Reaction & Review | Iron Man 2

Welcome, one and all, to "Tales of the Longbox", here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm taking a look at a movie from 2010. That movie is "Iron Man 2".

Now, there's a bit of a story behind this one. You see, I have seen the first "Iron Man" movie many, many times. Because it still stands as the best movie that Marvel has put out within their Cinematic Universe. Which leads me to my next point. I am not a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And it's not so much the movies themselves that I have an issue with, although there are a few exceptions, but it's more so the Marvel Cinematic Universe fanbase that I have issues with. You see, with each new movie that comes out in that Cinematic Universe, most fans and fanboys will cite that movie as the best Marvel movie to date. They did it with "Guardians of the Galaxy", they did it with "Captain America: Civil War", they did it with "Avengers: Infinity War", and they did it with "Avengers: Endgame". And, mind you, I have only a seen a handful of movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And two of the movies I mentioned, both "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Captain America: Civil War", I have seen both of those. While everyone else was gloating about how those were the best Marvel movies to date, I went ahead and said that both movies, at least to me, were just average. Well, in the case of "Guardians of the Galaxy", that movie was boring as shit. But, I'm not going to dwell on that too much. Point is, I'm not a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because the fans and fanboys make too much of a big deal out of those movies.

So anyway, as I mentioned before, I have seen and loved the first "Iron Man" movie. Around the time that the trailers started coming out for "Iron Man 2", I did want to go see it at one point. But my family and I never ended up going to theaters to go watch it. And as time went on, I ended up completely forgetting about it. In fact, out of the entire "Iron Man" trilogy, this is the one movie that nobody ever talks about anymore. They'll mention the first movie, and they'll mention the third movie, for better or for worse, but I never hear anybody ever mention or talk about the second movie. Which is, probably, a good thing for me, because I'm going into this movie completely blind, and I'm going to see if this movie will finally be worth it, after missing out on it all these years.

Now...I really want to like this movie. But I have to remind myself that I watched "Ant-Man and the Wasp", which was a complete pile of shit. So, I know Marvel can fuck up on sequels. But I'm hoping that "Iron Man 2" won't stray the path of that movie. And the only way I'm gonna find out how good or bad this movie can possibly be, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Iron Man 2".

6 minutes later

Well, guys, I am able to say one thing so far. Whether this movie ends up being good or bad, I can say that the music is already amazing. Why? AC/DC. That's why.

10 minutes later

So Tony's little device was able to let him hack into their screens and use it against them to expose other countries making their own copies of the Iron Man suit. Dude, that is fucking awesome. I would love to have something like that. It would make exposing corruption a whole lot easier, you know?

14 minutes later

Wait, so Tony Stark can just insert himself into a Grand Prix? I get that Tony Stark wants to one-up himself over Justin Hammer, but it seems sorta off to me that Tony can just replace another driver with himself in it just like that, you know?

18 minutes later

You know, guys, I may have found a problem with this movie. And it has to do with the movie's villain Ivan. Ivan is not threatening in anyway, and, so far, he's been a complete pushover. And after getting a look at his background, I'm still not convinced that I should be taking him seriously. I certainly hope that, before the movie is done, he will gain some credibility. But right now, I'm not really feeling it, guys.

7 minutes later

Well, somehow, I'm not surprised to see Tony Stark drunk, while wearing the Iron Man suit. At least I know now where the jokes of his drinking come from. So...I guess that's something.

5 minutes later

You know, guys, a thought just occurred to me. How does Rhodey even know how to operate an Iron Man suit? I understand that he's had Air Force training, but those were with planes. This is just a suit that Tony Stark has had experience with because he's the one who created it. I understand that I might be reading too much into that, but I want to know. How does Rhodey know how to operate the Iron Man suit? I'm kinda curious about that, guys, and I kinda hope this movie tries to attempt to explain that.

18 minutes later

I think I may have found another problem with this movie, guys. This movie is trying to have the same comedic banter as the first movie. The problem with that is the dialogue. The dialogue with these interactions feels rather unnatural, and it's becoming kinda tedious and dull with each time that this movie tries to attempt comedic banter. I kinda hope that these banters will get better, as the movie goes along. But right now, I'm beginning to get a little tired of it, guys.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Iron Man 2". Let me shut the movie off...OK. Where to even to start? Well, I can say that this movie is definitely not as good as I wanted it to be. Now, I want you to note that this is not a bad movie. In fact, I can say that it's far better than the last few movies from Marvel that I have watched. But when you're making a sequel to a movie that was just so good on it's own, you have a lot to live up to. And unfortunately, this movie doesn't do that. So, let's start by talking about the writing.

Now, prior to going into this movie, I went ahead and re-watched the first "Iron Man" movie. And I remember one of the things that I liked about it so much was because of the strong writing. The characters were likable, and while it did have humor, none of it felt like it was unnatural or hokey. And that's where one of my problems comes in is with the dialogue. Now, mind you, when I mention the dialogue, I'm talking about whenever characters such as Tony Stark, Pepper, and Rhodey have to banter off each other. The first two, more so than Rhodey. And since his dialogue is very minimal between banters, I'm going to give him a slight pass. With Tony and Pepper, every time that they're on screen together, I almost have to cringe, because they're clearly trying to replicate the humor in the first movie. But it worked there because, as I said, the interactions they had in the first movie felt natural. They talked as if they were regular human beings. And whatever goofy dialogue that they had didn't feel like it was dragging itself out. This movie, however, has dialogue that really hurts both characters, because it feels like they don't have a connection like they did in the first movie. To a point, where both characters almost become unlikable to each other throughout the movie. One scene I can remember, in particular, is when Tony Stark is in Pepper's office, and he had brought a box of strawberries, even though Pepper doesn't like strawberries. And every time that I heard Tony Stark stumble through his dialogue, I just wanted to take a pickaxe and shove it in the writer's head, because the dialogue was just painful to listen to. And it's not just an issue with Tony and Pepper. There are moments throughout this movie where the characters have to constantly talk over each other, and it just gets tiresome to listen to. And it ends up taking you out of the movie a bit, because these constant moments of the characters talking over each other won't make you care about what they're trying to say.

Now, beyond the dialogue banter being complete shit, the rest of the writing is still OK. Because this movie does continue the story of Tony Stark, now that everyone knows that he's Iron Man. The character development with him, not counting the awful banter, is done really well. Pepper still is mostly the same character, only now she has to take on the responsibilities of CEO of Stark Industries, thanks to being suggested by it by Tony. And then we have Rhodey, a buddy of Tony Stark's, still a part of the Air Force. And he later ends up wearing an Iron Man suit after a dispute between him and Tony. Which I'm still trying to figure out how exactly was Rhodey able to operate an Iron Man suit with relative ease? Now I know Rhodey's a smart guy, and he knows how to fly, as part of the Air Force. But, like I said, this was a suit that was created by Tony Stark. I was gonna suggest that maybe, at one point, Tony showed him how to fly the suit. But that argument got shot down because Tony, even though he's still drunk, was able to see some sense and notice that Rhodey was wearing an Iron Man suit. Which Tony doesn't take too well to. So there is that issue, which I was hoping that the movie would come out and try to explain why Rhodey was able to wear an Iron Man suit. But that doesn't end up happening.

So we have those three returning characters. We also have the introduction of Natasha Romanoff and Nick Fury. And they're there to establish the Avengers quota. So, unless you've never seen any of the Marvel movies going into "The Avengers", then that's what they're here for. And then we have our villain for this movie Ivan. And this is where my biggest issue with the movie's writing comes in. Ivan is just a shitty villain. He isn't threatening in any way, and I was hoping that he would get better as the movie went along. But unfortunately, that doesn't end up happening. And he, ultimately, ends up being a pushover. Because he's easily beaten when he first encounters Tony Stark at a Grand Prix, that Tony himself ends up participating. And then during a "prison break", and I'm gonna use the term "prison break" as loosely as possible, he ends up getting captured easily by Justin Hammer's guards. And, a little bit of a spoiler here, his final showdown ends up really disappointing, and showcases why he wasn't a really good villain. Not only that, but all he does in the movie is just build drones for Justin Hammer, even though it's not what Mr. Hammer had intended, in terms of what Ivan did with Mr. Hammer drones, but that's neither here nor there. And Ivan spends a lot of time doing just that throughout the movie. And, to be honest, it kinda makes his character, somewhat, boring. There was one moment where I thought he was at his best, and that's when Justin Hammer's newly designed drones are being controlled by Ivan, including the Iron Man suit being worn by Rhodey. He really does seem like a better villain, when working behind the scenes, instead of him being out in front of battle. And if it was just more of a battle of the minds between Tony Stark and Ivan, I genuinely think that it would've made Ivan a better villain for Tony to overcome. But no. As I said, Ivan comes off as a pushover, and is in no way threatening. And compared to Obadiah, the villain from the first "Iron Man" movie, Ivan is definitely nowhere in Obadiah's league.

So, aside from all of that, the writing is still OK. It's just, if you were to try and compare it with the first movie, you might end up thinking that the movie sucks. But, in all honesty, it doesn't. Because it's still a decent movie in it's own right. And even with the stuff involving the banter is going to be trivial in the long run for most others, because some people will end up liking the banter. It's just banter that didn't really work for me. Now, aside from the writing, what about the acting? Well, the acting is great. Everybody turns in a fantastic showing. But then again, considering that's it's a sequel to one of the biggest films of 2008, it would be considered a crime if anybody turned in a showing that was considered terrible. So, we do have fantastic acting. I do need to talk about casting for a moment. Because, I know that there are those who haven't seen the first "Iron Man" movie, and I feel it would be beneficial if I talked about it here. In the first movie, Rhodey was played by an actor known as Terrence Howard. And in this movie, he looks like a completely different person. Well, that's because in this movie, Rhodey is played by Don Cheadle. Now, I don't know why Terrence Howard didn't come back for this movie. Maybe it was because either of a cost issue, or he just had other work lined up for him at the time. But regardless of the reason of why, Terrence Howard doesn't come back here. And if you have seen the first "Iron Man" movie and not the second, you would not notice the complete shift in different actors until you watch the second movie. Now, why would I bring this issue up? Well, I did watch "Captain America: Civil War", which was the first movie I saw Don Cheadle in as Rhodey. And if I hadn't seen that movie, I would've not gotten use to the acting from him in "Iron Man 2". And I can say that, regardless of the huge shift in actors, Don Cheadle turns in a really good showing. Now admittedly, I do prefer Terrence Howard's performance as Rhodey over Don Cheadle's, but I'm still not going to fault Cheadle in any way. So, the acting from everybody is fantastic.

Special effects in this movie are also fantastic. Most of it is what you would expect to see if you have seen the first "Iron Man" movie. But again, this is a sequel to a big time movie, so it would've been a cardinal sin if the special effects in this movie weren't any good. Camerawork is awesome. The lighting is well lit. The sound-mix is mixed well. The music in both score and soundtrack are great. Now it's not from the same person who did the music in the first movie, but it's still good enough, to a point where you won't notice the difference in music, or even care. I mean, you get an awesome song from AC/DC, and I even heard "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen playing at one point. Guys, the music in this movie is great, especially if you're a fan of those kinds of songs.

So when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Iron Man 2"? If you were a fan of the first movie, then I would say go ahead and check it out. The only thing I would have to warn you on is that you shouldn't expect this movie to be better than the first. Because if you go into it with that kind of mindset, then you're probably not going to end up enjoying the movie as much as you should. As for me, this movie was just OK. Like I said, the movie isn't bad, but it could've been so much better. And after finally getting a chance to watch it...I can kinda see why nobody ever talks about this movie anymore. And as for whether or not I will watch "Iron Man 3"...well, considering I've heard nothing but mixed things about it, I don't want to think about that right now. I'll just stick to watching the first movie, because it's still that good. I kinda want to go back and watch it again, to be honest. So, I'm gonna go ahead and do that after I finish putting this review together.

And, with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care. And will see you all in the near future. Peace.