Iron Man 2 Review

Hey, look who's back!

Seeing Iron Man’s likeness on the window of the Burger King on Main Street reminds me that it’s that wonderful time of year once again.

When you’re looking for big budget effects and flashy action scenes, there’s nothing like the summer movie season. You could say it already came more than a few weeks ago with the opening of Kick Ass, but having not seen that film yet I’d say the cream of the blockbuster crop so far is the more recently released Iron Man 2, directed by Jon Favreau and written by Justin Theroux. Oh, before I forget, there are spoilers ahead, so be careful.

This movie starts off well after the events of the first Iron Man movie, as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), thanks to the deeds he’s performed as Iron Man and the decisions he’s made with Stark Industries has, in his own words, successfully privatized world peace. It’s implied that he has somewhat of a good relationship going with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), his company’s profits seem to be in the black, and life just can’t get any better, right? Wrong. It turns out the suit he uses to save lives around the country and the globe is killing him, as the arc reactor in his chest that keeps shards of shrapnel from entering his heart is giving him an unhealthy dose of palladium, resulting in the very visible effects of palladium poisoning. On top of that, the supremely bitter Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), the son of one of his father’s business partners and collaborators, has developed his own version of the arc reactor technology, complete with laser whips, and is out for revenge against Stark for supposedly ruining his life. Things get more complicated when his first fight with Stark catches the eye of both the government, which wants Stark to hand his technology over to the military for further development, and of the CEO of Hammer Industries Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a competitor who wishes to work with Vanko to develop his own variation of Stark’s multi-billion dollar tech as well. Hopefully, with the help of friends and allies such as Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson), and Col. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), Stark can set everything straight.

A lot of the secondary stars of this film ended up surprising me more than anybody else. I initially thought Cheadle was going to be quite jarring as the new Rhodey, but I thought he did just as good a job as Terrence Howard did in the first film. Scar Jo also gave a pretty good performance as Widow. Of course, RDJ and Paltrow shine with the best performances out of all of them, with their characters portraying the proper mood along with events as they unfold in the story. Paltrow’s performance was especially strong; from the shock and gratefulness she feels when Stark makes her the new CEO, to the stress she is going through later in the film when having to deal with the responsibilities of running the company and dealing with Stark’s secrecy and erratic behavior. The weakest performances in the film definitely have to be Jackson’s Fury and Rourke’s Vanko. Fury in this movie cam off as sort of cheesy and heavily rehearsed, which for a lot of Jackson’s roles these days seems to be par for the course. This is unfortunate, because I like Jackson as an actor, but while I realize the character was practically modeled just for him, I still thought he laid it on a little too thick. Vanko seems to have the opposite problem; a lot of his role seems a bit phoned in. Beyond the two qualities we saw, being a super smart engineer and being all vengeful, he didn’t really seem to have much of a personality to speak of, and while that might not entirely be Rourke’s fault, his acting definitely makes it look that way. Also, while we got to see more of him than we did of Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger in the first film, he still kind of suffers from lack of exposure, especially since during the middle of the film he is mostly waiting and plotting rather than actually doing anything.

Scar Jo here, along with Rockwell, RDJ and Paltrow, all give pretty good performances.

Speaking of the middle, the pacing of this movie really seems to slow down when we get to the deeper parts, most of them involving either Stark feeling futile about his life as the palladium poisoning causes it to slip away, or Vanko brooding and plotting his revenge. I realize that scenes like that might need a little more time, but I just thought they didn’t mesh all that well with the much faster action beats that we saw shortly after the beginning and near the end. Those action scenes were of course great, with some solid fight choreography and some really good dialogue from the characters that kept them entertaining. My favorite ones had to be the one where Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and Black Widow break into Hammer Industries, and the final fight with Vanko, Iron Man and Rhodey. In both scenes, the heroes play off of each other really well, and come up with really creative moves and strategies to take down the thugs they’re up against.

Admittedly, while the action meshes well with the story and the story seems to be good enough, at least for a comic book movie like this, some elements of the plot seem a bit weird. For example, I know that Stark is a super genius and all, but creating a brand new element? Along with having his father map it out for him while he was still a kid, and the fact that it’s just what he needs to cure his poisoning? I could Google a bunch of arguments as to why this is very implausible, but then I remember that science in comic books isn’t usually on par with the real world, and promptly calm down. I am still a little irritated that it turned out to be such a MacGuffin. I also have to say that while I admire Marvel’s recent attempt at making their superhero films consistent by giving them their own continuity, I’m not sure I appreciated all these references to films that aren’t even out yet. I think this is something I’ll just have to get used to as other films come out, but it’s just kind of annoying that it’s so constant in this movie, especially in the third part and the teaser after the credits.

In short, Iron Man 2 has its own issues with plot elements and weak performances, but it surprised me in how much it got out of some characters as well as the story. I don’t know if it or Kick Ass is the superior super hero movie so far (once again, I didn’t get to see Kick Ass), but it’s certainly a pretty good movie on its own. I can’t wait to see what else this summer will have to offer.

Images courtesy of Eclectic Electronics, Coming Soon.net and trademark Marvel Comics/Paramount Pictures/Disney.

You must be this tall to ride the BRAAAAAAINS

From left to right: Columbus, Wichita, Little Rock, and Tallahassee. All images courtesy of Ain't It Cool News and Sony/Columbia Pictures.

Some would argue that the appeal of zombies at the movies is dying down these days (no pun intended).

Since about 2002, there has been a bit of a zombie craze that took a hold of Hollywood for a while, which was mostly sparked by movies such as the brilliantly funny Shaun of the Dead and the well directed 28 Days Later. Since then, zombie movies have been flooding the box office with gory, gruesome spectacles for the past few years. Unfortunately, most of these films aren’t exactly held to the same standard as Shaun or 28 Days Later. George Romero started making movies again, but they turned out to be very lackluster compared to the original Dead movies. Everything else, including terrible Resident Evil sequels and even a movie about zombie nazis, has been largely forgettable.

While Zombieland has some flaws here and there, it is by no means as forgettable as any of those other newer zombie films. What started out as screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhet Reese’s idea for a TV series eventually transmogrified into, with the help of director Ruben Fleischer, a somewhat disturbing but fun night at the movies.

The story concerns, and is narrated by, a young, geeky, pantophobic shut in we only know as Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg). He is able to survive the zombocalypse thanks to a personal list of rules he cooked up as he gained more experience dealing with the undead through his travels across the country. His odds of staying alive increase, and to an extent decrease a little bit when he meets a pop-culture junkie and gun-toting good ol’ boy named Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) on a wrecked stretch of highway. The two join together in a temporary partnership. Columbus interested in finding his parents in Columbus, Ohio, and Tallahassee is searching for a delicious, spongy golden Twinkie to snack on, which is arguably his way of dealing with the loss of a very special someone in his life. Things get kind of complicated when the pair run into a couple of teenage grifters, the sweet but strong Wichita (Emma Stone) and her little sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin). As the film shows us their adventures slaying zombies and just generally doing whatever they want, Jesse learns that it takes more than a set of rules to stay sane and happy in Zombieland, and all the characters slowly learn that living is just as important as surviving.

In this scene, Columbus uses his speed and smarts in an attempt to not become dinner for a couple of hungry zombies.

It is made clear really early on that this is a comedy first and a zombie film second, but these zombies are genuinely shocking and scary. They’re the fast types made popular by the 2004 Dawn remake and 28 Days Later, and what they lack in built-up suspense they make up for in gore and the element of surprise. The latter also helps a lot with the comedy too, as evidenced by most of the opening scenes showing numerous encounters with them.

Speaking of that, there are some great shots in this film. The poetic brutality of the opening title sequence almost rivals Watchmen’s in how great it is to see it roll out. It also helps set the mood for the movie, which seems to get more light-hearted as the film goes on. The way the rules are used visually throughout the movie is a nice, funny little touch, and I wish we saw a little more come out of the concept for “Zombie Kill of the Week.”

The film had a very huge “road trip” vibe to it, and that played in to getting to know the characters. Tallahassee, Columbus, Little Rock and Wichita are all flawed individuals, but judging from what is seen of their personalities they all seem to fit together well as a group that seems like fun to hang out with. The way that they spoke to and interacted with each other actually seemed very believable, even with how over the top the movie is. I’ll admit that the romance between Wichita and Columbus seemed a little extraneous, but it sort of added a little extra emotional punch to the end. Of course, the funniest scenes usually involve Tallahassee and Columbus and their clashing personalities.

One wants love, the other wants a Twinkie. Whether or not they get what they want, they kick ass in any scene they're both in.

While I realize that some of Tallahassee’s better lines come from a few other movies, in a way that kind of makes them funnier. Some of the jokes in this film are a bit oriented toward people who have a light knowledge of movies. This especially comes into play when they run into the huge cameo once they get to Beverly Hills (if you don’t want it spoiled for you, I would suggest not reading my last post concerning this movie). There isn’t much I can say about it without spoiling it, but I will say this: as somebody who grew up with and still loves Ghostbusters, that cameo was definitely a crown jewel among the funnier scenes in the movie. It helps that it was written very well into the script too.

As entertaining as this movie is, though, I felt kind of put off a little by the quick pacing. As Eisenberg narrates the events of the film, it almost feels like he is rushing things along. He tends to gloss over a lot of details when he talks about Tallahassee’s former life before the zombie apocalypse, and he doesn’t say too much about Wichita or Little Rock either. These seemed like really great and fun characters, and even if it increased the film’s runtime it would have been nice to get to know them a little better. Apparently, according to the internet movie database, there are also a sizable chunk of continuity errors too, making the overall production of the film seem a little less streamlined than I originally pictured.

Despite that, this film definitely works as a horror and comedy film. The splatters of blood and guts and consistent laugh-out-loud moments fit together like peanut butter and chocolate, all thanks to a well written script and great performances from the cast all around. If it ends up having a sequel, then I can’t wait to see it, because the movie definitely left me wanting some more of these characters.

On a side note, this movie came out at the perfect time too. The mixture of zombie gore and comedy this movie provides is great for getting into the mood for Halloween. Hell, I was munching on a huge Snickers bar as I typed this review.