IRON MAN 2 (2010) launches the summer movie season

Posted by Stephen Jannise

In 2008, Iron Man shocked moviegoers and box office prognosticators alike when a superhero without much established buzz wowed the crowds and delivered big bucks back to the studios. Similar to Johnny Depp’s mega-star turn as Jack Sparrow in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Robert Downey Jr. came out of nowhere to give a witty, confident performance as Tony Stark, the multi-billionaire underneath the Iron Man suit. The question for this year’s sequel, as it was for the Pirates sequel, was: can Downey and director Jon Favreau have similar success when people actually expect them to?

Financially, the film has already proven its worth. Sure, its opening weekend take of just under $130 million didn’t set any new records, but that’s certainly not chump change. Regardless, its box office dominance was mostly a foregone conclusion; whether or not the film could match the entertainment value of the original was the real concern. And in this case, I think the film also delivers. Many of the elements that worked in the original are back, beginning of course with Downey, Jr. in the central role. He is as narcissistic and hilarious as ever, and his tendency to mutter under his breath when he’s upset often means that his funnier lines are lost in the audience laughter. His chemistry with Stark’s beloved assistant Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, is still in fine form; the two of them even manage to create sparks during a conversation in which each of their faces are on separate computer monitors.

Early in the film, Stark makes Pepper the new CEO of his company, which ironically results in Paltrow having even less to do in this film than the first. Perhaps this is because she has to make room for the new hen in the hen house, the mysterious replacement assistant played by Scarlett Johansson, who is as lovely as ever. Between Paltrow, Johansson, and Downey Jr., Favreau has certainly wasted no time in not only populating his film with some of the most beautiful people currently working in Hollywood but making sure they get as much face time as possible. Whereas Christopher Nolan, who runs that other big comic book hero franchise, likes to obscure his matinee idols’ faces with masks and clown paint, Favreau made the shrewd decision at the end of the first film to have Stark reveal to the public that he is, in fact, Iron Man. This allows Downey Jr. to act without the Iron Man helmet obscuring his features, solving a problem that has plagued other franchises like Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films.

Her husband Ryan Reynolds has a Deadpool spin-off in the works. I vote for a Black Widow spin-off instead.

Some of the less beautiful faces, like Mickey Rourke’s angry Russian villain, are used too infrequently in order to make time for some of the Avengers-related characters like Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and the grimly sardonic Agent Colson, who first appeared in the original film. While comic book fans are no doubt enjoying these winks at the upcoming Thor, Captain America, and Avengers movies, Marvel has to be careful when littering their films with these cross promotional advertisements. Comic books have a history of guest appearances, so I understand Marvel’s reasoning behind replicating this tradition in their films. But what we don’t want is for every Marvel film to be an Avengers film.

That's Sam Rockwell in the background, who provides Downey Jr. with a nice, weaselly nemesis.

Comparing the Iron Man films to Nolan’s Batman films, the similarities begin and end at the rich playboy protagonists that lead both franchises. Where The Dark Knight was darkly lit and blue in color, the Iron Man films are luminous and richly red and orange in color, which is representative of the contrast in the general tone taken in the films. The Iron Man films deal with foreign policy in a lighthearted way, whereas the Batman films deal with domestic security in a grim manner, with the scope of an epic crime film. It would be pointless to compare the two franchises; instead, I would say there is room for both. The one you choose to watch will likely depend on the mood you are in: light or dark?

On that note, though, I do think it’s worth mentioning what was, I think, the best scene in Iron Man 2: Stark’s alcohol-soaked birthday party. Stark invites a lot of people, mostly beautiful women, to his mansion for his birthday bash then proceeds to get completely hammered while wearing his Iron Man equipment. In a more somber film like Watchmen, such an embarrassing display would have been a dime a dozen. But in this more lighthearted film, the scene is quite shocking, almost difficult to watch. As Pepper and Don Cheadle’s sidekick character James Rhodes become genuinely concerned for their friend and where his alcoholism is taking him, Stark begins to fire off his suit’s weapons near the crowd. Iron Man’s alcoholism has not only made him look pathetic but also rendered him dangerous to himself and to others; it’s nice to see something like that in a film like this.