Medium: Movie
Runtime: 2hrs, 4 minutes
Genre: Superhero/Drama
Rating: PG-13
I have no preface this week, so let's just jump into it- here's my thoughts on:
Six months after genius billionaire Tony Stark announced on live television that he is Iron Man, he has gone from irresponsible playboy to America's golden boy- a real-life superhero who won the public's favor by escaping from kidnappers and successfully getting his company to turn over a new anti-war leaf. But not everything's roses, as the government has their eye on the designs for his suit as a potential new weapon, and the Arc Reactor keeping Tony alive is also gradually poisoning his blood. To make matters worse, a ghost from Howard Stark's past is coming back to take revenge on his son, and the president of rival company Hammer Industries is a very sore loser indeed, and seeks to crush Tony's name under the heel of his polished boot.
This is probably my shortest summary yet, which should say something about how quick the film is to set itself up. This is good, because it makes things easy on me and allows me to launch straight into my critique.
I'm starting to notice a trend with less well-received superhero sequels. In an attempt to be bigger and better than their predecessors, they feel the need to raise the stakes and wind up juggling too many plot threads at once. As a result, not a terrible lot of superheroing gets done, as the movie is more concerned with showing us all of the problems that are piling up that our heroes will have to resolve before the end of the film- this was the case for Spider-Man 3 (3 villains), Batman Returns (2 villains and a wild card), and Iron Man 2 (2 villains, one friend whose hand gets forced, and Tony's own inner demons). This inevitably plays out like a drama wherein the main character -happens- to be a superhero, and everything else is a juggling act of plot threads with an action scene inserted here and there to grab the short attention spans of summer movie explosion-seekers. While Tony panics at his rapidly shortening lifespan and makes a -lot- of bad decisions while he still can, Justin Hammer tries to use Ivan's hate of Tony to propel himself to riches, unaware that Ivan himself is using Hammer's resources to set himself up for a second stab at Tony's life. It's fascinating to watch unfold, but it also doesn't leave a whole lot of time for wise-cracking or explodey funtimes.
Another thing that's interesting to watch unfold is the many parallels that can be drawn to Tony's origin story- Justin Hammer is the CEO of a weapons manufacturer (which Stark Industries previously had been). In a sort of dark reprise of Tony's time in captivity, Ivan gets busted out of jail and given a nice space to work in and unlimited resources. Where the first movie was about the rise of Iron Man, the second is driven mainly by his mistakes bringing him down.
I think Iron Man 2 is mostly important for what it sets up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it does a very good job of showing that even though Tony is a hero, he is also very, very fallible- probably why he's such an approachable character. However, it's undeniably the weakest of the trilogy. It's not bad by any means, but suffers from what I will call "Superhero Sequel Syndrome."
TL;DR: Iron Man 2 has too many great ideas at once- there just isn't enough screen time to do them all justice. As a result, the entire end product is bogged down. It's still pretty fun, though.
VIRTUES: Great ideas, engaging story.
SINS: Tries to do too much at once, weak execution.
SCORE: 7/10
Final Verdict: It's good, but I'm not too attached.
Runtime: 2hrs, 4 minutes
Genre: Superhero/Drama
Rating: PG-13
I have no preface this week, so let's just jump into it- here's my thoughts on:
This is probably my shortest summary yet, which should say something about how quick the film is to set itself up. This is good, because it makes things easy on me and allows me to launch straight into my critique.
I'm starting to notice a trend with less well-received superhero sequels. In an attempt to be bigger and better than their predecessors, they feel the need to raise the stakes and wind up juggling too many plot threads at once. As a result, not a terrible lot of superheroing gets done, as the movie is more concerned with showing us all of the problems that are piling up that our heroes will have to resolve before the end of the film- this was the case for Spider-Man 3 (3 villains), Batman Returns (2 villains and a wild card), and Iron Man 2 (2 villains, one friend whose hand gets forced, and Tony's own inner demons). This inevitably plays out like a drama wherein the main character -happens- to be a superhero, and everything else is a juggling act of plot threads with an action scene inserted here and there to grab the short attention spans of summer movie explosion-seekers. While Tony panics at his rapidly shortening lifespan and makes a -lot- of bad decisions while he still can, Justin Hammer tries to use Ivan's hate of Tony to propel himself to riches, unaware that Ivan himself is using Hammer's resources to set himself up for a second stab at Tony's life. It's fascinating to watch unfold, but it also doesn't leave a whole lot of time for wise-cracking or explodey funtimes.
Another thing that's interesting to watch unfold is the many parallels that can be drawn to Tony's origin story- Justin Hammer is the CEO of a weapons manufacturer (which Stark Industries previously had been). In a sort of dark reprise of Tony's time in captivity, Ivan gets busted out of jail and given a nice space to work in and unlimited resources. Where the first movie was about the rise of Iron Man, the second is driven mainly by his mistakes bringing him down.
I think Iron Man 2 is mostly important for what it sets up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it does a very good job of showing that even though Tony is a hero, he is also very, very fallible- probably why he's such an approachable character. However, it's undeniably the weakest of the trilogy. It's not bad by any means, but suffers from what I will call "Superhero Sequel Syndrome."
TL;DR: Iron Man 2 has too many great ideas at once- there just isn't enough screen time to do them all justice. As a result, the entire end product is bogged down. It's still pretty fun, though.
VIRTUES: Great ideas, engaging story.
SINS: Tries to do too much at once, weak execution.
SCORE: 7/10
Final Verdict: It's good, but I'm not too attached.
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