IT'S CAPABLE OF BUSTING A BUNKER UNDER THE BUNKER YOU JUST BUSTED: I know it's late (and I know you're weary), but I did finally see Iron Man 2 this weekend and wanted to vent about all the suckage and laziness. The first one? Loved. Great origins story, witty, interesting character arcs all entertained me just fine before the machine v. machine mayhem at the end. This one? Meh. Just a few nice RDJ quips (esp. the Gallagher line) and ScarJo and Sam Rockwell did their things just fine, but the plot generally bored me and the machine violence did nothing for me. Been there, done that. I wonder if it worked better for folks already familiar with the comic books and thus more excited about the overall Marvel Universe stuff which was going on, because as much as I liked the first I was clearly not the target audience for this one.
One more thing: the film has an extended cameo from DJ AM (Adam Goldstein), and to say that it's a distraction which took me further out of the movie is an understatement. I wasn't prepared for that.
I saw it last night. Made me chuckle out loud a few times, but no belly laughs. I did think it was interesting visually, although something about the scarlett Jo. scene where she beats the snot out of the Hammer Guards was odd and distracting, and I don't mean in the way she is normally distracting. I thought the Wrestler/Barfly was a pretty convincing Villain. I felt myself thinking about the amount of wasted talent in that movie quite a lot... I mean these are some heavy hitters doing a comic book. Marvel has really created quite an engine.
ReplyDeleteI liked it more than you did, but generally agreed--baseline plausibility problems from scientific, legal, and plot points. "A New Element?" How about "a new compound?" Gwyneth Paltrow demanding the return of her trademarked property? A cool looking though ultimately pointless fight sequence in Casa Del Stark? But the all too brief Black Widow fight sequence was awesome, and Downey had wisecracks a-plenty ("I Want One" was another high point).
ReplyDeleteI also was left cold by the machine violence. Does. Nothing. For. Me.
ReplyDeleteIt was fun but flimsy. I missed how much more fun the other one was, but if they make a third, I will probably go back. RDJ being RDJ is something I will totally watch no matter what.
Eh, it was okay. I was entertained while watching it, then pretty much forgot about it. What annoyed me most was how they built up Vanko as a powerful threat the whole time... and then he was defeated very quickly and easily.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed it a lot, and since I had no idea who Adam Goldstein was that wasn't a distraction at all. Also, the Disney parodies with Tony's father and his world of tomorrow filmstrips made me chuckle a lot, especially since they went to the trouble to get Robert Sherman to parody himself in writing the theme music.
ReplyDeleteWas it great? Nope, but good. Was it a shade too much of a setup for the eventual Avengers film? Yep. Did I enjoy myself? Hell yeah.
If you're hacked into the bad guy's computer far enough to reboot Rhodey's suit, you could always just shut down all the bad bots at the same time....nah, what would be the fun of that?
ReplyDeleteGoldstein = the late DJ AM, at the birthday party scene. I did like the Disney parodies, and the film had its moments. I mean, watching Vanko slice up the Rolls was cool.
ReplyDeleteRight, I knew of Adam Goldstein/DJ AM & the plane crash, but would never have been able to pick him out of a lineup (nothing against him, just my knowledge of his corner of music).
ReplyDeleteAnd as a personal preference, more Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. is never a bad thing.
If they hadn't said "DJ AM is here" and had him working off a laptop that said "DJ AM" on it, I wouldn't have noticed either.
ReplyDeleteHated it. This movie did everything wrong that the first one did so gloriously right. I remember an interview with Jon Favreau around the time that Iron Man became such a huge success in which he didn't want the sequel rushed out, two years after the first movie. (I'm sure I could track it down on teh interwebs if I cared that much...) He wanted an additional year... and I can't help but think that some more development time would have really helped this movie out. The *bones* of a really good movie are here... but they just didn't know what to do with them.
ReplyDeleteHated it, and wanted badly to walk out, but was with friends. Good thing none of the Hammer Guards were, like, armed. So so many plot holes, and demands on credibility. So so much wasted talent.
ReplyDeleteOdd trivia: Agent Coulson is married to Dirty Dancing's Jennifer Grey, who I thought was great as the Elaine character in "LA Seinfeld."
When I saw that element scene, I groused, "what, do they think their audience doesn't know basic chemistry?" But since this is the first time I've seen someone else point out something so deeply, deeply stupid about the movie, I guess they're right to think elements can be discovered and mapped (and didn't that map just look like a bucky ball?). Good grief, Justin.
ReplyDeleteI went in with my expectations pretty low, given what I'd heard about the reviews, and so was reasonably entertained. Nope, not as good as the first one, but as I didn't expect it to be, I was not disappointed.
ReplyDelete"<span>Agent Coulson is married to Dirty Dancing's Jennifer Grey"</span>
ReplyDeleteHuh. That's about the 5th time I've seen her mentioned in the last couple of weeks, what with some sort of Dirtyy Dancing retrospective and the movie being a minor plot point in the novel American Wife."
I liked it a lot. I guess not as much as the first one, but that one kind of suprised me with how good it was. Expectations were higher here. Bad point: I really don't care about the Marvel universe, so the Samuel L. Jackson stuff felt unnecessary. Good point: it's nice to have a movie with a fun good guy. Too much of the brooding/dark/conflicted good guy lately.
ReplyDeleteMy Clark Gregg story (Agent Coulson to you guys) - I was traveling for work (so feeling swanky in biz class) and the airline was playing episodes of Old Christine, which Gregg is on. Suddenly there's a commotion behind me - "Daddy! Daddy! That's you! On TV! Daddy!" Gregg's little girl (maybe 4 or 5) had realized what was playing and was so excited to inform her father that he was on TV on the airplane. Gregg and Grey (who was also there, totally thrilling the tween girl in me who watched Dirty Dancing obsessively) were completely embarrassed and tried to quiet her down, but I just thought it was the most adorable thing I'd ever seen and told them that as we left the plane. They were very nice, very down to earth, and completely horrified that their daughter had inadvertently made such a scene. It was awesome. Agent Coulson FTW!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Adam. I really liked the first one a lot, much more than I expected. I found the sequel utterly boring.
ReplyDeleteTim, I pretty much agree with you all the way. I'd also add that Mickey Rourke far exceeded my expectations.
ReplyDeleteThat's just a lovely story.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the majority and was dissapointed by this one as well.
ReplyDeleteRourke's accent was horrific and his entire backstory was completely unrealistic.
Although RDJ's line about having a "hammer-roid" problem was great
Machine violence is so boring. I kept comparing the boring machine violence to the heart-thumping fight scenes in the Bourne movies, which were the antithesis of machine violence. There's something so soulless about machines killing each other.
ReplyDeleteI'll note one other thing--the casting continued to be pretty much perfect--Scarlett was pretty much ideal, Sam Rockwell was a perfect mirror image of Stark, and John Slattery as Stark the elder was great.
ReplyDelete