I'll give it B-.

It was okay movie. Good casting, good effects, not bad story. But it's not as good as first movie. But still good entertainment.

I saw this tonight.

Is it as good as the first? No, not the first half. But unlike the first it actually gets better towards the end. The climax is pretty great actually. This is certainly no Spiderman 3 or Transformers 2.


Reviews have complained that they tried to cram too much in the film. It actually doesn't feel that way at all as the first half is rather slow (bar the Monaco scene) - but if anything the Avengers story line ensures Whiplash is underdeveloped and all we know of him is that he is seeking to avenge what Stark Industries had done to his family. Still he isnt done as much of an injustice as Venom or Sandman received in Spidey 3 but he could have been given more to work with.

I think Black Widow was introduced quite well. Johannson does a good job and her action scenes are fantastic.

Rockwell is brilliant as Hanger. He's a wannabe Stark and you can see Rockwell have fun with the character. Cheadle no better or worse than Howard, though Howard seemed more at ease in the role. War machine is pretty cool and works well with Iron Man.

Downey Jr is as good as usual, though Stark comes across less likeable than the first. He certainly battles his own demons in this one - but not of the alcoholic variety (well apart from one scene).

I enjoyed the scenes with Howard Stark (or atleast the archive footage). They are a nice surprise and work well in context with Stark's problems. John Slattery from Mad Men is perfect for the role.

So the Avengers plotline... yeah its there but it hardly hurts the film in anyway as some reviews have implied. Nick Fury has maybe 5 mins screen time and I like Sam Jackson in the role. Towards the end he seems to imply that Iron Man may not be the leader of the Avengers. We'll see how that pans out. A nice easter egg is that we get to see Captain America's shield and what Stark does with it.

The action (when it happens) is great. Great visuals too - particularily for Monaco and the final battle. But unfortunately there is a little less action than there should have been.

Look out for Stan Lee early on and also DJ AM who must have filmed his short scene before he died.

The scene after the credits isnt worth waiting for really. Its as described online and only goes for 30 seconds or so.

Overall I enjoyed this film. Its not as fresh and charming as Iron Man was, but it certainly doesnt wipe out the good will of the first. If anything it leaves a better after-taste than the first thanks to the strong last act.

Thats all for now as I want to go to sleep

Dont get me wrong, Its a good scene, just not as good as the Nick Fury one at the end of the first film. About 30 or so people stayed for it and unfortunately they started closing the curtain on the screen as the scene was shown. Pissed us all off. But the link to The Avengers is what we all waited for and it adds another piece to the anticipation. Its just not essential.

But I must say, they are building up to The Avengers quite nicely. Now we just need Thor and CA to work.

This was my mini review fro the first film in 2008:

I just came back from watching the movie, and I have to say that I find all these very good reviews very surprising.

Yes, the movie is entertaining, and Downey Jr. is the best part about it, but the action scenes are quite generic and sparse (and they end too quickly), and there is no real sense of excitement in them.

I did find the part in Afghanistan the best one. At least, it has the best of the Stan Lee cameos of all the Marvel movies (in my opinion).

My grade: B/B-


And this is the one for the sequel:

Pretty much a carbon copy of the first film. The best part is the Monaco sequence, it falls down in the middle and although the final action sequence is better (due to scope) than in the first movie, it's again filmed in such a way that there is no real excitement. It's all done via quick cuts and shows an inability to coreograph action that other directors do much better. I still find the Afghanistan part the best from both movies.

Is it boring? No, but a cut here and there wouldn't have hurt it, especially the atrocious party sequence and the fight between Stark and Rhodes that seems really pointless and it's rather cringe inducing.

The most interesting character is Rourke's, and he should have gotten more screen time. Rockwell delivers one of the worst performances that I have seen him ever doing and Johansson's is just eye candy but nothing special.
Downey and Cheadle are simply correct.

If you could take the first part of the first movie and parts of the final of this one, we would have a much better movie.
But the way it is I have to give this one a worse grade than the first one:

My grade: C+/C

5/10 -> C-

First let me say that I had pretty low expectations. I liked the first Iron Man, but I wasn't crazy about it. I expected the sequel to at least match the first movie in terms of everything, as it was possible to improve on it in every imaginable way.

And they actually took the blueprint of the first movie and built IM2 on that. Unfortunately they went the wrong way in every thing they could.

First of all I have to say that I never imagined that every single character in this will be completely unlikeable. I get that Stark was battling his inner demons, but he was such a douche. And I get that Rockwell's Hammer character suffers from the Stark-complex, but does he really need to act like him? Are al rich weapon manufacturers kooky and supposedly funny? Seriously... Rockwell is bad in his role, Rourke has a laughable character to work with and Johansson is completely invisible. And bimbo with big breasts would do in her role.

The plot is bad, uninteresting. Action sequences are pretty bad and pretty dumb with the opening formula sequence being the dumbest one. Again, the ending is anti-climactic. It just happens. You never get the sense of a build-up. Favreau just doesn't have what it takes to direct good action I guess. That was evident in IM, but at least it was funnier and more charming than this.

This is really bad. I enjoyed Tranformers 2 much more. At least that one had somewhat interesting action sequences and was slightly bit more funny.

Plot/characters - A little slow in the beggining excluding the Monaco scene. There were a number of times where it dragged and became uninteresting particularly the fight after the party. RDJ is great as always, Rourke was good but he said like fifteen words in the entire film, rest were okay, and Rockwell was fucking horrible. It also is as funny as the first one - Get a roof! and the last scene were awesome.

Action/visuals - The action was surprisingly lacking but the last fight sequence was good if not too short. I feel that the f/x and action in the first were far more impressive.

Overall - It practically decreased from the original the same way TF2 did from TF1 (though I liked the Transformers franchise better as a whole) but it's a sequel that satisfies.

B

Good movie but not as good as the first one. I thought the beginning and the end were great but the middle was boring. Pacing was a bit off as some scenes felt disjointed with the previous scene but all in all it was an entertaining film.

I definitely liked the action this time around than the first one. There was a real sense of danger to Tony Stark's safety that you felt when Whiplash was on screen that I did not get from the first one. If there was one nitpick here, I would say that there was not enough action. If they had used those minutes in the middle and used it for action scenes, I would have enjoyed it better.

As for the acting, I thought Robert Downey Jr. did great. He did the comedic scenes well and pulled off the serious moments with ease. Gwyneth Paltrow was great as Pepper. She really delivered as the stressed-out helper to Tony. I really wish that Terrence Howard was in this movie instead of Don Cheadle. Cheadle sucks in this type of role. I didn't get the sense that Stark and Rhodes were buddy buddy judging from Cheadle's facial movements/body language, but that is just me. Don Cheadle is always serious business and this role demanded a more friendly type of partner. Mickey Rourke was underused in this film. He was great for the few minutes he was on though. I thought Scarlett Johansson was ok. She didn't really bring much to the movie nor detract from it but man could she whoop some ass. Jon Favreau as Stark's bodyguard/chauffeur was hilarious.

Visuals and sound were great all the way. When the part where Tony was trying to piece together what the map means, I got chills.

8/10

The biggest problem is that Marvel wanted to set up the bullshit that is Avengers.

Without that, the whole spiralling out of control and building up again part would have focused on Tony Stark and not fucking Samuel L Jackson.

Like I said, the movie's IRON MAN 2 not SLJ'S NICK FURY in AVENGERS.

Most people would be WTF with that because most would not have seen Jackson in the previous Iron Man or read the comics, because really, who does? IMO that scene was terribly done and proves that even if the company who owns it produces it, it doesn't mean they won't screw up.

Meh....

I like the first Iron Man, but this sequel doesn't really do anything but plant seeds for the Avengers film. I think the main problem is finding a compelling villain to portray on the screen and not make the series look silly. (Iron Man's greatest villain in the comics is the "Mandarin" and his mystical power rings)

IM2 is almost a carbon copy of the first one story-wise which is disappointing, and as other's have said there's not a lot of action. Is it just me or did anyone else want to deep-six the rest of the movie once Nick Fury and S.H.E.I.L.D. showed up? Why not just start the "Avengers" right then and f- The Jealous Hammer/Russian story

Wow and such disrespect shown towards Captain America, I hope that's just a prototype shield because that thing was toddler looking

C-

I think that was a toy. Like that IM helmet the kid was wearing...

OK, BKB, answer this simple question to really verify that you have seen the movie.

What fruit does Stark buy before visiting Pepper at the office?

hehe good question Price.

I actually dont think the Avengers setup intrudes on the film at all. It was what 10 mins max?

As for Captain America's shield, I thought it was a toy as well. But not sure. Where was it? In the Howard Stark box?

Yes in crate of some sort in his lab while he was doing one of the dumbest things in the movie.

IRON MAN 2

At first glance, I'm disappointed with the C's and D's. What were you expecting?

I was pleased with the film. I thought it kept the style, comedy and excitement that was present in the first film. The action was well done and interesting. Black widow was really good. The crowd loved her kicking ass. Hammer was extremely annoying and whiny. Over the top so that it was almost irritating. Whiplash was well done and the final battle was short but pleasing. I thought the audience was pleased overall. It got a smattering of applause. One of the people giving his opinion after the show said he liked the whole thing.

Side note, the promotions done for the screening was disappointing. How can they not fill the theatre for an IM2 screening. There were over 100 seats available due to their lousy handling of it. Next time overbook the theatre. I can't believe they didn't accomplish that because I thought that's a SOP for that job.

grade - A

You haven't seen the movie, BKB.

Hopefully Favreau stays away from anything that has elaborate action scenes in it. He can't even handle simple action and make it interesting. That is much more apparent in IM2 than IM.

I agree. Even Louis Leterrier, the Hulk director, knows much better how to stage and film action scenes.

Uh, yeah douche bag, I have.. Welcome to summer once again at KJ where I have to prove myself again cause I don't see every new release that comes out every weekend like Price does..

1. Due to work I barely have time to go to the theatre and watch most of the movies at home. See the how many movies have you seen at home thread for proof. In fact, Iron Man 2 is the only movie I have seen in theatres this year. Last movie before it was Avatar in December.

2. If you have seen the movie answer the simple question that I posted a few posts above.