Saturday, May 22, 2010
Film Review- Iron Man 2
Just got back from the film Iron Man 2 and here is what I have to say about it. I thought that the movie overall was really good and was pretty good start to the 2010 summer blockbuster season. It had great acting, epic action sequences that kept you on the edge of your seat and compelling characters. It’s not without its flaws, however.
For one thing, there are a lot more jokes in this movie than there were in the first Iron Man movie. That’s not a bad thing, in fact, a good chunk of those jokes were pretty funny and had some good comic timing. Plus, those jokes really did serve purpose as reliving the tensions of the action scenes like proper comic relief moments. The problem is that those jokes tended to distract from the main storyline. There were some parts where I was laughing at a joke one character said, but then felt like I missed an important plot point that was briefly mentioned shortly after said joke. It’s a little frustrating when the price of chuckling at Tony Stark totally smashed in his Iron Man armor is having to try to keep up with what was just said seconds later that was essential to the plot. Speaking of which, another gripe I had with this movie is that while the acting is good, most of the actors say there lines way too fast. Especially in the first half of the film, the actors sound like there on fast-forward. I guess this is supposed to imitate how quickly and efficiently business people must relay info between one another, but the audience might feel like they missed a few plot details in all those sentences without pauses. Then again, this may be just a nitpick, so whatever.
Also, this movie seems to expect that you know most of the Marvel mythology because there are Marvel superheroes that aren’t explicitly named. Scarlett Johansson’s character, Natasha Romanoff, is never referred by her comic name of Black Widow. Also, Lt. James Rhodes doesn’t get his name War Machine in this film. It’s just implied in the fight scene between him and Tony Stark. Then again, this is also another nitpick.
Here are some of the positives that I really liked about this movie. For one thing, Robert Downy Jr. is still a convincing Tony Stark. Even though Stark is still more of an eccentric and narcissistic billionaire in this one, Downey still shows us that Stark is well aware of the responsibilities of being a hero and tries to deal with the consequences that come with being a superhero with publicity. Also, I loved the direction they took introducing the antagonist Ivan Vanko. In the intro, they offer some subtle hints of who he might be and what sort of grudge he has against Stark, but it still kept shrouded in mystery. He rarely speaks and the movie pretty much just shows him preparing for his plans which keeps the audience guessing of what direction he’s going to go in. It’s a great example of showing and not telling. Not only that, but Mickey Rourke really does make a convincing Russian especially with the accent. True, he does sound like he’s mumbling most of the time, but that sort of fits Ivan Vanko’s character. Actions speak louder than words.
The action scenes are stunning. They are quickly paced and have great suspense in them. You can almost feel the tension and fear the heroes are going through as they fight off enemies while trying to avoid civilian casualties. There are times where the cinematographers employ the “shaky-cam” technique, but those moments are few and far between and only last a few seconds.
So, that’s Iron Man 2. It’s a great super-hero movie, though not as good as the first, but well worth breaking out the cash for.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)