Iron Man 2 trailer description and ET sneak peek

[Harvey]

And a magical red suit that runs of an equally magical mini-reactor that was originally built from scraps and is implanted in the main character's chest is less ridiculous? My brain shut off about the moment when Stark's bulky and super-heavy metal suit somehow reduced the impact of a fall into the desert at the beginning of the first movie.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Eh ... even if it is ridiculous, at least the Iron Man suit looks kinda cool. Whiplash just looks like a WWE character reject.

 

[Kegg]

Eh ... even if it is ridiculous, at least the Iron Man suit looks kinda cool. Whiplash just looks like a WWE character reject.

Bingo.

It's not the science, it's the stupidity, and that wrestler-look is, for me at least, crossing a line. I'm willing to accept just about anything goes in a superhero movie, but usually you ignore the laws of physics and casuality to do something cool, not... ugh.

Iron Man needs better villains, clearly. Why not armies of robosuits? Why not bigger robosuits? There are many, many cool-looking uses for robosuits. This isn't one of them.

 

[Harvey]

Eh ... even if it is ridiculous, at least the Iron Man suit looks kinda cool. Whiplash just looks like a WWE character reject.

Well, it is Mickey Rourke. The man looks like a WWE character reject in real life, too.

I suppose my tolerance of stupidity in a movie like this is greater than yours or Kegg's. Of course, it helps that Robert Downey Jr. is in it. Critics couldn't even give him bad marks while panning Sherlock Holmes!

 

[Kegg]

Well, I will give them that much: If you're going to have a Wrestler-themed superhero, get The Wrestler to do it.

 

[T'Baio]

Iron Man needs better villains, clearly. Why not armies of robosuits?

Again, did you watch the trailer? Iron Man is being chased through the sky by about a dozen "robosuits," all firing at him, and he and War Machine are seen fighting a dozen more "robosuits."

 

[Harvey]

So...why include Whiplash then? Not to mention the half-dozen other villains who seem to be in this movie (Sam Rockwell is barely even in the trailer). It all seems like overload well past the excess of, say, Batman and Robin.

 

[CaptainCanada]

So...why include Whiplash then?

Presumably because they have a role for him.

There are two 'name' villains in evidence here: Whiplash and Justin Hammer; plus Black Widow, who I'm assuming will end up helping Tony win the day. Plus a swarm of robots for them to fight.

 

[Kegg]

Again, did you watch the trailer?

Yeah. Once. In the theatres.

I got that there was the Wrestlemania-type villain, Don Cheadle's robosuit, and Iron Man. My memory is honestly fuzzy about the rest of it. Robert Downey Jr. says 'I'll complete you', stuff blows up, something something. They must haven't made much of an impression to me, I guess, but then, ask me about any of the other trailers I saw before Avatar (Ooo! Ooo! Nine was... um... it didn't look good. And there was this absolutely terrible Steve Carrell/Tina Fey comedy whose badness was actually leaking off the screen and into the audience, sorta creepy. Toy Story 3 was cute. I don't remember the rest.)

 

[Harvey]

I'm ignorant of the character's nature in the comics, so pardon my assumption that Black Widow would be a villain throughout. Given the casting of Scarlett Johansson, though, whatever her role ends up being I doubt it will be minor.

I'd also include Gary Shandling's Senator Stern as an antagonist, though more against Tony Stark than against Iron Man (judging from the trailer). I assume the Mandarin and the Twelve Rings will again be mentioned, if not have a larger presence in the film. Crimson Dynamo is mentioned as being the villain in the tie-in video game. Is he supposed to be in the movie?

Oh, and the army of power suited soldiers, which I hope doesn't get short ended.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Crimson Dynamo is mentioned as being the villain in the tie-in video game. Is he supposed to be in the movie?

No.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

Not a bad trailer. Beginning in the Senate chamber was good. The end with War Machine was good. The middle with Whiplash and the race car, that seemed to drag on long with endless slow-mos, like they were trying too hard to sell us on Mickey Rourke. Honestly he just looks kind of dopey but I actually like the electric whips. Sure hope he's a smaller-scale villain.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

So, in regards to IM1, you are outright panning a movie you didn't see?

I'm outright panning a movie I saw on TV because I couldn't be bothered to see it on the big screen, actually.

This, coming from a guy that liked Avatar, the cheesiest, crappiest written movie this year with cardboard cut out villains?

 

[Broccoli]

Is it just me, or are people really missing the allusions to the grander story in the trailer? Anyone actually listen to Whiplash's voice over? Even just the shot of Tony with his shirt open, showing the arc reactor in his chest and the horrible veinage drawing away from it. What does that mean? Is it affecting his health? There's lots in the trailer that alludes to a grander story, you just need to see it.

On another note, anyone know if the CGI Iron Man is motion captured by RDJ or is it purely CGI artistry?

Fanboys don't pay attention to subtle, spoken details. If it isn't a bazillion guns and lasers then said movie is declared to be "ho hum".

No, not at all. Why people are let down from the trailer is not because it is full of action. If anything that seems to be the opposite of what people are letdown about. It is that it had no flow or direction. Yeah, it looks cool and I am sure that everyone here that was let down by the trailer will still go and see it. Trailers today are somewhat expected to have a particular format. Teasing the story while integrating neat shots. This one was just a bunch of seemingly random stuff.

 

[Kegg]

So, in regards to IM1, you are outright panning a movie you didn't see?

I'm outright panning a movie I saw on TV because I couldn't be bothered to see it on the big screen, actually.

This, coming from a guy that liked Avatar, the cheesiest, crappiest written movie this year with cardboard cut out villains?

You really think Iron Man had better writing?

Because I sure as hell don't.

I've been tempted to bring it up in the Avatar thread because a lot of people criticizing the lack of originality in Avatar seem to be Iron Man fans, and this movie is pretty painfully by-the-numbers superheroics. This is especially true in the final act, complete with him having to go off and save the girl from the bad guy, which is the climax of what, every superhero movie since at least those Fleischer Superman shorts, I'm sure.

Jeff Bridges's Iron Monger wasn't just a cardboard cut-out... he wasn't interesting. The Dude as a corporate honcho? Oh well, I guess they just figured it'd be awesome to have Jeff in a movie, and he acquits it decently enough, but it's not anything special.

Now Stephen Lang, there's a simplistic villain who is also fun. I like seeing him be evil and also see the guy getting beat up. Even if you prefer Jeff Bridges - fair enough - I can't see anyone realistically argue he's a more complicated villain.

Terence Howard is also sort of weak - written and acted - as Downey's Affable Black Friend. Downey and Paltrow have chemistry, sure, but so too did Worthington and Saldana.

The thing Iron Man has its favour, really, is Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, and that's mostly true just of the beginning part of the film (my favourite bits were all in there, like his "To peace!" speech - that's funny. A whole movie about RDJ as a feckless jetsetting arms salesman glibly walking through the political messes of this world with a martini in one hand and a girl in the other would, perhaps, have been a better movie. At least giving him a conscience doesn't get rid of his humour, but even still...)

Finally, it's just a dull movie to look at compared to Avatar. By which I mean Avatar has more interesting lighting, cinematography and framing - it feels more cinematic than Iron Man does at any one point. And this is ignoring the more obvious SFX disparity - also, Avatar has much better, tauter pacing. Iron Man feels to dawdle a little in the middle - it feels a trifle shiftless after Downey has established his Iron Man persona but before Bridges betrays him, while Avatar manages to never really let up despite almost running for three straight hours.

So, yeah, it's got its good points but overall it's a mediocre film and it's not as good as Avatar.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

The thing is, while Iron Man might not have that original writing, it had a lot more things going. Better, dynamic characters, good use of humor sprinkled throughout and engaging plot.