"Iron Man 2" Review

It's a "Man" and he's "Ironing".  Get it?

Before I even begin my official review, I would like to take a second to address the scores of reviews I've already ready by people who make more money watching movies than I could ever dream of making.  Most of them aren't even good at it.  Most of them don't even seem to enjoy movies.  They just landed the gig of a lifetime and that's that.  I can deal.  But I'm absolutely baffled by the negativity surrounding "Iron Man 2".  Sure it's rocking a 71% right now on the Tomatometer, but I've seen reviews as low as 1 to 2 1/2 stars.  Simply put, "Iron Man 2" is better than that.  It's not perfect, but only because it strives to be.  At times, the film seems to want it too much.

I saw the movie alone this afternoon.  I knew my Marvel experience was going to be complete when The Blob from "X-Men" sat right in front of me.  I almost geeked out, until I realized it was just a morbidly obese Kentuckian.  Anyhoo, I wallowed in the cryptic goodness of the "Super 8" trailer and got goosebumps listening to Tony Stark's final and revealing press conference from the end of the first film, this time played over the Marvel logo and the introductory credits.  The real trick, however, is that the press announcement is being watched by a shadowy Russian, one who loathes the Stark empire, amidst his father's death in a Moscow slum.  Half-empty vodka bottles abound.  There is a grime on everything in the room (except the bird) that seems born of Ivan Vanko's hatred itself.

Thus, I'll begin with my only real problem with the film, as this introductory exposition of the film's main protagonist perfectly illustrates it:  The movie's pacing.  There is so much crammed into "Iron Man 2" that the audience is given no time to savor any of the beauty and intrigue that Favreau and his team cracked up, and let me tell you there are Easter Eggs all over this puppy (Cap's shield!).  Ivan Vanko's story feels rushed.  Every conversation between Tony and Pepper is snappy, sharp, but over much too soon; there's chemistry there that pops with so much hurry that I couldn't help but feel, during every dialogue between them, that they were rushing to something more important or fun just around the corner.  Scenes with Tony reminiscing about his father seem to be missing just a second or two in their dramatic rhythm that would have really helped us key in on Tony's attitude regarding his self-destructive behavior.  The movie seems so eager to show us what is has in store next, that the audience is left to keep up at the expense of savoring every bite; kinda like the way Americans eat food. 

At the end, we wonder why "Wait, it's all gone?"

Also, the scenes with Samuel L. Jackson, while setting up cool foreshadowing of "The Avengers" lack a bit more context that would really give Nick Fury and his intentions some weight.  In a movie where we are led to believe that Iron Man has this crumbling monopoly on world peace exploited by a few punk terrorists and scientific geniuses with a lush for wealth and crime, we never quite understand why Nick Fury needs Iron Man.  We never quite understand why Nick Fury needs this "team" he's setting off to accrue.  There is no sense of impending danger to match Fury's calls for a superhuman all-star squad.  And then there's Black Widow, who is hot and awesome in her one action scene, but feels sort of like an afterthought tacked on just to show how smoking Scarlett Johannson looked in her costume.

Unfortunately, Scarlett in "G.I. Joe" was still hotter.

I mean, let's step back from "Iron Man 2" and you'll see just how jam-packed it really is.  You've got Justin Hammer, Whiplash/Crimson Dynamo, Tony's alcoholism, Tony's self-destruction, the Pepper Potts romantic interest, War Machine, Hammer Drones, The Stark Expo, Black Widow, Nick Fury, Avengers References, the whole thing with Senator Gary Shandling, and somehow tons of great character development still ties it all together along with some memorable set pieces, the usual snappy one-liners, some first-rate storytelling, and a unique comic book world in which Robert Downey Jr. lords over all creation it seems.  Simply put, it really is too much at times. 

In "Iron Man 3", I would like to see them scale back a bit and focus on one nemesis (The Mandarin) and delve more in Tony Stark's demons, a'la "The Dark Knight".  This shouldn't be too difficult, seeing as how "The Avengers" will have been gearing up by the time of its release and "IM3" won't need to be yet another exhibition vehicle for that story arc.  Cutting Nick Fury, the Avengers references, and teasers will lean up this franchise tremendously and in a number of important ways.  Hopefully, the Mandarin will be portrayed by an actor of tremendous integrity (speaking of which, has a Chinese actor ever been nominated for an Oscar?) and John Favreau will learn how to close a movie between now and 2012. 

In other words, "Iron Man 2" would have been better if we'd gotten to see more of Michey Rourke's and Sam Rockwell's superb co-villainy and "Iron Man 3" better not end with the Mandarin inventing some kind of larger, angrier-looking suit in which to combat Iron Man.

All said, I'd give "Iron Man 2" about 3 1/2 out of 5 stars, and 4 stars on the "fun"ometer.