OldBoy

Please continue pre-hype discussion here.

Movie:
"Iron Man 2" (2010) (Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle, Olivia Munn, Samuel L. Jackson)

Release Date:
5/07/2010

Rating:
PG-13 (for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content)

Running Time:
124min. (2h. 04m.)

IMDb Info and Rating:
7.5 (as of 5/17/10)
IMDb Link...

Rotten Tomatoes:
Fresh:174 Rotten:60 (74% as of 5/17/10)
RT Link...

Metacritic:
57 metascore ('Mixed or average reviews' as of 5/17/10)
Meta Link...

Trailer:
<object width="450" height="242"><param name="movie" value="http://www.traileraddict.com/emd/19379"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.traileraddict.com/emd/19379" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" width="450" height="242" allowFullScreen="true"></embed></object>

Poster Art:

OldBoy

The Antipodean

I think one thing the critics seem to be hanging on is bits of it play like an extended trailer for "Avengers," which is a fair cop -- I quite liked the movie myself, a little less than part 1 but good slam-bang entertainment -- but one flaw I felt is that the Nick Fury scenes add little to the plot, and play to the hardcore fans rather than the general audience. The seemed to be met with general bafflement by the audience I saw it with, for instance.

OldBoy

Rotten Tomatoes:
Fresh:48 Rotten:20 (71% as of 5/05/10)
RT Link...

d2cheer

Funny thing is that most critics that didn't like it I have never even heard of as critics!
Still this is as critic proof as it gets for a movie the anticipation for this is incredible.

Supermallet

I loved it. Other than a few stellar character moments from the first film, the second is an improvement in every way.

Patrick_N

It was OK. Liked Shandling a lot in his few scenes. 3/5.

Solid Snake

wanna elaborate on that review?

Super X

Saw this last night. There's a lot going on in the film, many characters, but it still holds together as a solid sequel. As with the first, Downey steals the show, but Rockwell tries to give him a run for his money. And stay for the end of the credits as with the first film.

Superboy

I agree, and I wonder why the response from critics was so tepid. I thought it was one of the best movies i've seen so far this year, and that'll probably hold until the end of the year. It was funny, smart, and it really lived up the potential of the character. Iron Man is just a boring character to begin with; he has many of the same problems that Superman and Batman do. The best way to make the character work is surround him with great ancillary characters to play off of, and then pack it full of great action scenes.

I liked this sequel better than The Dark Knight. As great as that movie was, the main character was totally sidelined.

The O

I really enjoyed it. I thought Favreau did a terrific job juggling the characters.

Boba Fett

Your review has put all my fears about other negative reviews aside.

Dr. DVD

Orndorf liked it, he actually liked it!

Don't know if that's reason for hope or more skepticism.

Doctor Gonzo

And pulling in nice numbers so far...


"...Iron Man 2 had a massive start at the foreign box office in its first five days, grossing $100.2 million at 6,845 locations in 53 territories. This was up slightly from Iron Man's 2008 foreign launch of $99.1 million, though in an apples-to-apples territory comparison Iron Man 2 improved on the original by an average of 26 percent (in local currency). Add in its Monday and Tuesday grosses, and Iron Man 2 is at $121.1 million through its first week in foreign theaters. Domestically, Iron Man 2 is set to open in around 4,000 theaters this Friday.

The Marvel Entertainment movie had its best debut in the United Kingdom, where it grossed $11.7 million from 528 locations, representing a 43 percent improvement over its predecessor. Tony Stark and company also drew huge crowds in South Korea, where its $11 million from 855 locations was up 82 percent over Iron Man's launch two years ago. Other noteworthy starts included $9.7 million in France, $8.8 million in Australia, $8.7 million in Russia, $7 million in Mexico, $4.8 million in Brazil, $4.8 million in Italy and $3.6 million in Spain.

Within its 53 territories, Iron Man 2 debuted on 48 IMAX screens, grossing an estimated $2.25 million for a $47,000 per screen average. This bests the previous 2D record holder, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($2.1 million)."

toddly6666

Great movie! I just got back from a midnight showing. I liked this one as much as the first one. And I didn't want this film to end.

PROS:
1. Scarlett Johansson...damn, she was hot! I'm usually not a fan of hers, but this movie made me a fan. She kicks major ass.
2. War Machine...amazing!
3. Whiplash - great crazy Russian villain. Mickey Rourke kicks major ass.
4. Iron Man - all the things you want to happen with this character, happens....great writing! Someone followed a comic book for a change!
5. Final scene after credits!

CONS:
1. Pepper Potts. I loved her in the first movie. Here she's pretty annoying. But Pepper and Tony's banter was good, sort of reminding me of the way Clark Kent and Louis Lane conversed in the Superman flicks.
2. That's about it!

I also liked Sam Rockwell doing his thing. His shtick reminded me a bit of Lex Luthor.

It would be nice if there's another sequel, but it really makes sense just to follow up with the Thor movie, then the Captain America movie, and then the Avengers movie.

RichC2

I found Rourke and Rockwell's characters to be a bit bleh -- but I think they both played them as well (and as charismatically) as possible for how they were written. The movie did drag for me when RDJ wasn't on screen.

I really liked the entire cast though, fantastic actors all around -- tho Paltrow was a lil dry from time to time. The plot was okay, I did like how they basically glossed over details -- you either got what was going on or you didn't -- and it was better for it.

Anubis2005X

Just got back from the midnight movie and thought it was good, not great. The pacing was just really off for me. I felt no real momentum in the plot and it seemed like scenes were just kinda thrown in there. That said, I still enjoyed it, but the first one was a much stronger film.

jdslater1

There is a scene in which Rockwell was doing his dance and I said to my brother he is doing his "Charlies Angels thing"!
I thought that it well balanced aswell. Didn't seem like a clusterfuck at all.

Supermallet

I'm surprised at the dislike of Pepper in this one. I think she was even more interesting than the first one, and aside from the scene in the first one where she removes the wire in his chest, their banter was better as well.

Patman

Saw Iron Man 2 with a mostly sympathetic crowd of comic folk, so it may skew my reaction to the film a bit.

The film is is hodge-podge example of screenplay writing, with most of the funny bits being pretty funny, while the pacing is also saddled with poor on-screen chemistry between Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke, I mean, most of their scenes together just stop the film dead in its tracks.

Robert Downey, Jr. mines Tony Stark's confidence and killer instinct for all they are worth, but amps up the smugness and the debuchery by a magnitude, but for an explainable reason. Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts is mainly a perfunctionary foil for Tony, and does bring some laughs from her role. Don Cheadle as Jim Rhoades was fine, though there were an uninvolving plotline for his role in the film. Scarlet Johansson's butt should get its own credit because you could tell Director John Favreau really enjoyed displaying it on the big screen. I didn't have much issue with Johansson's take on the Black Widow with the material she had.

The film itself doesn't have a cohesive narrative, and its resolution doesn't quite have a good dramatic build-up to the finish line. It's a messy film, littered with some funny scenes and lines (I wouldn't doubt it if some of them were ad-libbed, just like in the first installment), but it's also very unfocused, and feels incomplete, although its running time was over 2 hours. There's maybe 90 minutes of plot that is stretched out to 2 hours.

The action sequences aren't great, there is too much close-in shots, not enough wide shots, or when it's wide, the action isn't interesting. Also, it's much more interesting to have the camera going at the speed of Iron Man, and giving us the action from that viewpoint, than from a static view point, and things are just whisking by quickly and uninvolvingly so. That being said, there is a couple of sweet moves that go by far too quickly to be fully appreciated in the final act.

I give it 2.75 stars or a grade of B- (mainly for the funny bits).

anomynous

what?



Anyway, the movie's a good 4/5 for me

Son of Odin

5 stars for me. it definitely had a lot more comic book geeky moments. the best after credits ending of any movie. RDJ was of course...brilliant. but rockwell as hammer was fascinating. rourke's russian accent was good. as for having cheadle as the new rhodey...hell ya! the senate hearing in the beginning had the theater in a riot. as a die hard marvel fan...next summer can't get here quick enough....and this movie rocked. got the bad taste of clash the titans out of my mouth.

RagingBull80

I thought the flick was really good. It really felt like a good companion piece to the original in style and tone.

Big props to Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson's ass.

Son of Odin

rockwell was perfect in his role. all the ladies in this movie, even the piece from vanity, were all hot. favreau, unlike other directors who mess up sequels, just kept everything simple. he didn't change the formula. comedy was well done and the action was better than the first. he also kept the story manageable. where others failed, favreau introduced a lot of characters and made them all work. black widow especially. i do wish favreau would've gave us a hint at the end about the mandarin being the next baddie.

Tarantino

Rockwell was awesome. Unfortunately, that's all that stood out about this movie.

It was fucking BORING.

Definitely not enough action.

I rated it 1 1/2 stars. What a let down.