Avengers Assemble: Iron Man 2

“Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the donut.”

Filmology Rating: 2.5 out of 4

Iron Man 2 directed again by Jon Favreau is the first Marvel film in the hands of Disney. After the lukewarm reception of "The Incredible Hulk", Disney immediately panicked and greenlit a low-risk sequel to "Iron Man." The world is at peace and it's because of Iron Man. The government claims that Tony has too much privatized power and must surrender his suits to more responsible hands, very similar to "Civil War." However, Tony ensures that nobody will achieve an equivalent piece of technology for at least 5-10 years and because of him and his unwarranted abilities, the world has been at peace. Until, of course, Mickey Rourke and his bird challenge Tony's intellect and shocks the world with an equivalent piece of technology. Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), Tony's competitor, enlists the help of Ivan (Rourke) to create suits that surpass what people expect an Iron Man suit to be.

Essentially, this film is what happens when you try to re-capture lightning in a bottle. Similar to films like "Ghostbusters" and "Jaws", it is impossible to reinstate the magic and spontaneous of the first film.
This film is largely unfocused. The first film was about Tony learning the ropes of becoming a hero, meanwhile, this film is about Tony's abuse of his own power, which prepares him to have a character arc in "The Avengers." That's fine, however, that makes for a very resentful second film for Iron Man. Tony Stark is a selfish, smirky, asshole during the film. It isn't until the very end where it feels like an Iron Man movie.
The first half begins with some fond ideas like Mickey Rourke building his own suit and Hammer enlisting him to build him an army to compete with Stark Industires. Then the film abandons Mickey Rourke for at least thirty minutes to focus on Tony's drunken antics in the second half.

In retrospect, many people say that "Iron Man 2" is just fine. However, I believe the second half of this film results in complete incompetence and loses its sense of structure and overall story.

It is rather odd upon rewatching the film because there is an Elon Musk cameo for no reason at all, a Stan Lee cameo which lasts all for literally one second because there needs to be a cameo for him somewhere.
One aspect that saves the film from being called complete nonsense is the politics behind Tony being Iron Man and that he cannot possess power of this scale. That is one thing that makes Marvel films mildly enjoyable, at the least, is the further continuation of characters, their past, and the consequences.

This film also establishes a congressman who wants to take Tony's suit away. He also appears in "The Winter Soldier" who is discovered to be a Hydra Advocate. These small characters who later have something more to do in later films is what makes this universe feel so real.

This film is also plagued with too many characters that are there so when "The Avengers" comes out, you know who they are. Scarlett Johansson's reason for being in the film has as much warrant as a Bond girl has for being in a James Bond film. She's really there to look sexy for the audience. Nick Furry appears as well simply to further push an Avengers film.

Another complaint I have about Tony Stark is that he is incapable of doing anything heroic without the Iron Man suit. Combined with a resentful character direction in the film made for a stale superhero film.
There is also a serious issue with tone and pacing. Especially in the second half, this film lowers itself to Rhodes and Tony fighting in Iron Men suits which is played as a slapstick jape played to the music of Queen. There is also a severe lack of smooth pacing to thrust the scraps of a story that was ultimately lost in editing.

There is a post credit scene in which Thor's hammer is found in the desert. Which is, of course, the next film. This is a strange second installment that is ultimately too long and results in utter nonsense in the final minutes because it has a budget and things need to go boom.

Rating: Rent It

-Nolan