Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 - Dir. Jon Favreau (2010)


”If you make God bleed, people will cease to believe in him. There will be blood in the water and the sharks will come. All I have to do is sit here and watch as the world consumes you.”

Iron Man was never Marvel’s premiere superhero on the comic book page, but on the big screen he’s their centerpiece. 2008’s Iron Man was a rousing success and set the foundation for creating a singular cinematic universe where Marvel’s heroes exist side-by-side. As with the majority of sequels, Iron Man 2 ups the ante with more action, more FX, and more characters as Marvel Studios marches ever closer to the magnum opus of The Avengers.

Set a mere six months after the original film, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is riding high on a wave of newfound fame as Iron Man. He’s more than eager to feed our ultra-modern society’s hunger for celebrity. He stages the Stark Expo, an elaborate science fair, appearing in front of thousands of adoring fans and backed up by a bevy of gorgeous Ironette dancers. But, underneath that flippant, care-free demeanor, all is not well in the House of Stark.

The power core within Tony Stark’s chest is keeping his heart pumping, but is also poisoning his blood, the toxicity levels increasing with each usage of the Iron Man armor. A government subcommittee headed up by the officious Sen. Stern (Garry Shandling) demand that Stark turn over the Iron Man technology to them. Meanwhile, in Russia, a downtrodden physicist named Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) builds his own miniaturized reactor feeding energy into a pair of tendrils. Turns out, Vanko’s father Anton helped Tony’s father, Howard (John Slattery), build the original Arc reactor before being deported back to Russia to live and die in abject poverty.

Vanko fails to kill Stark on a Monaco racetrack, but manages to attract the attention of rival industrialist Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). Hammer desperately wants to be Tony Stark, except he lacks the smarts. So he hires Vanko to build him an army of armored warriors and make Iron Man “look like an antique.” Taking hits on all sides, Tony shirks responsibility, handing the company over to Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and finding solace at the bottom of a bottle. After Tony shows up drunk in full armor at his birthday party, his best friend Rhodey (Don Cheadle) steals the Mark II suit and turns it over to the military. Fanboys will giggle with glee as it’s pimped out with an arsenal of weapons into War Machine.

Bolstering this cavalcade of characters is Scarlett Johansson as Tony’s new personal assistant who is actually an undercover SHIELD agent. Fans will know her as the Black Widow. Scarlett busts out an array of MMA and Lucha Libre maneuvers while almost busting out of her skin-tight leather leotards. Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury (who first appeared in a post-credits scene in the preceding film) gets a meatier role as does director Jon Favreau as Tony’s driver/bodyguard Happy Hogan.

Clark Gregg returns as SHIELD Agent Coulson as do Leslie Bibb as reporter Christine Everhart and Paul Bettany as the voice of Tony’s artificial intelligence, JARVIS. Kate Mara makes a one scene appearance as a federal marshal and not as Bethany Cabe as previously rumored. Plus, there’s the obligatory cameo by Stan Lee (one of the best yet).

An ensemble of A-list actors were gathered together for the Iron Man and Iron Man 2 is no different. Mickey Rourke already looks like a comic book character so casting him as Ivan Vanko (a combination of supervillains Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo) was a no-brainer. A tried and true method actor, Rourke researched his role by visiting a Russian gulag and speaking with gangsters and criminals. As Vanko, he’s covered in tattoos and sports a shit-eating grin full of gold teeth. He just may be the most bad-ass physicist to walk the planet. Yes, even more than Stephen Hawking.

Sam Rockwell, who was once in the running to play Tony Stark, is another welcome addition. A master of the art of the smarmy, Rockwell absolutely excels as the underhanded Hammer. He’s one of the few actors who can go tit-for-tat with both Downey and Rourke. Also thrown into the mix is Don Cheadle, replacing Terrence Howard amidst rumors of dissention on the set and an escalating salary. Cheadle fits seamlessly into the cast, confronting Tony at the senate hearing with the meta-textual line, ”I’m here now. Deal with it and move on.”

The excellent performances are not just due to a talented cast, but also to a talented director. As a writer/director/actor, Favreau cut his teeth on the independent film Swingers, which he starred in and wrote. Owning to those indie roots, he knows the importance of story and characters above all else. Favreau has also cited Robert Altman as an influence for giving his actors free reign to improvise during filming. The improvisation is never more evident than in the Howard Hawksian interplay between Tony and Pepper. That freedom has allowed Robert Downey Jr. to bring Tony Stark to life as a deep and fully realized character. He’s also kept Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux on their toes with both men having to rewrite the script on the fly throughout production. Theroux is also an actor turned writer. He made a memorable appearance playing a filmmaker in David Lynch’s mindbender Mulholland Drive. He also co-wrote Tropic Thunder which impressed Downey enough to bring him on to the sequel.

The use of such a multitude of actors and characters may be a little worrisome. The downfall of many superhero sequels (Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand) is throwing in too many characters and too many plotlines. Thankfully, Iron Man 2 isn’t muddied up by an unwieldy amount of personalities. Each character and subplot is melded into the central narrative and converges towards the climax and resolution. They do not all get the appropriate screen time they deserve, but it works. Well, for the most part…

If Iron Man 2 has any faults, they lie in the saggy middle section. After a rousing racetrack battle between Iron Man and Vanko, the film pumps on the brakes for the second act. Tony alienates those around him while dealing with his illness and issues with his later father who appears in vintage film reels like a hybrid of Howard Hughes and Walt Disney. Whenever superhero sequels come along, those involve always mention how the second movie will be even better because they’ve gotten the origin story “out of the way.” However, Iron Man deftly weaved the origin story into the picture thus making the hero’s journey of Tony Stark making it every bit as important as the action scenes. With the origin out of the way, it seems the filmmakers were unclear as to where to go with Tony Stark. The second act of the sequel treads familiar territory as Tony works in his lab while his enemies scheme behind his back. It unfolds a little too much like the original film.

Favreau may not have the greatest command over action, but what he does here gets the job done. For a big-budget spectacle, Iron Man 2 is surprisingly light on action with only three major set pieces in the film. The opening fight on the racetrack is pulled off well and the final showdown is a wondrous multi-tiered battle with a picture perfect melding of practical and CG effects. The only drawbacks with each sequence are the anti-climactic endings. They build and build then fizzle out at the finish. Iron Man has yet to face a foe that is on equal footing. I suppose we have to wait for inevitable debut of arch-nemesis, the Mandarin, in Iron Man 3 to finally find someone who can really menace our hero.

Iron Man is the crown jewel of the Marvel movie oeuvre. Along with The Dark Knight, it made 2008 the pinnacle year for the comic book movie. If it is all downhill from there, Iron Man 2 makes sure it isn’t a steep drop, but a slight stumble. By the lofty standards of the original film, the sequel doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor. Iron Man 2 feels more like a stepping stone to further the Marvel’s movie universe (which I’ll spoil below) rather than a film to stand on its own. However, it’s still damned good entertainment. Damn, damn good entertainment.

Rating; *** ½

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Want to find out what all that talk about New Mexico meant? Stick around until after the credits for a glimpse of Mjolnir, the mighty hammer of Thor.

There are more Easter Eggs to be found in Iron Man 2. The most obvious is the appearance of an incomplete version of Captain America’s shield which could be glimpsed very briefly in the first film.

Look closely at the news report Tony Stark is watching in the SHIELD briefing room. It’s the same report from The Incredible Hulk following his clash with the army on the college campus. Even better, re-watch Hulk and you’ll notice the reporter mentions something about thunderstorms. Hmm…

Law Abiding Citizen

Law Abiding Citizen - Dir. F. Gary Gray (2009)


I can see the pitch meeting right now, Death Wish meets Saw. Law Abiding Citizen comes to us from director F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job, Be Cool) and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer, a true master of subtlety. Wimmer wrote and directed the guilty pleasure actioner Equilibrium and the gawdy video game-esque Ultraviolet. Citizen laughably attempts to pass itself off as insightful, sociopolitical commentary on our faulty legal system when it’s really just a dumb action movie.

Gerard Butler stars as Clyde Shelton, a nerdy inventor. Well, at least as nerdy as King Leonidas can be. Shelton happy suburban life is shattered when two men break into his home and forced to watch as his wife and daughter are murdered. The men are arrested, but one, Darby (Christian Stolte), the fellow who did the actual killings cuts a deal with an opportunistic prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx). He gets a light sentence while his partner receives the death penalty.

Shelton disappears for ten years and returns with a vengeance. He tampers with the lethal injection machine causing the execution to be excruciatingly agonizing. He abducts Darby and cuts him up into pieces. Later, Shelton brags about slicing Darby’s penis off with a boxcutter. Yep.

Despite being placed behind bars, anyone remotely connected to his case are dropping like flies. The defense attorney, the judge, the district attorney, I think Shelton kills a few hapless interns as well. Turns out, he used to work for the CIA assassinating targets with intricately designed deathtraps and devices.

Unable to live up its intriguing premise, Law Abiding Citizen crumbles in the final act. The film grows more and more implausible. Like so many others, the filmmakers run out of ideas and choose to descend into a mess of explosions. Butler is his usual gruff manliness while Viola Davis (who wowed audiences in Doubt) brings more gravitas than this movie deserves in her tiny role as the Mayor.

Rating: **

Iron Man

Iron Man - Dir. Jon Favreau (2008)


Iron Man is the first film produced under the Marvel Studios banner, allowing the comic book company to churn their live-action adaptations in house while giving them tighter creative control. If this spectacularly fun effort is any indication, Marvel made the right decision. The last few Marvel films were the hugely disappointing Spider-Man 3, the mess that was X-Men: The Last Stand, and the, to be blunt, completely retarded Ghost Rider and Fantastic Four (both of them). But, finally, finally, finally, Marvel zombies have a film they don’t have to be ashamed about.

It’s been a long, hard road to the big screen for Tony Stark. Noted comic book fan Nicolas Cage and noted kook Tom Cruise were both in serious running to play the character. Neither choice panned out nor did Nick Cassavetes who was attached to direct from a script by Smallville creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. This was definitely a fine example of, “Everything happens for a reason.” Jon Favreau hopped on board as director and fought for Robert Downey Jr. as his star, despite both men’s lack of experience in big-budget blockbusters. Shock of all shocks, Favreau made the decision to put characters and story first while remaining faithful to the original source material. I know, crazy idea, don’t know if it’ll catch on. The only real deviations from the comic are the updated locale change of Iron Man's origins from Vietnam to Afghanistan and the change of Stark's butler, Jarvis, into an advanced AI system voiced by an uncredited Paul Bettany.

In the most surprising move, Favreau cited Robert Altman as an influence in his process of filmmaking. Who would have thought I'd be saying Robert Altman and superhero movie in the same sentence? Five different screenwriters may have had a hand in the script, but much of the dialogue comes from improvisation from the A-list cast. Owing much to Favreau's experience on Swingers and Made. They don't treat the origin story as something that's forced upon. That they have to tell it before the real action starts. It isn't the overly long, slightly clunky preamble from Batman Begins.

Downey absolutely inhabits the character. He IS Tony Stark. Downey definitely taps into his past as a good-time boy to perform as the hard partying billionaire. His genius industrialist is more Richard Branson than Bill Gates. Unlike other superheroes, Tony Stark never wallows in a sea of forced angst. There's just the right mix of drama, conflict, and humor. Dude has a stripper pole built into his private plane, for Odin's sake. And whoever thought Tony should listen to Suicidal Tendencies? Kudos to you, sir. They've also done a splendid job in setting up Tony's eventual fall from grace as everybody involved have all but confirmed that the inevitable sequel would be based on the "Demon in the Bottle" storyline.

Some purists might complain that Tony Stark was never this much of a smart aleck, but Tony Stark was never this interesting. Downey is just on and everybody else in the film is attempting to play catch up. I'm not that big a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow, but she's the liviest and hottest she's ever been with her Howard Hawks-esque interplay with Downey. Terrence Howard didn't have much to do, so we'll have to wait for the sequel for him to get a meatier role.

Jeff Bridges is just fuckin' on as Obadiah Stane. Who better to be a thorn in the Golden Avenger's side than an evil Big Lebowski? It's a credit to him and Downey when they can make a minor bit involving a pizza box one of the film's more enjoyable scenes. I kept waiting for the Iron Monger to run screaming into the night, "He peed on my rug!"

Favreau isn't quite the most stylish in the visual department. The final battle between the iron warriors was slightly disappointing. Still, the CGI is great (with only one or two iffy shots) and the practical armors designed by Stan Winston are incredible. Adding frosting tot the cake, the filmmakers throw a few bones for the fanboys such as the foreshadowing of Rhodey becoming War Machine ("Next time, baby"), the introduction of S.H.I.E.L.D., a Mandarin reference (The Ten Rings), Stan Lee's best cameo ever, and the theme from the 1960's Iron Man cartoon as Rhodey's ringtone. Hell, even the ending credits are awesome.

If I have any tiny nits to pick, it is the rather generic score, which was passable if not unremarkable. Also, as great as Jeff Bridges was, I thought the villain was a bit weak. That may be a problem for the sequels as Iron Man has a decent rogues gallery, but none of them are particularly cinematic, save for archnemesis, The Mandarin.

I was expecting Iron Man to be a great flick, but I had no idea it would whoop this much ass and be one of the best comic films ever. Taken on the surface, Iron Man is pure, undiluted, unadulterated, popcorn entertainment. The script may not be the most innovative, but it's strong and elevated by great performances across the board. It's the rare action film that wins at both the critical and financial fronts. Lately, a lot of these big-budget spectacles have run 2 1/2-3 hours and most of the time, the films drag and feel arbitrarily stretched out. Iron Man runs just over 2 hours and I wouldn't have minded one bit if they tacked on an extra 15-20 minutes.

Rating: ****