Review: Tony Stark's Wacky Week AKA Iron Man 2

The Good

The Bad

The Verdict

I'm hovering between 4-4.5/5

Thats true about the AC/DC soundtrack, I was waiting for War Machine to come out and play. I didn't know you could count trailer music on the track listings now.

I felt like Sam Rockwell almost stole the show when he was on the screen, and was right up there with RDJ for acting.

I love you........r review man. 

I disagree about Black Widow, her character, although not vital, it was a good tie to the rest of the Marvel U...
Without her, Tony wouldn't have gotten his friend back...
 
For the exception of that I totally agree with your review... it dragged on a little but even so I gave the movie a 4/5

I know, right after I left my girlfriend and I wanted to go back in and watch it again. I'm definitely going again this week to go see it.

i love this movie.

" Thats true about the AC/DC soundtrack, I was waiting for War Machine to come out and play. I didn't know you could count trailer music on the track listings now. "

The only thing i disagree with you about (Aside from Gwen being one of your fav actresses Shame on you!). Is the Black Widow scenes, yeah she was a drag in some of the scenes, but it introduced Non-Comic readers to a New Character. When i went to see it, everyone was like who is she, and i could explain to them who she was, and then they became interested...i think. LOVE THE REVIEW!

I didn't like how Rhody was, so quickly able to pilot the suit.

"(Aside from Gwen being one of your fav actresses Shame on you!)

"Gweneth Paltrow, who is not my favorite actress by any means, does an amazing job once again as Pepper Potts.during action films. "

THANK YOU!!!
 for some reason, no one seems to realize that Scarlet is JUST a pretty face. Shes only good for roles as a pretty red head. But super secret Russian agent is a little tooo deep for her.

I didn't see Stan lee lol, at first i thought he was Larry King hahah.

Completely agree with this review and the whole black widow wasn't really needed, but would like to see a back widow movie XD.

LOL a Black Widow Movie, with Scarlett, is a fail. The accent is a must!
 
I tried to tell a few of my friends that, they didn't care they just liked watching her. lol smh

Me and my dad high five a couple of times, mostly for the cameo's (like Nick Fury, my dad clapped ever time he got on screen xD) and ester eggs. 

" I disagree about Black Widow, her character, although not vital, it was a good tie to the rest of the Marvel U... Without her, Tony wouldn't have gotten his friend back...  For the exception of that I totally agree with your review... it dragged on a little but even so I gave the movie a 4/5 "

" I just don't get this. What the hell? Every single one of you on this site liked this remarkably average film THAT much? ...*sigh* "

Solid film

I think the reason the large cast worked was that Tony had natural interactions with people, everyone interacted realistically in the movie.  In real life people interact with other people a lot, Tony would naturally interact with Pepper, reporters, Rhodes, even people like Hammer.  Hammer's interactions with people like Whiplash and Tony, and Rhodes, all of that was realistically done.
It felt like a cross section of what Tony Stark's life has become.

So I heard some grumbling from my fellow movie goers after my showing. Mostly about how they wished it was more story and less about Tony's life. I don't know what movie they were watching but the story was definitely there. Tony's life was the story. The romantic tension between him and Pepper. The brotherly loyalty between Tony and Rhodey. The rivalry that Hammer had for Stark. Even the not so well explained hatred Whiplash had for Stark. It all made sense and it was all there. The SHIELD scenes were a little off but they had a surreality to them. From a fan of the characters this was an awesome movie.  
This was Marvel's DARK KNIGHT. Don't believe me? Watch DARK KNIGHT for what it was and IRON MAN 2 for what it is. Sequels to origin stories that expanded on the established characters while introducing new ones. IRON MAN 2 just spent more time on Tony Stark because in IRON MAN everyone knows his secret identity. When Tony is onscreen so is Iron Man. And vice versa. This movie is highly recommended by me.   

"Scarlet Johansson is downright worthless in this film."
 
Well, I was liking the review up until that sentence. The qualifier "in this film" helps some, but I would pay to see her do anything, or nothing at all, in just about any film. I will not "go to the mat" in defense of many actresses, but Scarlett is no mere actress. She is so much more than "just a pretty face" as others have described her. That is but ONE of her amazing assets! ;)
(Hey, I've got a thing for Scarlett; I apologize to no one!)
 
At any rate, I saw this earlier today and thought it was great. I liked it a little more than the first one, Ms. Johannson being but one of the reasons.

Did anyone notice the comment made by Justin Hammer at the Senate hearing that went something like "Tony Stark is using the Iron Man weapon as a SWORD, but he insists he's using it as a SHIELD."  I personally think it's a nod at those 2 respective agencies.  Just a thought...

" where's the negative staff member who hates everything when you need him! "

" @Sha: Suppose so, well it is what it is I guess. But I can't say I'll ever get what anyone is seeing in this film, particularly when compared to the original. I wouldn't say it's bad, but 4.5...from like everyone on this site...I'm not seeing how this is even remotely that good or a worthy sequel. "

Amen!   
 
I give this movie a 4.25 as well... eh, okay I'll make it 4.50.
 
Some people are really silly trying to compare Iron Man to the Dark Knight; it's like comparing The Invincibles to Corpse Bride - they're just different in their own way. 
 
I saw it with 4 friends the night before the premier here because I have a friend who worked in the movies.  And we were bustin' up laughing like crazy! 
 
The FUNNIEST scene in the whole movie was... 
 

" @aztek the lost said:

" where's the negative staff member who hates everything when you need him! "

That's usually me, but this film was so much fun.
 
@MysterioMaximus said:

" @Sha: Suppose so, well it is what it is I guess. But I can't say I'll ever get what anyone is seeing in this film, particularly when compared to the original. I wouldn't say it's bad, but 4.5...from like everyone on this site...I'm not seeing how this is even remotely that good or a worthy sequel. "

What's bad about it? It was a summer blockbuster, and for me, it did what it was supposed to, entertain the heck out of me. "

Here's what I wrote (in depth) over on G-Man's review:

 
I'm sure I'll be flamed more than Human Torch, but I don't care. My two cents:

I was kind of disappointed in Iron Man 2. I didn’t think it was bad, the action was outstanding...but I just didn’t feel the heart of the original. It felt very mindless and superficial, whereas to me the first had a lot of underlying ethical themes. It wasn't about the fight scenes; it was about why he was fighting. It delved into the psychology and moral dilemmas of being a weapons manufacturer, that crisis of conscience. This time around I felt more like it was a spectacle just to be a superficially cheap eye-candy event. It felt far more camp cliché blockbuster-ish and manufactured. But my biggest issue lied in the dialogue. The humor in this lacked much of the wit seen in the former; instead it's replaced with kid-friendly goofball comedy and horrible one-liners. I wouldn't say the original is devoid of that, but the seriousness of the predecessor just isn't present here. In fact, in my opinion, it's seriously dumbed down.  

So much of the film felt like a filler issue in a comic book. While Whiplash was probably my favorite new role, he himself never felt especially threatening and was ultimately dispatched pretty quickly. Where were the police at the race? One bullet to Ivan's very exposed head and that's game over. Roll credits! That was a huge plot hole in my opinion. You mean to tell me that a guy with limited reach, little mobility, and a completely exposed body could take being repeatedly hit by a car and not instantly taken out by a single Iron Man blast...really? I know this is a comic book, subtitled suspension of belief, but I find an Iron Man suit that comes out of a freaking suitcase more realistic than that! I couldn’t buy that at all…suspension of belief became eye-roll. In fact, I just couldn't buy Whiplash being a physical threat to Tony whatsoever. And is there really any denying he was a bizarre choice for a film?
 
 It almost feels like an overindulgent Iron Man story, made less for the title character and more just as a glorified setup for the Avengers. It doesn’t feel required viewing to me in any way. It's like that issue in a comic that has the failed nothing-but-gimmick one-timer villain that no one remembers later on down the road. You know, the ones that become nothing but an obscure trivia question used to impress friends or that satire joke character that only you and your pals ever talk about aloud. "Remember the Rocket Racer? What about the Kangaroo?" I feel they basically decided to take something like that and run with it. I just keep thinking "This over Mandarin?" If this was a comic book, I'm convinced people would deem it forgettable, but because it's a big budget motion picture, it'll get praise from some. Seeing what Favreau can do, I can’t help but feel he somewhat lowered himself to Hollywood Michael Bay levels. The first film felt so tailor made for the comic audience in particular, I think part of that being its critical success, but this felt very..."Lets aim it at children," especially when it came to the extremely overused brand of juvenile comedy and the shameless marketing plug kid in the toy Iron Man helmet - now available at Wal-Mart for only $35.99! ...I gagged a little, cute though he was. I thought this franchise would be above putting a real-world product placement tactic in the film itself. That entire scene was just a multimillion dollar brainwash commercial.
 
The film isn’t bad enough to say I feel betrayed, it’s rather good at accomplishing certain things, but I’d certainly say it’s disappointing enough to say claims of it failing to be a worthy sequel are fair. But hey...that's me and it seems I'm kind of in the minority! I honestly don't hate the film, but I've just got more beefs with it than a butcher. Maybe the original set my bar way too high, I'm in freaking love with it, but I just found this very shallow and campy, especially when compared to said original. Over all, I'd give it a solid 3. I would never say it's bloody awful, but it's not ...well...much of anything in my opinion. Just another shallow blockbuster.  

Minor comic book nerd gripes: I really wanted Black Widow to have a Russian accent. I’d much rather have classic Nick Fury over Ultimate. I really wish Whiplash’s final suit (which is destroyed so anticlimactically) was crimson in tribute to his other amalgam inspiration. Nothing that really hurt the film for me, the comedy did enough of that, but in an ideal world...    

For giving me and my buddies one helluva good time, I give this 4.5 / 5 too.

Can't wait to see this movie! 
Sounds like this is what Batman Forever was aiming for and missed!  
(Jim Carrey as a Justin Hammer-like Edward Nigma obsessed with being Bruce Wayne; Tommy Lee Jones completely wasted as a Ceasar Romero version of Two-Face; and, Nicole Kidman just completely wasted.) 
I thought AC/DC was tying their Greatest Hits album in with Iron Man...

"
I'm one of those fans that don't analyze the movie line by line trying to find every single meaning, trying to compare it to the comic books, asking why Black Widow has no accent, why Justin Hammer is Dana Carvey, why Jarvis is not a butler, and then spend half the day writing why.  
 
That life is boring.  "

I do just that and my life is anything but boring. Word of advice: Speak for yourself. Vast sweeping assumptions tend to make one look...uneducated. I think it's boring to not analyze because, to me, not analyzing essentually translated to not thinking, meaning a waste of time. I can't see putting thought into viewing a film as any sort of negative.

 hi my self saw this movie last week end and yes it was more people who have claim the movie was bit too wayward from the start and then adjust into position where it begins to make lot of activities to bring the   Iron man into certain desire of reach i did agrees with making a diffract short of culture around him and it was awesome.

I was disappointed with the Black Widow. Natalie? Come on! I can appreciate switching character ethnicities to be clever, but nationalities? Other than that, it was fun. Gwyneth Paltrow was annoying.

AC/DC missing was the biggest mistake of the film... Great rock music will be perfect for Iron-Man, especially for fighting scenes. And also fighting scenes was quite short.

" I was disappointed with the Black Widow. Natalie? Come on! I can appreciate switching character ethnicities to be clever, but nationalities? Other than that, it was fun. Gwyneth Paltrow was annoying. "

i just watched it last night i give it a 5/5 it was realy GOOD to me

the breakdown around the time with tony buying strawberries and watching his father in that video could've been cut in half and the ending fight scene could've been stretched by like 5 minutes, that would've been better.
The movie had all the right elements for an amazing movie but since they weren't executed that well, it came off only as a great movie.

"@Jim Halpert said:

"
I'm one of those fans that don't analyze the movie line by line trying to find every single meaning, trying to compare it to the comic books, asking why Black Widow has no accent, why Justin Hammer is Dana Carvey, why Jarvis is not a butler, and then spend half the day writing why.  
 
That life is boring.  "

I do just that and my life is anything but boring. Word of advice: Speak for yourself. Vast sweeping assumptions tend to make one look...uneducated. I think it's boring to not analyze because, to me, not analyzing essentually translated to not thinking, meaning a waste of time. I can't see putting thought into viewing a film as any sort of negative.

"

Stan Lee=Larry King?

personally i don't see why everyone is freaking out about Scarlett johansson's lack of russian accent. i really don't see how it's that big of a deal. you can pick it apart all you like but in my not-so-humble opinion the movie did a great job incorporating all of the characters into the plot in a significant way. Would i have liked another person as Natasha? sure. Am i at all upset or dissapointed in SJ's performance or portrayal? no, not at all. why can't people just accept little changes like that without all the fuss.

" @Fire-brand: I personally could car else about an accent as well as the actor can pull off the character well, which I believe Scarlett did; however, I'm not happy with how the writer's wrote her. It felt forced. "

" @Fire-brand: I personally could car else about an accent as well as the actor can pull off the character well, which I believe Scarlett did; however, I'm not happy with how the writer's wrote her. It felt forced. "