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Iron Man 2
Directed by John Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johanson
Expectation impacts the enjoyment of film. If I think a movie will be phenomenal but find it mediocre, I will leave the theatre hating it. If I think a movie will be awful but find it mediocre, I will leave the theatre liking it. Unfortunately, Iron Man 2 falls in the former category.
In this latest adventure, Iron Man (Downey) battles the villainous Whiplash--played by Mickey Rourke. Whiplash is poorly crafted--his motivation seems questionable at best. Rourke should receive very little blame for the character's shortcomings; he performs admirably given the poor script with which he had to work. His character was at his best in the scenes interacting directly with Tony Stark.
However, Rourke still manages to outperform the increasingly disappointing Scarlett Johanson. Johanson plays secret agent Natasha Romanov. Of course, by "plays" I mean "wears the costume of and is called."
In summer blockbusters, writing and acting consistently take a back seat to action and explosions. Even here, I feel director John Favreau failed. The action sequences are near non sequiturs; each is randomly executed with very little exposition or narrative. They seemed like Favreau pointed to the script and indicated, "This is where the action sequences go."
To be clear, I found the movie fairly entertaining. The reason? Robert Downey Jr. is like a great basketball player on bad team. He's so good you can ignore the short comings of everyone else. His charm and ease are as infectious here as in the original. His chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow is impeccable. Downey and Paltrow fully compensate for the other shortcomings. The film is at its best when Tony Stark is interacting with others--especially Paltrow's excellent Pepper Potts.
I significantly enjoyed the first Iron Man, but I found Iron Man 2 disappointing. In reality, it was unlikely the sequel could reach the bar set by the first. Iron Man 2 fails in comparison to the original, but is still better than most summer popcorn flicks
5/10
Directed by John Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johanson
Expectation impacts the enjoyment of film. If I think a movie will be phenomenal but find it mediocre, I will leave the theatre hating it. If I think a movie will be awful but find it mediocre, I will leave the theatre liking it. Unfortunately, Iron Man 2 falls in the former category.
In this latest adventure, Iron Man (Downey) battles the villainous Whiplash--played by Mickey Rourke. Whiplash is poorly crafted--his motivation seems questionable at best. Rourke should receive very little blame for the character's shortcomings; he performs admirably given the poor script with which he had to work. His character was at his best in the scenes interacting directly with Tony Stark.
However, Rourke still manages to outperform the increasingly disappointing Scarlett Johanson. Johanson plays secret agent Natasha Romanov. Of course, by "plays" I mean "wears the costume of and is called."
In summer blockbusters, writing and acting consistently take a back seat to action and explosions. Even here, I feel director John Favreau failed. The action sequences are near non sequiturs; each is randomly executed with very little exposition or narrative. They seemed like Favreau pointed to the script and indicated, "This is where the action sequences go."
To be clear, I found the movie fairly entertaining. The reason? Robert Downey Jr. is like a great basketball player on bad team. He's so good you can ignore the short comings of everyone else. His charm and ease are as infectious here as in the original. His chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow is impeccable. Downey and Paltrow fully compensate for the other shortcomings. The film is at its best when Tony Stark is interacting with others--especially Paltrow's excellent Pepper Potts.
I significantly enjoyed the first Iron Man, but I found Iron Man 2 disappointing. In reality, it was unlikely the sequel could reach the bar set by the first. Iron Man 2 fails in comparison to the original, but is still better than most summer popcorn flicks
5/10