I am still Iron Man

[davidn]

We went to see Iron Man 2 this weekend. It takes itself less seriously than the first, and that's really saying something.

The film opens with Tony opening the Stark Expo as Iron Man - in contrast to his anti-weapons character development from the first film, he's now decided (rather fairly) that saving the world in a flying suit of armor amounts to a license to be an even bigger smug show-off than ever before, and in between the festivities we're treated to a scene of him laughing off a panel of elderly senators who are trying to acquire the Iron Man suit as a weapon. During his introduction, someone from the crowd audibly shouts "Blow something up!" and the entire rest of the film from this point forward might as well be a direct response to this suggestion.

Trouble starts when a grumpy Russian man who used to work with Tony's dad (who is Mickey Rourke, with make-up amounting to just not showering for a while and having his face beaten a bit with a kettle) turns up when Tony is unexpectedly taking part in the Monaco Grand Prix - just because he can - and shears some cars in half with a pair of arc-reactor-powered electro-whips. At this point I couldn't help but imagine how Murray Walker would have reacted (if you don't know him, just read this next bit with your hair on fire) - "Villeneuve! Is! Looking! Good as he heads into the last straight, and OHHH! His car's just fallen in half and allowed Michael Schumacher to cling on to his 637-point lead."

Once Iron Man saves the day, rival weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer tangoes his way into the storyline. Like a lot of people in these films he's about thirty years younger than I remember (though James Rhodes has by this point regenerated into Don Cheadle), and he thinks that getting a Russian who's clearly unhappy with everything the country stands for to build America's new miracle defence system is an idea that can't possibly go wrong. He promptly arranges to bust him out of prison with the aid of a bomb disguised as a potato in the best of Allo Allo traditions, and I think that you can just guess how it goes from there.

It was good to see a couple of other things from the cartoon version that I grew up watching making an appearance, such as the new version of the pop-up suit briefcase. It's particularly nice that Samuel L Jackson also appears as Nick Fury (with the line "I'm going to have to ask you to step out of the doughnut", possibly the highlight of his career), because I remember that Nick Fury in the comics said that if he were a fictional comic book character and they were going to make a film of him, he would indeed want to be played by Samuel L Jackson.

And having Iron Man and Warmachine fighting together at the end was another highlight, but the scene seemed very brief. In fact, because the film is such a Guy Fawkes festival of non-stop exploding throughout, that climactic battle doesn't really feel all that climactic (I was expecting at least one more round of the plot-action cycle) and the entire thing feels like the middle of the film. But it's a really good middle to be extended for two hours.

I should also pass on stubbleupdate's recommendation to stay after the credits.

Comments

[scellanis.livejournal.com]

Aww I guessed there would be something at the end of the credits but it was already getting a bit late..nevermind, I'll just have to watch it again :D

It was good though *giggles* yes I can just imagine the F1 commentary now you've said it.