Iron Man 2 (2010) (125 min)
iReview: Version: Iron Man 2 (Blu-ray);
Video: AVC 1080p; Audio: DTS 5.1.
Genre:: Action | Adventure | Science Fiction |
Sub-Genre/Type:: Action & Adventure |
Master Villain Film | Sci-Fi Action | Superhero Film |
Settings:: California, USA | Monte Carlo, Monaco |
New York City, New York, USA.
Mood?:: Adrenaline Rush | Guy Movie |
Just For Fun | Starpower.
iRate:: 3½ / 5
Director:: Jon Favreau.
Writers:: Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby (characters and graphic novel);
Justin Theroux (screenplay).
Cinematography:: Matthew Libatique.
Editors:: Dan Lebental and Rick Pearson.
Music Score:: John Debney.
Cast:: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Kate Mara, Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson, Jon Favreau, Garry Shandling.
Credits (Click to expand)
Trailer:
http://youtu.be/siQgD9qOhRs
iReview:
Next week I’m planning to check out Iron Man 3 in 3D (it’s a threshold test to see how much torture my eyes can endure). Before I do, I thought I’d sit through a refresher with Iron Man 2. Unfortunately I don’t have the Blu-ray 3 disc (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy) edition with all its spectacular extras, I only have the lamo 1 disc version. Fortunately though, the main event, the Blu-ray movie, is identical on both.
What Happens:
In the exciting sequal to Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is under pressure from a devious Senator Stern (Garry Shandling), abetted by arms manufacturer and nasty-piece-of-work, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), to turn over his Iron Man suit to the US Military.
Meanwhile in Russia, Tony’s father’s one-time partner, Anton Vanko (Eugene Lazarev) is dying. His embittered son, Ivan (Mickey Rourke), vows to make Stark pay while also exacting revenge on the USA. With the assistance of Hammer, Ivan sets about executing his evil plans with an Iron Man suit of his own and an army of remote-controlled killer drones.
Story (Click to expand)
From the outset, the thundering notes of AC/DC, telegraph that this is going to a fun ride. As well, it provides a connecting thread to the first film (when Back in Black memorably blasted from the boom box in the U.S. Air Force convoy escorting Stark in Afghanistan). This time, Shoot to Thrill opens the show and Highway to Hell provides a fitting bookend. Merchandising for the movie also saw an AC/DC soundtrack album released to coincide with the film. Unfortunately, it was a soundtrack in name only, as most of its AC/DC songs did not appear in the movie and almost all the tracks that did, including those by Daft Punk and The Clash, were excluded.
With this branch of the super-hero universe there’s none of the noirish and forbidding tone of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, nor the facile treatment of Spider-man 3. While the Nolan series is in a league of its own, the Iron Man arc seems to place the movies squarely within the comic end of comic-book adaptations. That the filmmakers selected Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) as a character, suggests they may also have had James Bond in mind as they fashioned this screen version of Stark. If you need convincing, take a look at Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) with all his metal fangs and tell me that’s not an homage to Jaws (Richard Kiel) from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
Iron Man (2008) had a relatively straightforward mission to fulfill, giving us the origin story and a turncoat villain to defeat. The story was also linear with enough action and well written nuance, to more than satisfy critics and the legion of fans alike. For this sequel, the gallery of allies and rogues has been greatly expanded and I admit to fearing there was potential for Spider-man 3 syndrome (too many spinning tops in the plot and an abundance of uninteresting and underdeveloped characters). Happily, with Iron Man 2, I was reminded that a well developed and integrated script together with interesting characters backed by strong actors, can keep many tops spinning successfully.
In the same way that the very dour Christian Bale, personifies Nolan’s Batman, part of the genius of the Iron Man series series is the perfect synergy of character to actor. Before 2008 when the original was released, Robert Downey Jr. was viewed by many as a very charismatic and gifted, but also slightly dissolute, actor with a possibly limited future; just the man to portray Iron Man then. While super-hero action flicks don’t need great actors to succeed, they sure as hell can still elevate an otherwise good film. In this case, Downey carries the Iron Man franchise and gives the character the glint that makes the narcissist, egocentric Stark, an amusing and likable asshole. Add to that, the life threatening crisis imposed on Stark by the palladium in his ARC reactor chest implant, and somehow he becomes a sympathetic character as well.
Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns as Stark’s exasperated and unstated love interest who progresses from overworked assistant to company CEO. Both Paltrow and new action princess, Scarlett Johansson (Natalie ‘Black Widow’ Rushman), were convincing.
Ivan ‘Whiplash’ Vanko (Mickey Rourke) is a welcome addition to the Villain Hall of Fame. Rourke’s skill as an actor, gives Vanko a depth of character that’s not obvious from the words on the page. His whip-cracking party trick that disrupts the race at Monaco is also the film’s memorable highlight. Spectacular as the this sequence was though, I did wonder, given that Stark only decided to drive at the last moment, how Vanko was so well prepared to meet him on the track… hmmmm.
Memorable as Vanko was, I think it’s unfortunately telling that his biggest moment comes so early. He had enough strength and physical presence for a lot more personal mayhem. So, while I enjoyed what we were allowed, I think he was well underutilized with all that brawn, just sitting around in the film’s second half. I would have been happier with a lot more Vanko destructo and less of the storm of clashing and crashing metal bots at the end.
Don Cheadle takes over from Terrence Howard, playing Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, Stark’s friend and link to the military. Rhodey’s got to deal with a few loyalty issues throughout the movie but, as you’d hope, the sidekick comes through in the end.
While most of the subplots and characters were well handled, I had a little trouble with the Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) plotline. This well connected military adviser and weapons specialist, was also completely corrupt and so consumed by ambition that he would do anything, including trusting a shackled, known terrorist to deliver a mega-weapon for him. He was also prepared to sweep aside any impediment to achieve his maniacal ends. Unfortunately, instead of the masterful, malevolent warmonger that would have been required to get to where he was, we got an evil, slightly more mocking, slightly less bumbling Colonel Klink. Ok, I’m being a bit harsh, but I think Rockwell was miscast.
Director, Jon Favreau, does a good job with the action sequences and otherwise staying out of the way. He also resists the temptation to give us a festival of action violence and keeps Downey’s charismatic face out of the suit as long as he can (unless it’s behind a heads-up display that is). He understands that the strength of this franchise, lies as much in the story Downey tells as it does in the comic-book’s flying metal suit. A lesser actor would certainly have spent more screen-time flying and busting metal and a lot less time appealing to the adults in the audience.
As with any super-hero actioner, there’s plenty of CGI but for perhaps the first time, I wasn’t conscious of the transition from drama to CGI action. The desktop created world fused seamlessly with the real, to the extent that I didn’t even think about it until after I’d sunk the last of my glass of Drambuie at the end.
Finally, I got a chuckle from the unexpected curiosity near the end of the credits: composer John Debney performing Mary Poppins’ songwriter, Richard M. Sherman’s Make Way For Tomorrow Today, a song right out of the Disney playbook, which follows the metal monster Highway to Hell by AC/DC. Oh, and if you hang in there, right to the end of the credits, there’s a short bonus scene.
The Picture:
There’s not a lot to complain about with this 1080p transfer. The cool blue hue of the image suits the genre and the attention to detail in the set design is impeccable.
The Audio:
From the crisp and raucous AC/DC beginning to the hellish Highway to Hell at the end, this is a cracker of a DTS 5.1 audio track. The energy pouring out the monitors during Vanko’s Monaco car-splitting hissy fit, was a joy. The Foley work throughout was meticulous and it showed in the crisp detail in this mix. For me, a signpost of a good sound field, is the lack of obvious signs. The explosions, the ring-tones, the camera shutters and the bullet strikes, all happen where you’d expect in the channel mix, and contribute to an enveloping and excellent track.
Verdict:
With the comic-book adaptation benchmark set so high by Nolan’s Batman trilogy, it’s pleasing to see that, while Iron Man 2 doesn’t attempt to scale those heights and doesn’t quite reach the standard of Iron Man (2008), it’s still a literate and fun addition to the super-hero genre.
iRate:: 3½ out of 5.
4Movie Tragics
Trivia:
• To prepare for his role as Ivan ‘Whiplash’ Vanko, Mickey Rourke paid a visit to Butyrka Prison, Moscow: “I tried to incorporate the whole Russian philosophy. It’s a culture of its own and I really enjoyed doing the research and meeting the people and they were very gracious there at the prison.”
• Five authentic vintage formula one race cars were used in the Monaco race, including a 1976 Lotus type 77.
• PayPal creator, Elon Musk’s development facility for SpaceX, doubled as Hammer’s factory with many actual employees acting as background extras.
• Cameo: Stan Lee, co-creator of Iron Man, appears as the man wearing suspenders who Stark identifies as Larry King.
• Cameo: Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle Corporation (a billionaire playboy, who has often been compared to Tony Stark) appears briefly at the Stark Expo. As he walks past, Stark says, “It’s the Oracle of Oracle”. Oracle’s brand is prominently placed at several points in the film, including the climactic showdown at a fictional “Oracle Biodome”.
Extras:
• Feature Commentary by Director Jon Favreau (This is an energetic narration that is interesting in the main but does occasionally annoy when Favreau veers into ‘Audio Descriptive Service for the Vision Impaired’ territory).
• SHIELD Data Vault (Provides interactive on-screen information that appears periodically during the movie, about characters, technology and weapons. Alternatively, this feature can be viewed as a stand-alone package).
• Previsualization and Animatics (Another feature that overlays information on-screen during the movie. This displays scene specific storyboards and scene animatics that give an interesting insight into scene development).
You want More!
Iron Man 2 – IMDb (Internet Movie Database)
Iron Man 2 – Rotten Tomatoes
Iron Man 2 – allmovie.com
Iron Man 2 – Wikipedia
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Zak From Downunder 