Iron Man 2 Review
We will make our way through my Iron Man/Avengers review series leading up to the release of Avengers: Doomsday. Today we will be talking about Iron Man 2, the film that is widely regarded as the weakest of the Iron Man trilogy. Do I agree with that statement? Is this movie good? Let us get started!
The Good
For me, the best thing about this film is that it is still a fun movie. It might not be the best MCU film that we have gotten, but it does not change the fact that this is still an entertaining Iron Man adventure. What is fun about Phase 1 of the MCU is that they are films that are not designed to be the biggest comic book movie of all time, they are designed to be these solo adventures with characters that we liked spending time with. This film can be another one of those adventures, where it is just a sequel to Iron Man (2008) without being a sequel to other MCU films or tv shows. With where the MCU is in 2026 and it is now this multiverse focused franchise bringing back past franchises and characters. There is something so refreshing and charming about watching these early MCU films and being able to enjoy it for it is and not as this gigantic, shared universe. This movie can focus more on the characters, which is just a fun set of characters. There is plenty of Iron Man action and Tony Stark jokes to keep you engaged in the film from beginning to end. We will talk about the movie’s flaws later and there is plenty of them, but that does not change the fact that this is still a fun and entertaining movie.
From there, the cast for the film is great. They got a lot of talented people in this film, the entire main cast are Oscar caliber actors, whether they have won an Oscar or been nominated for one. Even when they are characters are not the best, they are a lot of fun and great in these roles. Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man is just legendary iconic comic book movie casting and blockbuster casting in general. In this movie, he is still just as fun and charming as he was in the past film, but he is still able to be snarky and a dick while still always rooting for him and love being around him. He can have great chemistry with everybody and this fun rapport with them. Whether that’s Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts or Don Cheadle as Rhodey. It is fun interactions that put a smile on your face because RDJ is so good in this role and able to be so fun and charismatic in every single scene that he is in. We will talk about Tony more later, but RDJ is great and with every film it solidifies himself as one of the best casting choices in blockbuster history. From there, I am bummed that Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer only appears in one MCU film. I wish they found a way to reintroduce him into the MCU in later films. If Armor Wars were to happen then maybe he would have appeared in that film. Rockwell is very charismatic and fun, he is a guy that you are supposed to hate, and Rockwell can play that so well. Where your kind of charmed by him but also acknowledge that this guy is so petty and that you hate him. You also get the introduction to Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, and while she was used better in later MCU films. She is still solid in this movie and gets plenty of awesome moments, especially her hallway fight in the third act.
Speaking of fights, the action in the movie is fun and exciting. I briefly talked about this, but the Black Widow hallway fight in the third act is awesome. It shows that she is more than just a pretty face and you get to see her do her thing. I love that it is contrasted with Happy Hogan and seeing that he is struggling to take down one guy, but she takes down an entire hallway of guys. In this movie, you get three different Iron Man action scenes and all of them are fun. I love the Monaco car race sequence, where you get the fun Iron Man action but you also get the crazy antics of Tony Stark and you get what I think is the best Iron Man suit up in the entire MCU. There is a new and different threat for Iron Man to go up against that provides for different action and a different threat from Iron Monger in the original 2008 film. The third act I think has its issues, but overall, it is a fun sequence because it is the first time that we see Iron Man and War Machine fighting together and that is something that we have not seen before or really since. It is always fun to see two guys in Iron Man suits taking down robots. Since War Machine has a gatling gun, it adds a fun new layer to the entire thing. There might not be a lot of action in this movie, which is a problem but the action we do have is solid and entertaining.
Finally, I touched on this earlier, but this movie does have a certain charm about it. Part of the charm is that it can feel more distinct than later MCU films. What I mean by that is all of Phase 1 released when Paramount owned Marvel Studios. Iron Man 3 was the first MCU film to be released after Disney bought Marvel Studios. All of Phase 1 can have more distinct personalities and vibes to it. In the case of this film, even the little additions of featuring AC/DC songs and having this great soundtrack, is something that later MCU films lost, except Guardians of the Galaxy. Phase 1 of the MCU might not be the best phase in the MCU, but it is the one that feels the least corporate. Where the directors had more creative freedom over their films compared to the later MCU films. One thing that is refreshing about the Iron Man films is that it is more practical. Where you believe that the actors are on location shooting these scenes and not on a green screen somewhere. That is because the universe is still small, so it is easier to get these smaller action scenes. You get to Infinity War and Endgame, and it is hard to do the final battles of the films using practical effects. But since the action in this movie is just guys in suits, that is much easier to do. Even Iron Man’s suits being bulkier and before it went full on nano tech, it is slick, and it just does not look as good. It is just those smaller things that help this film, Phase 1 of the MCU feels less corporate.
The Bad
The big issue with this movie is that of all the MCU films, this is the one that feels the most overstuffed and crowded. I think part of this is due to their only being a 2-year turn around from Iron Man (2008). Jon Favreau wanted three years to make the movie, but Kevin Feige said he has 2-years and the reason for that was because they had a plan for the Avengers. Because Favreau was rushed, they could not iron out the script. They could not focus the script more, it feels like a first draft of a script. There are so many characters and so much setup that must go on, that every plot line feels undercooked. This movie is about Whiplash’s revenge against the Stark family, Justin Hammer is jealous of Tony Stark, Tony’s arc reactor health issues, set up for The Avengers, Tony Stark’s father issues, The Stark Expo, and Black Widow’s introduction. All of this is in a movie that’s 2 hours and 4 minutes long with the credits. In theory, all the pieces go together and should make for a good Iron Man movie. But the structure with this movie is weird because every scene in the first 30 minutes of the movie sets up one of these plot lines. Then the middle act of the film goes through these plot lines, but none of them get enough time. Because of the structure and not being able to focus enough time, there’s large stretches of time where these plot lines are not mentioned and shown. Black Widow shows up early on but then she disappears for large parts of the middle act. I wish we could A/B tests reality and see what this film would’ve been if this film released in 2011 and Favreau had another year to iron out the issues with the film, because there’s ideas in here that could work and you can see what they were going for, with exploring Howard Stark more on a deeper level and why he was so distant with Tony.
I think the big victim of Iron Man 2 being overstuffed, is our main villain with Whiplash. In terms of villains and characters, Whiplash is one of the biggest disappointments in the MCU. They got Mickey Rourke who at the time was in the middle of a career resurgence and was just Oscar nominated for The Wrestler (a movie I have not seen). But they got this talented actor and totally wasted him. They even gave him an interesting backstory and connection to Tony. You can see how this villain makes sense after the events of Iron Man and with Tony revealing his identity as Iron Man, having a villain that is jealous of Tony is interesting. The problem with him is what I said earlier, but he is in a movie that’s overstuffed and crowded. His introduction is the opening minutes of the film, and he gets several scenes in the first act. Then after the Monaco sequence, he is sent to Hammer’s lab where he is there for the second act and talking about his bird. It is so weird just how little he has used, and you can see how there could have been a great villain and been out in the public trying to corrupt the Stark name while the public loves Tony. That is not what the film does, so they take a great actor and a great idea for a villain and do absolutely nothing with him. It is common for several of these MCU films, whether top or bottom tier, that do not have great villains and that started with Whiplash in this film.
Finally, this is the weakest usage of Tony in the MCU. Some of that could go back to this idea that this movie is overstuffed and there is too much going on. But even the individual moments with Tony, I do not think are some of the best. This is not to say that I hate Tony in this movie and that RDJ is not great, because of course he is. But this is the most unlikable that Tony has been. Where they give him so many of these moments that I look at and go “why.” The big example of this would be in the party sequence where he pees in the suit and he is drunk. I do not know about you, but that is not what I want to see from Iron Man. There is something more they could have done with the sickness that Tony is going through and learning to savor every moment or something like that could tie some of these plot lines together. You look at this movie’s Rotten Tomato score, and it has a 72%. Which is higher than a lot of people would guess. I think the reason for that high score was that at the time of release this was only the second time we got to see RDJ as Iron Man, so the score was elevated because of the excitement for more of Iron Man. But with more Iron Man appearances later and are better, it is easier to look back at this movie and not appreciate it as much, more importantly the usage of Tony Stark aka Iron Man.
Final Thoughts: Overall, Iron Man 2 is a fun sequel to the 2008 film but is also deeply flawed. This is also probably the weakest of the Iron Man trilogy as well. That is not to say the movie is bad, but it has never been as good as it could be. Robert Downey Jr and the rest of the cast are still fun, and the film does have its moments, with the action sequences. But the movie’s biggest issue is the script being overstuffed and not enough time to develop any of the plot lines. Because of this, the movie produced one of the MCU’s weakest and most disappointing villains.
The Score: 7.8/10 (C+)
Comments