Escape to the Movies: Iron Man 2

[WhiteTigerShiro]

This movie was definitely on par with the first one. Maybe not better, but definitely as good. Being that I always liked War Machine a little more than Iron Man, my favorite scene was definitely during the end battle when the two are back-to-back taking down all the drones. Watching War Machine's shoulder turret taking down one drone while he focused on another was just way too cool.

I lost a bit of respect for my paper's movie critic when he gave the movie two and a half stars out of 4. :/

 

[rddj623]

Totally concur with your review sir! Great stuff. I took off in the middle of the day to see it. Perks of making your own hours at work!

 

[sanzo]

snip

It always makes me sad when people are so close minded that they are unable to accept other peoples opinions, and believe there opinions are fact.

These are the internets sir; anyone who has a differing opinion from yours is obviously wrong, and needs to be flamed to show how wrong they are

 

[Stoorm_]

Saw the midnight premier last night and it was soooo good! I love these movies! Sure, in 2008 Iron Man was second banana, but ultimately this will end up being part of a much more epic series of movies.

And Scarlet Jo'... I'd tap that with the hammer of Thor.

\

.... Spoilers!

 

[Shagz]

I'll have to disagree with Movie Bob, Iron Man 2 was horrible.

The interactions between characters are 2 dimensional (e.g Paltrow's character nags Stark every chance she gets), the issues that Iron Man has to overcome are solved with ease and aren't treated as significant hurdles. The villains are never a true threat, Iron Man doesn't seem to have to struggle to a great extent. All the battles are underchoreographed, you either don't really see anything happening or if you do it's nothing special (e.g. Iron Man flying away to evade enemy fire for ten minutes.) The end battle is atrociously short and underwhelming in action, and Iron Man doesn't develop as a character, he is narcissistic at the start of the movie and still narcissistic at the end.

Which is a pity since since within ten minutes of the movie I wanted someone to take Iron Man down. I'm sure the makers wanted the get that feeling from the audience, and that's an understandable ploy, but I never felt that he changed in the end. So my fury still rages, Iron Man is still a jerk by the end of the movie, and no villain is there to take him down a notch.

The only saving grace to this movie is that Scarlette Johansson is hot, and her fight scene is the best fight scene in the movie. It's wonderfully choreographed, you can actually see what's going on, and it tests her character's mettle.

I say wait until the DVD release.

 

[Are.Oh.Why]

Gonna watch the first again. Then I'm gonna see this next week. I hate going opening week.

Ditto, long live Hypno-Toad

 

[MortalForNow]

Ha, "the joke" in the middle of the movie was awesome.

Hmm, I saw the movie last night and then watched the video here today. I don't exactly remember what the "joke" referenced here was, so I'm hoping that someone else here may refresh my memory.

Regarding the movie as a whole, I liked how they kept the tone similar to that of the first movie, but disliked the rather simple ending of the palladium plot and the somewhat hidden motives of Whiplash (the main antagonist should have been much more developed than the way he was here). It really was what I expected it to be: a damn fun action movie that's a step above some of its competitors. Good review once more, Bob.

 

[RheynbowDash]

Mmmmm... Scar-Jo in a skintight body stocking.

Totally worth the $6.75.

 

[Zero-Vash]

Great review it has sparked my intrest in the movie. I guess the bad thing for me was a few of my friends saw it and they said the action sucked and the moive was just too "wordy". But I need to go see it for my self and give the moive a chance to WOW me!

The action didn't suck but there is a lot of character development. Wouldn't call it "wordy" but the Iron Man comics were always more about Tony Stark himself that him in the Iron Man suit

 

[Deacon Cole]

Christian Bale was also a horribly 1-dimensional Batman, using scowly face/voice to make up for absolutely no depth of character.

While I also disliked Dark Knight, to be fair, Batman has no character depth. That's why he wears that costume. Otherwise he'd be completely uninteresting. He'd be no better off than Slam Bradley or Speed Saunders. Remember those guys? Probably not, but they were in Detective Comics #27 when the "Bat-Man" debuted.

And don't tell me crap about how Batman's parent's death gives him any depth. That crap is cliched and tired. Ever notice how in order to give Batman any character he needs to start bitching about his parents? What a little whiner.

So batman has no character aside from the suit. The problem in Batman Begins and Dark Knight is that the director took pains to make the suit and especially the voice fake. So the movie should have been called Bruce Wayne Begins. For this, I hate them.

 

[Deleric]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-

I just got back from the movie and I didn't stay till the end of the credits.

FUCK.

 

[Ccage]

Don't tell them to sit through the credits! that gives me less time to clean the auditorium you slovenly pigs who can't seem to pick up after yourselves!

but yeah... sit through the credits.

 

[ajemas]

Bob, I'm sorry, but I am going to have to completely disagree with you about this movie. I've seen your other reviews, and I agreed with them almost all of the way, but on this occasion my opinion couldn't be further from yours. I know that I'm just some crazed fan, but there are some things that you were clearly either overlooking or blissfully unaware of.
First of all, this movie had more plot holes than a piece of swiss cheese in the middle of a firefight. I'm just going to do a quick run down of the ones I noticed: (Spoiler alert, by the way.) Why did the villain lower his mask right before the final explosion, which let him be knocked out? How did Tony Stark's original prototype of the iron man armor fit his friend's exact proportions? How did his friend know exactly how to operate it without any prior knowledge? At a blood toxicity level of more than 0.35 percent with alcohol, you are going to fall into a coma, and Stark had one of more than 50 percent by the middle of the movie. How did Tony Stark deduce the number of Protons and Neutrons, you know, THE THING THAT DETERMINES WHAT ELEMENT SOMETHING IS from just a picture of a globe, when all that he knew was the layout of electrons? How did his dad know that he was going to have shrapnel embedded in his heart and that he needed a nonpoisonous fuel source for the future, and left him an obscure blueprint? Finally, and most importantly, NEW ELEMENTS ARE NOT CREATED BY POINTING A FUCKING LASER AT AN UPSIDE-DOWN FUCKING TRIANGLE! I could go on, but I won't.
All of these plot holes snapped me right out of the movie every time one of them came up, and they came up A LOT.

Also, there was never a clear, consistent threat in the movie. First it was fighting that Russian guy, which he did. Then it was keeping the Iron Man armor out of the hands of the military, which they got. (By the way, you said in the movie that the army wanted to take Stark's armor away from him because of his erratic behavior, when it was clearly stated that it was because of the fear that other nations would weaponize the technology before the U.S could.) Conflicts were created and dropped so quickly that the token fight scene at the end of the movie just seemed like an excuse for some explosions.

The movie did not live up to the original at all, in my opinion at least. In the past, you have been kind of hard on inconsistencies like these, but this time you seem blissfully unaware. I am well aware that it is stupid to expect one of your favorite internet talking heads mirror all of your opinions, but I just want you to answer one thing: did the rampant inconsistencies just not bother you, or did you not notice them?

 

[Umberphoenix]

I'd actually give this movie a 3/5. The Avengers weren't introduced very well, the unnecessary slow-motion scenes for fan service with Hot Girl In Leather were just that: unnecessary, and this time around they seriously shied away from any actual bloody violence. In most cases, we're left to assume that maybe they died but maybe they also lived because all we see is people running away from an explosion. It had A LOT of potential to be a heart-rending piece if they had actually killed some people instead of sort-of alluding to their possible grievous injuries and scraped knees.

Still, it was entertaining, and I would watch it again.

Also, I'm going to have to agree with ajemas above me. It had quite a few plotholes, although Stark's father was giving him blueprints for building a better core, not to save his son's life, why did he have to so encrypted? Sure, he didn't want it stolen, but still...

But I digress. 3/5. Average.

 

[Tomster595]

My opinion: Movie was pretty good, Scarlet Johansson was better

 

[Badassassin]

TBH I decided I would see this movie as soon as I heard about it. No matter what Bob said. I think we can all agree that the first one was so good that once we saw the trailer for the second one a lot of us totally nerdgasmed over it. But anyway, good to hear it lives up to the hype.

 

[obliterate]

Another perfect review Bob I went to see the movie at the primier and I had a fantastic time And I gotta say the movie is coming close to my most favourite movie The Dark Knight but like you said it still has room to expand...***SPOILERS***
Speaking about S.H.I.E.L.D. how many of you saw Captain America's shield ? Well not the actuall shield but a copy (a really bad one)When I watched the movie I yelled "Ha!!!Bob was right!!!" and then all of my friends laughed their arses off ***END OF SPOILERS***
Oh and another thing...I'm sorry that I have been emailing you for this so much (2 times) but now that you mentioned The Matrix I just want to know...What do you think of the movie...Please tell me Bob...In 2 sentences if you like I just want to know

 

[kuposenpai]

I think the 1st one was better. This one wasn't a disappointment, per-say. I think some more work could have been done.. or in this case not done. my 1st complaint was that the trailers showed the relationship between stark and pots and tony's jumping out of the plane "you complete me" GONE! WTF?! you use it in official commercials and trailers and you don't put out? wtf movie? wtf? one big problem i had was that the movie was dragging on, and on. I liked the bit with tony's condition and what not but it almost felt too long. then is cuts back to hammer and i was like "Oh shit, i forgot this movie had a rich villain." I can't remember the name of the actor who played hammer, but he was just way to annoying. not in his performance. just him as a person. He brushed me the wrong way, he felt like a jeff goldblum clone. (that's a different kinda of mess altogether, so i won't touch on it again.)
(this next bit is relevant to Samuel L. Jackson's recent climb with movies like "Snakes on A Plane" I didn't see the 1st iron man movie in theaters, my friends did, and she called saying that Jackson's character came after the credits to say a crucial line. Me being the person i am said "There's a mother fucking iron man on the plane..?" So i stayed in for this one and i nearly lost it with anticipation.
back to point
the friendship between rhodes and stark almost seem invisible here... not in that they weren't fighting for no reason, but i feel that they didn't have enough time together like in the 1st movie. now i don't know if its just me, or that parts had to be re written because terrance howard was out or if it was well enough established in the 1st movie... the opening scene almost gave me a headache then OH GOD ITS JEFF GOLDBLUM EVIL MORE ANNOYING CLONE AGAIN!! AGGGH,. seriously, he didn't sit well with me or my date. (though she kept asking me why scarlet johanson or however you spell it was in a black tight costume. she has no history in comics so i had to miss about 3 minutes of film to explain black widow.)
as for mickey rourke, i thought he played his role very well, and the relationship between him and stark didn't turn out like i had expected but thats just fine, even if it wasn't, I'd still blame the goldblum clone. Now as for the fight scenes, they were almost too flashy showy for my taste. like they're fighting for the sake if there having to be a fight.
THEN i found out why, at the credits, it turns out LucasArts had their grubby greasy hand in most of these scenes. George strikes again
I'm going to watch the 1st movie again, then in no particular order, back to the future 1-3.
You don't have to go 88 mph to see some serious shit.

 

[kuposenpai]

Blame LucasArts for that.

 

[defeis]

i have read many reviews about this movie (i watched ironman 2 the previous week) and i was really hoping for some justice from bob.The movie is just an average pop corn flick that could've been brilliant at the hands of a good director.I really don't understand the fuzz around it.And mr.Bob,to even mention dark knight in this review is a blasphemy!!Not in a million years!
Just an average movie(worse than the 1st which was also bad)that you forget immediately after leaving the cinema.
shame just shame!