holes are well, absolutely too hard to ignore. For instance, Nick Fury installs a mole at Stark’s side, yet let’s Stark languish for weeks thinking he is going to die only to present him with the solution to his problem at an opportune moment. Also later in the film, hell breaks loose after Vanko controlled drones go rouge at a public expo, Fury is nowhere to be found.
“What Up with That?” (I realize that S.H.E.I.L.D is a SECRET Organization, but couldn’t the brother have sent in some regular National Guard or army troops?) …and what about Black Widow? Couldn’t she have called Fury from the expo and “dropped a dime” regarding Vanko’s location?
S.H.E.I.L.D could have rolled over to the plant and arrested Vanko (BTW, how come Fury isn’t hunting Vanko down after the jail break? Didn’t they conduct an autopsy on his supposed corpse and discover it was not their man?). I really miss the “Ten Rings” from IRON MAN.
This probably sounds like nitpicking to some but these things, stick out as plain as the nose on your face while viewing the movie initially.
Speaking of Vanko… Mickey Rourke is not given enough to do that justifies his presence in IRON MAN 2. Fresh off his OSCAR run for “The Wrestler” Rourke has always given his all to his craft.
Check him out as MARV in Robert Rodriguez’s SIN CITY. I’ve always felt that if they excised his segment from the film and screened it as a short; they could have been up for Oscar contention. Rourke is priceless in that movie.
Note: I’d really would have liked to see this Marvel film “not kill the villain to death”. Favreau robs himself of the chance to have a great reoccurring villain. You would have thought that he learned his lesson after killing off the strong villain in the first film. Jeff Bridge’s presence or lack thereof leaves a vacuum that reaches into this sequel. Sam Rockwell seems miscast by comparison when looking at the whole picture in general.
Speaking of being miscast, Don Cheadle tries valiantly to fill Terrence Howard’s shoes, but simply just can’t. He doesn’t have “it” … I don’t buy him as Rhodey for one minute. When he’s on screen with RDJ, it feels like they just met five minutes ago.
(The horrible CGI- compositing of his face with a digital model is hilarious in scenes where he stands alongside taller individuals.)
IRON MAN 2 suffers from some really cheesy looking SFX. There are times in this movie where it feels as if your looking at a video game. There is no “Suspension-of-Disbelief” when these moments happen.
Because of this the movie feels “cheap” and “contained”. It’s simply more of the same as Favreau opted to stick with what he knows rather than experiment. (Example: The second film still finds Stark conducting experiments in his home and causing structural damage.). Did anyone involved with this project ever stop to think…”Why does a multi-billionaire have to knock out a wall in his house to conduct an experiment when he simply could have used one of his own facilities?”
IRON MAN
IRON MAN 2
This movie plays like a BIG BUDGET television movie.
Favreau doesn’t have to be Nolan, he just has to find a decent cinematic language to communicate his vision. Something that justifies a shooting budget of 170-200 million dollars. IRON MAN 2 is a mess of misused excess.
**/5
2 stars out of five (graded on a curve).
Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy Favreau’s talents and abilities …as an actor.
It’s a shame when the supporting actor/ director has more chemistry with the sultry costar that the leading man.
THE END
….shadowgeek10 returns to the shadows once more…..