Films: Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010)

Films: Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010)

I seem to be working through superhero movies at the moment, even though I'm not a fan of the genre and scarcely looked at any comics even in my youth, let alone since. However, good ones do make for stress-free undemanding entertainment and there have been some critically acclaimed examples recently, among them the Iron Man films.

Robert Downey plays Tony Stark, the womanising engineer/genius inventor head of a major armaments firm, who is injured and captured by terrorists in Afghanistan and held for three months, supposedly working on a weapon for them. In fact, he is building a prototype powered armoured suit with which he escapes, but he has been changed by his ordeal and decides to stop making armaments. Back home, he is opposed by Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), his deputy, but supported by his adoring assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). He works on perfecting his powered, flying and fighting suit, using an "arc reactor" of his own invention to provide almost limitless power. With this, he returns to Afghanistan to take on the terrorists and is later faced with an even more grave threat at home, when he is challenged by a second "iron man" built using his original plans. The first film ends with his identity as "Iron Man" revealed.

Iron Man is as good as Nolan's Batman films - which is to say, very good indeed - with Downey being remarkably convincing as the conflicted inventor. His performance dominates the screen, with Patrow very good in the supporting role; the on-screen chemistry between them works well.

As a result, I looked forward to the sequel, Iron Man 2. Sadly, this is just a rehash of the first, with yet another "Iron Man" emerging to challenge him. The film tries to distract the audience from noticing the lack of original ideas by introducing Scarlett Johansson as an athletic secret agent and throwing in more fight scenes and bigger explosions, but it doesn't really work and I was relieved when it ended. It isn't a bad film by most standards, but was a major disappointment after Iron Man.
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(This entry is cross-posted from my science-fiction & fantasy blog.)
 
I like both. I tend to agree that #2 was lacking but RDjr is great as Stark.

thanx for the review - I liked that too
 
I have to agree...I enjoyed IM2 for what it was (a popcorn flick), but it was really lacking in originality on the plot.
 
Iron Man (2008) and Iron Man 2 (2010) are awesome!

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This is one of the first Iron Man comics I bought as a kid in the early 1970's, and I had already been a fan because of the Iron Man cartoons, which were created in the 1960's.​


I grew up as a superhero fan, they were my heros. I really enjoyed both Iron Man movies, I thought they were both made exceedingly well, Robert D. Jr was the perfect choice as the industrialist/playboy who one day decided to help save the world wearing a high-tech powersuit and calling himself IRON MAN. It was also a treat to see in the second movie, the Russian agent The Black Widow along with other original comic book characters Nick Fury from the goverment branch S.H.I.E.L.D. and the villian Whiplash (whose Russian name came from another villain called The Crimson Dynamo). Plus I also like the hint of whose behind the trouble in the first film, the Chinese villain The Mandarin.

The lovable original characters of Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts are great to see on the big screen too.

I don't compare other superhero movies to say which one is better, that would be unfair to the early Superman movies with Christopher Reeves, or the early Batman movies with Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer.

For me, IRON MAN stands on his own!







part one



part two
 
As a result, I looked forward to the sequel, Iron Man 2. Sadly, this is just a rehash of the first, with yet another "Iron Man" emerging to challenge him. The film tries to distract the audience from noticing the lack of original ideas by introducing Scarlett Johansson as an athletic secret agent and throwing in more fight scenes and bigger explosions, but it doesn't really work and I was relieved when it ended. It isn't a bad film by most standards, but was a major disappointment after Iron Man.
6331135384154117296-6437791697906518979
I finally caught up to seeing Iron Man 2 and have to disagree with Johansson being an audience distraction, at least for Marvel fans. Her introduction as Black Widow sets up the Marvel movies for the upcoming Avengers movie. All of the recent Marvel movies should really be viewed as concurrent stories that serve as an origins background to Avengers.

It is why there have been cross references to other characters, like Captain America's shield being in the crates from Tony's father, Howard Stark, and the shield agent assigned to Tony Stark being re-assigned to a mission in New Mexico with the follow-up post credits scene of the same agent being on-hand for the reveal of Thor's hammer. In the first Iron Man movie the post-credits clip showed Nick Fury of SHIELD (Samuel L. Jackson) introducing himself to Tony Stark. In Iron Man 2 we see SHIELD planting Black Widow in the Stark organization to evaluate Iron Man for recruitment into the Avengers group. (The scene with Stark & Fury about Iron Man being a part-time consultant to the Avengers is line with the Marvel comics where Iron Man is not a full-time member of Avengers.) Going back further the post-credits of the last Incredible Hulk movie showed Captain America frozen in ice. (The commercials for the upcoming Captain America include a scene of his shield being found in a wreckage trapped in ice. ;)) The recent Thor movie has for its own post-credits a clip that reveals a major plot point of Avengers.

For casual viewers of Marvel movies, yeah, Iron Man 2 might not come off as too totally different from the first movie, but to the 40-somethings *cough* who grew up reading Marvel comics following the mythos that is woven into the Marvel universe connecting most of the characters together in some fashion, then the movie is seen a little bit differently. :P





(It was Spider-Man for me as a kid in the 70's that got me hooked on the Marvel universe.)
 
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