Iron Man was fun, albeit a little long. Go see it. You’ll enjoy it. I only had two peeves:
1.) Dear Gwyneth — if you really didn’t want to be in the movie, you shouldn’t have. It was painfully obvious you weren’t a team player. As one performer to another: when you’re not having fun, it shows. It’s not like you needed to be in the film — we geeks were all fine with Don Cheadle playing Terrence Howard’s role of Rhodey, and we would have welcomed a cute redheaded ingenue as much as we welcomed Scarlett Johansson’s thinly-poured-latex catsuit. Where there was a genuine affection for Stark from Pepper in the first film (an affection that saved his life), there was nothing but cold-shoulder antagonism in the sequel. When she finally does show some concern for Stark’s welfare, it’s almost too little too late. Stark must seriously have a thing for Pepper if he didn’t dump her after treating him like that…especially since she looks downright frumpy next to Scarlett. Maybe we should blame this on the writers? (A few other things could be…see peeve #2 for details.) Whatever the reason, I hope you got a boatload of cash. And that you got to keep all the fabulous gravity-defying stilettos.
2.) Dear Jon (Favreau) — if you have Sam Rockwell in your movie, you should USE HIM. Perhaps you didn’t get the memo about what a freaking amazing actor he is. Perhaps you have only seen him in his role as “Head Thug” in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Perhaps this is yet another flub we can blame on your poor, overworked, brain-fried writer. Or perhaps we can even blame this on Stan — I didn’t read the Iron Man comics, so I don’t know if Justin Hammer was really as smarmy and inept as he is portrayed in the film. What would have been MORE entertaining — and please forgive me, as this is the writer in me taking over — is if Hammer had been a true match (intelligence and charisma-wise) for Stark…as true a match as Ivan Vanko was for Iron Man. That way Stark would have been fighting on both fronts — his street persona and his superhero persona — and something might actually HAVE BEEN IN JEOPARDY. Nothing was in jeopardy in this film. Not even Pepper’s stilettos, when she is lifted into the air and whisked away before the bombs detonate (please refer back to peeve #1).
Again, I enjoyed the movie. It was a cold, windy day. I had a decent seat and nowhere else to be. Did I think it rocked as much as the first one? Not by a long shot. But as a sequel it’s passable. Thanks for a lovely afternoon.
Interesting assessment. I thought Sam Rockwell did really well as Tony Stark’s “chief dick”/competitor. Arguably, the Hammer character was limited and SR did all he could with the role.
My main beef with IM2 was that Vanko created all these tricked- out drones that damn near destroyed Star and Rhodes, but his Whiplash armor only lasted about two minutes in combat. And I REALLY missed Terence Howard. Scarlet Johansson was a pleasure to look at as always, but contributed little else(aside from her literal ass-kicking scenes). Finally, I never would’ve casted Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, but I liked him in the role.
And seeing two of Marvel’s most-visible other characters’ accessories in the film was a hoot.
Oops, that should’ve been “Stark, not “Star”, and “cast”, not “casted”–this imbecile regrets the errors, as always.
Just finished watching Iron Man II. I have a few grievances with the movie but I must admit that Scarlett Johansson is most delicious in that latex outfit of hers. I could have had a little bit more action up front. Jackson’s character doesn’t fit the comic character to me… It’s a B+ movie.
You did wait until after the credits, right?
Yeah–not as cool after the credits as th first time…though I did wonder what was going on in New Mexico.
Who would you guys have cast as Nick Fury? Not having read the comic, I was fine with SLJ in the role.
The movie was my “Mother’s Day” treat. I know why Gwyneth didn’t look like she cared…her face was frozen with Botox! She looked great but her acting stunk. Actors and actresses should never use Botox!
Ugh, Gwenyth … am I the only one who hasn’t been able to stomach her in a film since the Great Expectations film adaptation? I couldn’t even enjoy Shallow Hal all that much because she was in it. It may be irrational, but she’s one of those people I find insufferable.
And if there’s too little Sam Rockwell in this movie, I’m right to wait for the DVD. The man is a little bit of awesome in even the worst movie. I may not have enjoyed Gentlemen Broncos so much were it not for his performance.