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

[The Borgified Corpse]

He doesn't turn Justin Hammer into a credible threat. While he ostensibly builds the weaponry in Hammer's facility, Hammer is never in control. Vanko immediately & effortlessly seizes control when it suits his purposes.

Okay, then we could say that Hammer's resources turn Vanko into a credible threat if you'd prefer to formulate it that way.

And while he did set the finale of the film in motion, I don't think it was a particularly impressive finale.

So he goes from being a bum in a Russian basement to nearly defeating both Iron Man and Rhodey in the middle of Stark Expo. Say what you will about the film's quality, I'd hardly call that a story arc that "really doesn't go anyway in the film."

Like I said, I never really felt the jeopardy in the finale. At no time did I think, "Oh crap! Tony & Rhodey are so screwed!" I think Motion Picture Comics put it best:

http://motionpicturescomics.com/category/comic-post/?tag=iron-man-2

 

[Anwar]

To be fair, Whiplash had upgraded himself since the second act into a better suit.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

To be fair, Whiplash had upgraded himself since the second act into a better suit.

True. Although maybe the story arc is hard to swallow because it's the opposite of what usually happens in these kinds of action movies. In act 2, the villain beats the crap out of the hero, thus requiring the hero to upgrade. It ups the stakes for the final battle, wondering if the hero has learned the necessary lessons to prevail in the rematch.

Maybe the climax would have felt stronger if Whiplash had come in totally beating the crap out of both Iron Man & War Machine, taking War Machine out of the game. If Iron Man is on his last legs, it makes his victory that much stronger.

 

[Anwar]

I was hoping this film would end on a cliffhanger, leading directly into the Avengers movie (I mean, keeping the audience going "We have to wait till next year to see the resolution?! AARRGHH!!"? Classic.). Like, Vanko uses Hammer to distribute arc reactor tech to various villains and terrorists, starting the Armor Wars. At the end, Tony defeats Whiplash who informs him as he dies that they have opened Pandora's Box and cannot close it. He's already set in motion Tony's ultimate end and he can die happy.

As Tony orders everyone to leave, Fury informs him that they have a "Specialty force" on the way to back him up.

Tony, all alone, stand strong and battle-ready as dozens of Armored warriors descend on him.

Cut to black.

 

[Gaith]

To be fair, Whiplash had upgraded himself since the second act into a better suit.

Not to mention a helluvalot of drones. And the self-doubt he planted in Tony's mind, in his already fragile state, was arguably far more dangerous than an ass-whupping which would almost certainly have motivated him to fight right back and win sooner.

 

[Gojira]

I finally saw this movie this last weekend. I will be adding this to my DVD but I do think that it wasn't as good as the original. It was too cultured with characters and plot points that really didn't go anywhere. The whole Avengers subplot was really unnecessary.


But all in all I did like it.

 

[Trent Roman]

True. Although maybe the story arc is hard to swallow because it's the opposite of what usually happens in these kinds of action movies. In act 2, the villain beats the crap out of the hero, thus requiring the hero to upgrade. It ups the stakes for the final battle, wondering if the hero has learned the necessary lessons to prevail in the rematch.

An interesting observation. In a lot of these films, the egomaniacal, self-involved villain disregards the hero or otherwise makes a fatal mistake that allows the hero to regroup and upgrade to defeat the villain at the end. In this film, the egomanical, self-involed hero disregards the villains he has already defeated, making the error that allows them to regroup and upgrade. It reinforces how, in many ways, the true antagonist of Iron Man II is Stark himself, to himself.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Captain Craig]

It reinforces how, in many ways, the true antagonist of Iron Man II is Stark himself, to himself.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

Exactly. Which is why Agent Romanof recommends Iron Man for the Avengers Initiative but NOT Tony. This film allows for Tony to become a stronger hero now than he was before the Paladium poisoning and self destruction he was going through. It's something that I think has potential to set up a real strong Tony/Iron Man growth arc in The Avengers.

 

[Admiral_Young]

"Captain America" is supposed to lead directly into "The Avengers" movie. I don't see why you would have thought that "Iron Man 2" would when they JUST discovered Thor's Hammer and haven't uncovered Steve yet. It'd have maybe been appropriate for there to be Shield involvement in the battle against Vanko but Fury probably thought that Rhodes and Stark could handle Ivan on their own, which of course they proved they could with some help from Natasha.

Yes...as I've stated a few times before the real villain of "Iron Man 2" is Tony himself. The film was a set up for the evolution of his character arc and so he can take a real leadership position among the growing superhero community.

 

[Captain Craig]

"Captain America" is supposed to lead directly into "The Avengers" movie. I don't see why you would have thought that "Iron Man 2" would when they JUST discovered Thor's Hammer and haven't uncovered Steve yet.

I think there is a miscommunication. I'm saying this is a direct chance to have growth for Tony from IM2 going into Avengers. Where he then shows that growth alongside Captain America. Tony from the first movie wasn't mentally the hero he needed to be, nor in the second. They were building blocks to get him there.

 

[Gaith]

^/^^ Exactly... and it's in large part for that reason, that the movie has such an unconventional hero-with-an-attitude-problem arc, that I rate IM2 just as highly, and maybe even slightly higher than, the first.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Sure and the scene at the end of "The Incredible Hulk" showed that Tony had progressed since he approaches General Ross about the Initiative. I was really responding to Anwar's comments, didn't see yours Captain Craig

 

[Skywalker]

Sure and the scene at the end of "The Incredible Hulk" showed that Tony had progressed since he approaches General Ross about the Initiative.

Doesn't Iron Man 2 take place around the same time as The Incredible Hulk? If so, the Hulk post-credits scene with a seemingly healthy Tony who's fully committed to the Avenger Initiative would make more sense.

 

[Captain Craig]

^^^
Yes, cause at the end of IM:2 the events at Culver U are being shown on a monitoring viewer in the safe house with Fury & Stark.
It seems the chronology is this:
Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers.

Iron Man takes place 6mo prior to IM2 but IM2,TIH & Thor take place with 2-3 weeks of each other overlaping. The events in TIH are over about the span of 1 month using the "days without incident" clock as a loose guide. Where Captain America's entry point is into the modern day is presumed to be after those 3 films.

 

[Dream]

I liked IM2. However, I'm still thinking about I want to buy it on DVD or not. I mainly get dvds because I really loved a movie or if the movie had lots of awesome scenes.

The first movie had the awesome escape from the cave in the Mark I armor, flying in the Mark II for the first time, and Iron Man taking on the terrorist to save the villagers. Iron Man II's action scenes were really lacking in comparison.

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ Exactly. It's an inferior movie compared to the first which lacked defining moments. Look I enjoyed the movie but I'm not so blind that I didn't recognize it's flaws as well. I think it was a mistake not to feature the Mandarin in the second film and yes I know he's hinted at but that's not enough. I would have made Valko a stooge of Ten Rings and made it clear that one of Ten Rings goals is the manipulation and trigger of the Armor Wars.

 

[Dream]

Iron Man 2 is a huge hit on DVD/Blu-Ray

There was never any question that Iron Man 2 would be the biggest home video seller and rental the week ended Oct. 3. The only question was how big the blockbuster sequel would be, given the home entertainment industry’s lackluster performance these past three years.

But as it turned out, the Paramount Home Entertainment release, which many in the industry considered a harbinger of how the fourth quarter would fare, was a hands-down smash, selling an estimated 1.1 million discs its first day in stores and ending the week just past the 5 million-unit mark, according to Home Media Magazine’s Market Research Department.

Accordingly, Iron Man 2, which grossed $312 million in U.S. theaters, debuted at No. 1 on all three charts, by a wide margin.

On the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart, Iron Man 2 outsold its nearest competitor, the Universal Studios comedy Get Him to the Greek, by a margin of more than 8-to-1. On the Blu-ray Disc sales chart, the discrepancy was even greater: Get Him to the Greek, with a $60.1 million box office pedigree, sold less than 7% as many Blu-ray Disc units as Iron Man 2.

http://www.homemediamagazine.com/research/iron-man-2-soars-disc-20802

Looks like Iron Man 3 will be happening.

 

[RoJoHen]

Iron Man 3 better fucking be happening!

 

[Admiral_Young]

Favearu said he didn't think "Iron Man 3" would happen until after "The Avengers" so sometime in 2013. We most likely won't hear any significant news on the third film for at least a year or so.

 

[Dream]

I finally picked up the DVD/Blu-Ray combo. Best Buy had a great deal on it this week at $20.

Rewatching it, I still think it dragged a little in the middle. But I really love the racetrack fight and seeing Iron Man team up with War Machine at the end is still pretty cool. RDJ was perfectly cast as Tony Stark and the main reason most of the fans like these movies.

Hopefully the next one is much better. Now that we are done with introducing the Avengers, we can get back to the main character.