"If you make God Bleed. . ."

[:It is as you see:]

Well everyone, this afternoon I went and saw a film that I wasn't sure what to expect from, Iron Man 2. I saw the first one on it's opening night in 2008, and I have to say I was rather impressed with it, as far as superhero movies go. It told a story of a rich, narcissistic CEO named Tony Stark that gets abducted by Terrorists and forced to make weapons. But, it's not that simple, the parts he is told to use are all from his company, Stark Industries, a fictional corporate empire of weapon making. Stunned by this, realizing that his company left to him by his father has been doing dirty business under the table, he fools his captors by constructing an armored battlesuit and escaping. Now, if that weren't enough, Tony returns to the lions den, building a new improved suit and solving his problems, both internally and externally. 

I loved it way back when, and still do now. As such, I was a little cautious about the sequel. Sequels. . . have a way of disappointing, but I'd rather see a bad sequel than no sequel at all, so I went, my bud Patrick in tow. And so begins the adventure of Iron Man 2.

Now, I'm not fond of reading most reviews these days, because most of the reviewers I've read write in an aryan, narcissistic way, strutting their opinion as though it were the Friggin' 10 Commandments. So, I won't do a review in the traditional way. I will review the film in two sections, what I liked, and what disappointed me. Continue down below.

WHAT I LIKED:

(This'll be a long list)

-The Opening. It did a good job of showing suspense while still showing us the situation, while still showing us. . .that all is not well in the world. In Russia, you meet Ivan Valko (played by Mickey Rourke), the son of an ex-Soviet scientist that knows a few too many things about the Iron Man suit, and constructs a battlesuit of his own. It then cuts to Iron Man jumping out of a plane, only to land in the middle of his own technology convention, where you quickly see, Tony is enjoying the attention revealing his identity has brought him, but. . .something is amiss. . .

-The character growth. This impressed me a good deal. Tony went through his major bit of growth in the first, and that was not topped, which is a good thing. In this one, his struggle is that he finds out that the Palladium, the rare metal powering his ARC reactor ( the glowy thing on his chest) is slowly poisoning him, but he has no choice but to wear it, so some internal struggle is present. At one point, his all time low, he decides to enjoy his last months alive and throws a big, rather scandalous at moments (you learn to dodge your eyes sometimes) party in his basement, where he takes a rather nasty beating from his best friend James Rhodes (played by Don Cheadle) who claims he isn't 'able' to wear the suit. On that note, Rhodes had a lot more character this time around, even though the actor was swapped from flick 1. He makes a big mistake, and he pays for it, which I like to see happen in a flick. 

-The Villain. While not a specific villain like in a previous film, (Jeff Bridges made a surprisingly good villain in film 1)  Ivan was rather a mix of several villains from Iron Man (who doesn't have many good villains, regrettably) comics, namely Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo. The reason I think this works here, it usually doesn't, is because Iron Man is a story that centers around war. Many of his villains are very much based on this, Crimson Dynamo namely is based on Cold War themes. The Cold War ended a long time ago, so a villain from it would sound like old news to many ears (though it would drive most ' hardcore comic collectors' batty with glee. Sadly for them, they are only one type of people, and the movie was made for everyone, can't please 'em all. Ivan, the villain, is imprisoned after attacking Stark at an formula 1 race in Monaco, when he is busted out by a business "rival" of Stark's named Justin Hammer (played by Sam Rockwell) who would like nothing better than topping Stark. So, he leaves Ivan to his own devices, which proves to be a major mistake, for Ivan builds an army of robot drones and takes over the operation. Overall, he was a good villain, if not taciturn at times. He gave off the 'unstable genius' vibe masterfully, and was very multidimensional, he owned a cockatoo for crying out loud. Plus, he was Russian, and Russian villains earn points around my neck of the woods. You could tell in the final fight that there was a little Zangief (from Street Fighter, a video game series) in him, big lols there.   

-The suits. One of the best parts for me, especially 'the suitcase.' Just watch it and you'll know what I mean. 

The other characters had good looks too. War Machine, an Iron Man suit modified with enough weaponry to make Sauron take a step back, was excellently designed, just how he's supposed to be, not too much like Iron Mans design, but not far away either. The 'drones' produced by Valko were also creative, they made my mind drift to several video games with similiar designs. The Dynamo suit was impressive too, except you only saw it's face for a few seconds before it was taken off to reveal Valko's face.

-The Symbolism. Yes, there's symbolism in Iron Man. In 1, Iron Man is hailed as a protector, a hero, but in 2 his character is compromised when the military is constantly out to get his suit for themselves (I don't blame them, myself). Plus, he's compared to a god at some points, most noteworthy when Valko is in prison, and I quote (In a HEAVY Russian accent), "If you make god bleed, people will stop believing in him." Tony is incomplete, you find, which is a major theme in movie 1. The arc reactor symbolizes this, for before he got it, he thought he was hot stuff, the top of the world, but then he obtained a conscience, and became a 'complete' (the circle is the symbol of completion) human. Now, that is not enough to save him from his own humanity, oh no.

Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, is a bigshot in a major UN funded Defense core called SHIELD, and he knew Tony's father, and tells him to look to the past to find the answers to his problems. Tony watches some old film reels, finding out a bit about his rather cold unaffectionate father, and that his father really loved him and valued him, and left a major clue to a '9th Symphony' he had planned in the form of a small scale 'city of the future' his father often showed off. It turns out, this is a blueprint to creating an improved arc reactor that would make an atomic bomb look like a firecracker. He uses this knowledge and creates a small triangle of a fictional un-named 'new element' that makes him feel like superman at the same time. (The triangle is a symbol of divinity, the trinity specifically. It also implies that Tony has grown to respect his past ((one end)) and to value and use his present ((The second end)) to shape his future ((the third end)), again, more symbolism in a 'testosterone/diesel fueled guy film' that 'is nothing but thoughtless violence'.)

-The dialogue. Downey Jr. and Cheadle had GOOD back and forth that totally makes me think of me and Pat sometimes, casual and fun while still serious. Plus, there were several good one liners, such as:

"If you so much as leave the premises, I will taze you and watch Supernanny while you drool on the carpet."

 

"Drop your socks and grab your crocs"

and finally, "It's called being a -" (won't say it here, but hoo boy did it make me laugh when I heard it.

-The final fight. Iron Man and War Machine OBLITERATED the combat drones inside, of all the ironic places, a Japanese Garden they crashed into. The fighting styles were just. . .epicness. Iron Man flies about, delivering punches, martial arts, and acrobatics, while War Machine lathed his enemies with enough bullets to dam up a small river.

-Black Widow. Played by Scarlett Johansson, this femme fatale is a SHIELD agent sent to observe Tony Stark for a mysterious project called 'The Avenger Initiative,' and she kicks BUTT! At one point, she storms a company, and takes out over 10 men in less than a minute. There was one rather questionable scene where she changes into her combat attire in the back of a car, (the pious look away) but it was short, so short that by the time you realize that you saw anything she was offscreen.

All in all, this film had a lot of things I enjoyed. But, no film is perfect. . .

What Disappointed:

-There was little growth on Virginia 'Pepper' Potts (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) part as far as I could see. She lost a little character, I think. The romance between her and Stark was also a little too awkward, I understand where they were going, but it all happened a little too fast.

-The ending was a tad rushed, but not enough to be negative. It's just the first films final battle and ending took a while, this one didn't. Seemed a little off.

-A subtle slam on Captain America where Stark uses his shield as a prop for a big apparatus of some sort. Funny, but it stung a little to a veteran fan like myself.

All in all, I loved it. It was arguably the best sequel to an awesome superhero film to begin with (sorry Spiderman 1, you just barely lost) that I have ever seen, and I look forward to more. And more there will be. Yesiree folks, the world of Marvel movies is about to get a lot bigger in the next couple of years. . . 

Signing off!