Iron Man 2 discussion (Spoilers!)

[Issued]

This seriously isn't the movie I waited for....I only feel like talking about the parts that I hate...

Firstly, if Rhodey is such a great friend of Tony, how could he even let Hammer touch the Iron Man armor.I really wished to watch a scene where Tony said something about Rhodey letting Hammer tinker with it...

If we don't count the little boxing match with Rhodey, Mk4 armor is only used for shooting down random objects drunken hotties throw at Tony.That was the worst thing I've seen on a Superhero Movie, of course after the Emo scenes of Spider-Man 3

Tony building his little CERN experiment on piles of books and a prototype Cap Shield is also one of the worst things I've ever seen...

Whiplash apperreantly is a very lame copy of Joker.Acting all "I don't have to beat you hand to hand to take you down" yet building a lame copy of Iron Monger to fight Iron Man and War Machine together...

Another 1 minute final fight with the baddie of the movie...Iron Man needs a more serious challenge...

 

[Zeek]

I dunno, Bass, I still didn't get that vibe. There were, like, two scenes that screamed "JOIN THE AVENGERS!" to me, and those were when Fury showed up for the first time and in that last scene between them. This is apparently a pretty polarizing movie though, it's like the Final Fantasy XIII of Marvel films.

 

[Random]

I really enjoyed it, it was very fun and entertaining. The story was a bit off at times, the narrative could have been tighter. The Cap shield thing was hilarious and the post credit gave me goosebumps. I don't agree with the assesment that it was too focused on the Avengers. I thought they added the right amount of tease and other mythology additions to enhance the Iron Man story rather than deter. At the end I wasn't think "Where's the rest of this Avenger movie" and don't really get how people can see that.

But the presence of SHIELD is ubiquitous in the movie. Black Widow, Coulton, and Fury are involved in pretty much every single scene. And every scene involves them telling Tony, "Hey; we need Iron Man for The Avengers because there are things out there you don't know about." Not only do we never know anything about what those things are, what do any of them do in the movie? Do they add conflict? No. Coulton says "I'll taser you if you leave, I'm watching you" but he's obviously not watching the garage because Tony just leaves. Then Coulton gets reassigned to find Thor's hammer. Fury and Widow don't make it harder to Stark to accomplish anything, they do the reverse; they give him the element that cures his illness. The illness sub-plot has no real purpose to the story (Tony's behaviour would be similar if he was just an alcoholic) much like Spidey's illness in SPIDER-MAN 2. (I can only assume that there is a disease in the Marvel universe called sequelitis which attacks the hero in his second movie and never again.) And SHIELD doesn't even need to give him that cure. Tony HAD his father's movies, he had the key to the entire element in his office. All SHIELD does is say, "Your father might have the cure". That's it. SHIELD does nothing in the movie except say "Avengers Assemble!" and they are pretty much in every single scene.

Fury, Black Widow, and Coulton made sense to me, with the whole story revolving around the military and government concerns on the suit in seems natural SHIELD would do their own snooping. They had Black Widow investigate, they saw with her reports of what was killing him and creating his rash behavior and realize they could assist in the situation. It all makes sense.

 

[Bass]

Firstly, if Rhodey is such a great friend of Tony, how could he even let Hammer touch the Iron Man armor.I really wished to watch a scene where Tony said something about Rhodey letting Hammer tinker with it...

I thought that was pretty good. Rhodey works for the military. Hammer supplies the military. Stark supplied the military before he stopped selling weapons. It made total sense he'd do that.

If we don't count the little boxing match with Rhodey, Mk4 armor is only used for shooting down random objects drunken hotties throw at Tony.That was the worst thing I've seen on a Superhero Movie, of course after the Emo scenes of Spider-Man 3

It felt out of character that he'd be so needlessly destructive. When you consider the first movie ended with Stark vowing to spend all his time saving orphans, it seems he wouldn't spend his birthday blowing up his house. Not only that, but Rhodey putting on War Machine to stop the binge also felt extremely melodramatic and over-the-top. The whole scene was contrived.

Tony building his little CERN experiment on piles of books and a prototype Cap Shield is also one of the worst things I've ever seen...

I was fine with the make-shift experiment. Tony building a better weapon to fight the bad guy is kinda the point of IRON MAN. What I thought was a bit silly was the whole, "I'm going to invent a new element in my garage" which seems... it seems less like inventing a tool and more like alchemical magic. It feels wrong. That said, I really hated the hologram interface in this movie which was way, way too much.

Whiplash apperreantly is a very lame copy of Joker.Acting all "I don't have to beat you hand to hand to take you down" yet building a lame copy of Iron Monger to fight Iron Man and War Machine together...

That final fight betrayed Whiplash's character, who was more interested in seeing everyone destroy Stark. Him suiting up and taking on Iron Man is kinda a step back for him.

Another 1 minute final fight with the baddie of the movie...Iron Man needs a more serious challenge...

Too true. Whiplash putting on an Iron Man suit he built off of Stark's suggestions while fighting TWO Iron Men, one of whom has a super-duper new power core doesn't make it feel like Iron Man was ever in any danger.

I dunno, Bass, I still didn't get that vibe. There were, like, two scenes that screamed "JOIN THE AVENGERS!" to me, and those were when Fury showed up for the first time and in that last scene between them. This is apparently a pretty polarizing movie though, it's like the Final Fantasy XIII of Marvel films.

I don't really think IRON MAN 2 is all that bad. It's quite entertaining and has some nice moments - I actually think there's a film in Black Widow and Happy Hogan! They were terrific. But it just feels like a tease.

As for the trailer-feel; you're right in that they don't scream "join the Avengers" every scene, but just in the first and last scenes. Then, every scene in between, they don't need to scream "Join the Avengers" because in your head, you're going, "Oooh. These guys want him to join the Avengers." The subtext of all their scenes is; "Join the Avengers". It's the whole point of their characters and its ever-present. Just because it's not continually said out loud doesn't mean it's not a set-up for that movie every time they show up.

 

[Captain Canuck]

I saw it. I really liked it. It was fun. It was funny. It was cool.

There were a couple of things I didn't like.
1) The Paladium poisoning subplot leading to Tony inventing a new element (vibraium?) based on the blueprint his father hid in the layout for the stark expo was really corny. Really really corny. I know it played into the whole legacy thing, but it was dumb. They should have just stuck with the alcoholism angle.

2) This ties into the first one, but almost all of the SHIELD scenes were totally unnecessary. They helped get Tony the point where he was able to invent vibranium to cure his poisoning, but again, that whole thing was dumb. SHIELD needed to be in this movie, but in the background. At the beginning when Rhodey suggests at the hearing that Iron man join the military, Tony should have said something about SHIELD trying to get him to join back when he first became Iron Man and he's still not interested. They should have developed Natasha's spy side more and cast suspicion for her working for Hammer, and then revealed at the end that she worked for SHIELD and then had that scene with Fury. And maybe had Fury meet with Stern at the end and make a comment about "this is why we need the Avengers Initiative."

3) Whiplash was cool, there was a lot of build up and then the last fight was completely anticlimactic. Bass is 100% right about this, I was never at all worried for Iron Man or War Machine. And I think it was actually shorter than the Iron Monger fight.

However, like I said, I really liked it. And wasn't at all disappointed.

 

[Planet-man]

I loved this, and Sam Rockwell was unbelievable. As was everyone.

What I really loved though was the exploration of the whole "world of the future" army of robots concept. The first film had a lot of implications in that area that I didn't expect them to follow up on so thoroughly.

But once again, it's all RDj and Favreau. This was a mammoth undertaking that could've gone wrong in so many ways, yet pretty much the only criticism I have of it was that the pacing and meshing of the seperate plots had trouble flowing as well as the first film did, but even then there was never anything boring, slow or dislikable happening on screen. It struck me at one point how relatively little "Iron Man" had been in it up to that point. It struck me instantly after that I didn't care at all because the characters are every bit as exciting as Iron Man sequences could be, even when they are sitting in an office talking.

And each of those action sequences were utterly amazing. There are so many bad ones these days, but here they just work.

Yep.... loved it.

 

[Langsta]

I liked the legacy subplot, but it seemed a little farfetched that Howard Stark would leave his son with the tools necessary to find that single undiscovered element that would save Tony from dying. It's like Howard knew that his son was going to get palladium poisoning.

Everything was pretty awesome up until the birthday scene, which almost killed the movie. Iron Man vs. War Machine was cringe-worthy, and Rhodey just seemed like a jackass for stealing his friend's suit.

Vanko was badass and kind of interesting. I saw similarities between him and the Joker in terms of their presence on-screen. Vanko's role at the end is pretty stupid and he only lasts for about 2 minutes into the last fight scene. Who am I kidding, his role at the end is basically the same as Iron Monger's at the end of the first movie.

I don't have any complaints about Justin Hammer. He was an awesome, funny character. The part where he's showing off all the weapons to Rhodey was hilarious, and I haven't laughed that hard in a theater in a long time (his joke about Ulysses in crayon).

Pepper was mildly annoying. She was uninteresting as usual. Natasha was so sexy that she made me want to remove my clothes in the theater. But she looked kind of ridiculous in her SHIELD outfit.

Coulson was funny, Happy was funny, and Senator Stern was funny.

The special effects were improved from the last movie, but they still could use some improvement. The fight in the woods with the drones was almost video game quality. It's almost like they wasted all their money on securing Samuel L. Jackson a role in the film and they didn't have as much money for special effects at that point.

 

[ProjectX2]

Re: Iron Man 2 discussion (spoilers)

Poll added.

I gave it a 3 but a more accurate rating would be 3.5/5.

 

[Planet-man]

Gave it the full five, but more accurately it's about a 9 or 9.5 to me.

I liked the legacy subplot, but it seemed a little farfetched that Howard Stark would leave his son with the tools necessary to find that single undiscovered element that would save Tony from dying. It's like Howard knew that his son was going to get palladium poisoning

I didn't have a problem with that because it was actually just intended to solve the energy crisis. Scientists everywhere have been looking for a clean, unlimited power source for eons(not just one specific single element to cure palladium poisoning, but anything super-energetic and clean. Likely something like Unbihexium). It makes sense Howard Stark would be the one to find one. Tony happening to PERSONALLY need one much more directly than Howard had imagined is just the type of happy coincedence movies are often made of. If they'd not made a big deal out of it, I would've been pissed(some movies do this), but since they did I thought that worked great.

 

[Dr.Strangefate]

Thought the story was a step down from #1, but the action was about twenty times better... I had a lot of fun watching this movie, and while it certainly has problems, I'm not too eager to ***** about the little story issues, or if they played the SHIELD card too hard. I just really enjoyed myself.

I'm also giving it about a 3.5/5, but I'll round up to 4.

 

[Ice]

I enjoyed it. I had a great time and totally geeked out and clapped at the end credits scene.

I'm also giving it about a 3.5/5, but I'll round up to 4.

Same here.

 

[Grocer Man]

Re: Iron Man 2 discussion (spoilers)

I really enjoyed this.

I actually thought it was better then the first film. While it was very good, the first film's plot wasn't that great and there was an unsatisfying climax. While it's a bit off at parts, the plot's better put together and interesting, and the climax was really cool. (Well, up until the final showdown with Whiplash, but I'll forgive that.)

The acting continues to be the strongest selling point of the franchise.

I didn't stick arround for the after-credits scene. While I'm sure it would have been cool to look at, I would like to see something, you know, Iron Man-related. Like say, SHIELD goes out to North Korea or China to spy on the building of a robotic Fin Fang Foom by the Ten Rings. Or something. I'm not sure that would make sense with the story, but it'd at least be Iron Man related.

All in all, a very enjoyable film.

 

[E]

Re: Iron Man 2 discussion (spoilers)

Saw it in IMAX last night and loved it. I was glad I got to go - we didn't think we'd be able to see it opening weekend.

I liked the legacy subplot, but it seemed a little farfetched that Howard Stark would leave his son with the tools necessary to find that single undiscovered element that would save Tony from dying. It's like Howard knew that his son was going to get palladium poisoning.

I thought that at first too but...

I didn't have a problem with that because it was actually just intended to solve the energy crisis. Scientists everywhere have been looking for a clean, unlimited power source for eons(not just one specific single element to cure palladium poisoning, but anything super-energetic and clean. Likely something like Unbihexium). It makes sense Howard Stark would be the one to find one. Tony happening to PERSONALLY need one much more directly than Howard had imagined is just the type of happy coincedence movies are often made of. If they'd not made a big deal out of it, I would've been pissed(some movies do this), but since they did I thought that worked great.

^ This. Hiding it in the city layout thing was kind of lame - what is the point? - but I could accept that Howard was onto something without the ability to work everything out.

Also, was the substance intended to be vibranium? That's the impression I got and I didn't notice if it was said explicitly.

 

[Random]

Re: Iron Man 2 discussion (spoilers)

Also, was the substance intended to be vibranium? That's the impression I got and I didn't notice if it was said explicitly.

It wasn't said but I agree, that's what they were going for. In fact I thought it would be cool if there was a scene in Captain America where a very young Howard Stark and some other scientist tried to preform that experiment only with a giant hadron collider to use that process to combine the element with a disk of iron. The experiment explodes creating a huge financial disaster with most of the research destroyed with only Cap's future Shield as the result. Which Howard give to Cap. And this implies that the project is too costly and complex to complete in his life time. That may be a bit too long for a cap movie, but I like this idea.

 

[J. Agamemnon]

Re: Iron Man 2 discussion (spoilers)

It wasn't said but I agree, that's what they were going for. In fact I thought it would be cool if there was a scene in Captain America where a very young Howard Stark and some other scientist tried to preform that experiment only with a giant hadron collider to use that process to combine the element with a disk of iron. The experiment explodes creating a huge financial disaster with most of the research destroyed with only Cap's future Shield as the result. Which Howard give to Cap. And this implies that the project is too costly and complex to complete in his life time. That may be a bit too long for a cap movie, but I like this idea.

what's cool with this idea of howard meeting cap is that in Paradise X, Angel Tony mentions that Captain America saved his father during WWII. what a cool easter egg that would be.

 

[Planet-man]

During the film, I was expecting him to talk about naming it Starkium, Pepperium, Shieldium, etc and completely forgot about Vibranium.

That would be really cool, but thinking closer to the comics it could also be that the Captain America shield is already made(at least in part, like the frame) of Vibranium, and is what lead Howard Stark to come up with this new, still-unnamed element in the first place.

 

[Random]

That would be really cool, but thinking closer to the comics it could also be that the Captain America shield is already made(at least in part, like the frame) of Vibranium, and is what lead Howard Stark to come up with this new, still-unnamed element in the first place.

Well I also considered, since that scene would take up a bit too much time, would be Howard finding Cap giving him the shield with this back story of it's creation.

 

[Captain Canuck]

Hiding it in the city layout thing was kind of lame - what is the point? - but I could accept that Howard was onto something without the ability to work everything out.

yeah, it's not totally unbelievable, but it was still kind of a dumb plot point. However, they pulled off the execution. It was a lame story device to plug the Avengers but the actors made it entertaining...except for Sam Jackson, "I've got my eye on you!" ugh.

During the film, I was expecting him to talk about naming it Starkium, Pepperium, Shieldium, etc and completely forgot about Vibranium.

or Dr Pepperium

or Burger Kingium

 

[ProjectX2]

It should have been Unobtanium.

 

[bluebeast]

So here's my thoughts:

Likes:
Anything involving Robert Downey Jr. The only problem I see them having with the Avengers is that Downey will outshine everyone except for Evans and Norton (if he is indeed in it)

Scarlet Johansson as the Black Widow was amazing and her scenes with Happy were pure gold. When she maces the guy at the end was the biggest laugh I got.

Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer equals great. "I'm gonna make Ulysses look like it was written in crayons." "I call it the ex-wife"

I thought Don Cheadle was a step up from Terrance Howard and felt like all of his actions in the movie were completely in character as the military man he was.

Dislikes: The lack of anything real from Mickey Rourke. His last scene screamed Obadiah Stane 2.0 while his first fight was epic.

Sam Jackson wasn't bad at all I just thought that he was used in the wrong capacity. I did like the I've got my eye on you line though.

Gweneth Paltrow, I just don't care about Pepper or Stark being in any relationship at all.

The Oh ****! Moments: The Hammer.

The chase scene between Stark, Rhody and the drones.

Suitcase armor.

All-in-all I think it was more of a complete movie than the first one and was able to pretty seamlessly blend the new characters with the old. The action scenes were better and it looks like the Avengers will at least have two solid members in Iron Man and Black Widow. 4/5 which is the same as the first one for me but for different reasons.