So I had wanted to see this movie because it looked promising enough especially with all the boring movies that were playing recently, although I’m no comic enthusiast. We actually had a great turnout for the film club and it looks like this marks the first week of the summer blockbusters where some highly anticipated movies are finally starting to come out. Iron Man 2 totally rocked the box office this weekend taking home a cool $128 million in it’s opening weekend. Apparently, movie-goers are also starting to come back to the theater as well and hopefully the trend continues through the summer.
The premise of this sequel to the hugely popular Iron Man, is fairly simple and incorporates various other Marvel comics and characters, although may go unnoticed to the non-comic reader, such as myself. Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr, has come out as Iron Man and must deal with the pressure and side effects of his alter ego now that the world is in a state of unprecedented peace. Soon trouble surfaces in the form of a hardened Russian, Mickey Rourke, who is the only person capable of building a suit that can compete with Iron Man and unleashes his fury in order to find vengeance for his family and soon teams up with the greedy Justin Hammer, Sam Rockwell, in order to gain the resources to create more evil suits. Stark works with his faithful assistant, Gwyneth Paltrow, and a new legal assistant, Scarlett Johansson.
The plot incorporates a lot of different characters, an apparently several different comic lines, which makes it more interesting than most comic movies where it just focuses on a single character’s plight against a single villain. The plot was also very easy to follow at the same time, unlike Transformers. The dialogue was very witty and didn’t take itself to seriously, which made for more entertainment than a straight action movie. There was also some nice political satire splashed in there which was a definite plus. Some plot points were highly un-plausible however this is based on a comic book and the characters were believable even if their actions and resources were not.
The effects were great, which is to expected in a movie of this caliber. It had some great fight sequences, and I especially enjoyed Scarlett Johansson’s hallway butt-kicking scene. The film was edited by a pair of A.C.E.s and this was obvious with the level of maturity and professionalism in this highly complex editing. The sound mixing was amazing and had great foley and natural sound along with an awesome soundtrack. Any movie that can mix in The Clash and Queen is a hit in my book. The cinematography was really a masterpiece as it seamlessly incorporated all these different elements and editors.
The performances were great and everyone was believable in their roles. Robert Downey Jr. has really made this his own role and stays true to the characterization he created in the first. Gwyneth Paltrow gives enough strength to her role while still being super likeable. Scarlett Johansson totally rocked Black Widow and hopefully will make The Avengers awesome. Mickey Rourke was . . . interesting. He’s definitely one of a kind now and I actually really liked him in this movie.
Overall, it was very enjoyable and lighthearted which made for an entertaining time. Out of all the recent PG13 and under comic book movies, this is probably my favorite. Apparently, there were a lot of allusions and references to other comic series, but this was over my head since I’ve never picked up a single comic book. Also, there is a ‘secret special’ scene after the world’s longest credits, and I’ll forewarn you not to stay for it unless you’re a die-hard comic fan, I guess. There were some highly implausible plot points in this movie but the characters were so believable and witty, that it didn’t matter much. I’d recommend this movie as a great escape and entertaining movie. “I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot here, do I look at you or the eye patch?” – Iron Man 2.
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