Iron Man 2: Grading, Review, Discussion **SPOILERS**

Re: Iron Man 2 - Grading & Discussion Thread (spoilers guaranteed)

So it doesn't help that it was all planned from the start? Can you actually retcon something in advance?

 

Yeah, I think it's a difference from having it being set-up from the start, and then shoe-horning in a last minute change from the first film that effectively changes everything (by making the Sandman the killer of Uncle Ben). I mean, you can see how they've been setting it up, if they choose The Mandarin.

 

I dunno, I get the feeling that even if Raimi HAD made the thief always be Flint Marko it still wouldn't have been accepted by the audience.

 

The key difference is that even if the Mandarin is a retcon (which it wouldn't), it would make sense. Someone is interested in Stark's tech (or at least controlling it through proxies) and is trying to either discredit or kill him.

Sandman being Uncle Ben's killer is just random coincidence and goes against what we directly saw in the first movie.

 

EVERYTHING about the Spidey-movies is a contrivance, though:

1) Of all people Peter is best friends with, it's the son of the guy who becomes his first supervillain?

2) Of all the nuclear scientists out there, the one Peter gets close to just HAPPENS to become the second supervillain he fights?

3) Of all the people in NYC, MJ gets engaged to the son of Peter's boss?

4) Eddie Brock just HAPPENED to be at the Church to become Venom?

5) Gwen Stacy just HAPPENED to be Peter's friend AND be in that building when the crane lost control to be saved by Spidey AND be the Police Captain's daughter?

 

^ Most action/ adventure movies feature plot contrivances. From Die Hard to Raiders of the Lost Ark, and not forgetting the likes of Ben Hur or Pirates of the Carribean. You have to just accept them.

 

I love how he saves Gwen but then swings off leaving the crane swinging wildly and banging around into the building.

 

The Police said they cut the power to the Crane. We just didn't see it happen.

 

I went with average. I thought the build up to the final confrontation between Ironman and Whipflash(?) was wasted on a poor final battle. And the movie's logic just isn't there when, most of the time it seems, Ironman (stark) is walking around unprotected and could be taken out an any second by a common thug..and yet the government can't get this guy???

Not as fun as the first one...and absolutely no chemistry between Downey and Paltrow at all...IMO.

Rob

 

With 14 days in domestic US release and about 20 in total(opened 5/6 days early int'l) IM2 has pulled in $479million worldwide and $224 US domestic.

It beat Robin Hood last weekend and was the #1 movie for two weeks running. IM is likely to pull in about $23-26million this weekend so its not likely to beat Shrek 4. That is unless like me the masses could really care less about more Shrek adventures.

 

Crane didn't seem to want to obey the laws of momentum, physics and friction either. I mean, how much intertia and mass would that thing have to have to swing through that building several times?!

God Spidey3 sucked. It wasn't "Superman 4" bad, but it came damn close. Oh, and I loved the "Exposition News Channel" at the end. A clear sign Rami had given up, "Well, I've got a lot of plot points that have happened off screen, and they all need to come to a head here at this construction sight, but how do I establish everything that I had happen off screen? ... I got it!"

Ugh, I may take it back. Spider-man 3 was as bad as... well, I'll go with Superman 3.

 

I LIKED Superman 3, especially the "Clark vs Superman" junkyard fight...

 

Yeah, it's got some merits. But the nonsense with Richard Pryor, the slapstick opening and handful of other goofy Lester-ian "comedy" bullshit stuck in sort of taints any good in the movie. But, Spider-man 3 wasn't as terrible as Superman 4 so I bumped it up a notch.

 

I thought of Superman 3 as a nifty little comedy with Richard Pryor spliced into a nicely done red kryptonite Superman story. Pryor and Reeve didn't even meet until what, the last ten minutes of the movie?
The shift from one to the other is kind of jarring, I must admit, but I managed.

 

Actually, they met earlier when Pryor gave Superman the kryptonite (when he was dressed as an Army General).

I know that the stuff was red kryptonite, and it SHOULD have been red. It would've explained why Supes wasn't freaking out that some army dude just handed him a chunk of the stuff.

 

You're missing the craziest part about the alien creature just happening to land right by Peter and then attaching to his motorcycle. That was unforgivably lazy storytelling.

 

They should've taken the animated series route and have the symbiote arrive via space shuttle. Piloted bu John Jameson.

 

Also, Superman III isn't that bad. At least we get a half decent Lana Lang.

 

I can understand why they didn't: By the time Arad forced them to include Venom they had already spent most of the money and stuff, and it would've taken like 30 minutes to do the shuttle crash story. Plus, they probably felt that including John would mean they'd have to cover the MJ/John thing from the second movie and they didn't want to bring that back.

 

Going back to Iron Man II, on reflection I'm surprised there wasn't far more discussion of the suit pissing, even to the point of denying it actually happened, but was mere a "joke." Certainly, it brought the alcoholism to the fore very forcefully, despite claims to the contrary.