Wendy's Films of 2010 #93: Iron Man 2 (2010)

"Come see Iron Man 2!" they said.

"It'll be the best thing evar!!!1!" they said.

Well, sadly, they lied. It wasn't the best thing evar. In fact, it wasn't really very good at all and I must say I was quite disappointed in the outcome of one of 2010's most anticipated films.

It had redeeming qualities in Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man, for those who's minds remain outside the realm of pop culture.) Downey Jr. always manages to give an entertaining performance, whether his films succeed or not. I even liked Gwyneth Paltrow in this film, which is saying something as she usually annoys me to the point of turning a potentially good movie bad. Scarlett Johansson nearly had the opportunity to do something cool, but they unfortunately tried to do too much with the film. They shoved far too many subplots and unnecessary bits in that it became a jumble of unconcentrated potential. I think that's what annoyed me the most: the fact that the film had potential and threw it out while attempting to gain more of an audience by adding more stars and thus a lot of superfluous storylines and scenes. Or perhaps they were afraid the film wouldn't be able to stand up on its own without the help of these famous faces. My favourite part, however, was when Paltrow and the film's director Jon Favreau sat in danger for their lives inside a car next to a deadly flight between Iron Man and Ivan Vanko. They just sat there, staring! Just another example of Favreau adding in unnecessary film time and an unnecessary character: himself.

The film will be out on DVD on September 28th, so if you'd like to check it out for yourself you shall have this ability in the near future.

Ryan Watches a Motion Picture #28: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark, roguish playboy billionaire turned superguy (I'll say superguy since he never quite reaches hero status in the films - he just owns up to negligence and cleans up his own messes). He's Iron Man of course, and this was the big summer action sequel many people were waiting for.

And it's really fucking boring. Not since Transformers 2 have I sat in a theatre to watch a blockbuster and suddenly realised that I was completely, utterly bored. That I didn't care about anything that was happening on the screen, and that when there was a glitzy CGI sequence, couldn't anchor it to any kind of sense of emotional import. But I don't want to lead you too astray by bringing up one of the worst movies I've ever seen - Iron Man 2 isn't anywhere near as vapid as Transformers 2 because there's only one dick joke in it, if I remember rightly.

Sadly I can only think of one or two action sequences that are somewhat satisfying, and one is close to the beginning and the other not quite at the end, and short. Everything else is annoying quip. A glib talk back and forth that goes nowhere and isn't funny, instead of, say, illuminating the audience as to what's going with either plot or character. In regards to character, there isn't much present. We get a Tony Stark who's a dick and a fantasy of wealth without redeeming quality that I can find, and a Paltrow/Pepperpot that gets mad sometimes about how careless Stark is. Oh, and Don Cheadle getting mad about that too, to the point where he dons a suit of robo-armour for a really ridiculous fight scene at a party. Apart from that there's a lot of time spent trying to sell you on secondary characters. Scarlett Johansson and Sammy J were somewhat fun to watch, but Mickey Rourke's grizzled Russian antagonist was really the only thing I actually found entertaining. Or justifiable.

At least after the credits we see Thor's hammer in an impact crater unrelated to anything we saw in Iron Man 2.

So: A movie as careless and self-serving as Tony Stark. Save your money.