Iron Man 2

So, two Saturdays ago we were able to go see Iron Man 2. We would have seen it sooner, but a certain sibling was getting married. ;-)

I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I had only seen one trailer sometime ago and walked into it knowing little about the plot (although my sister had thoroughly checked it out). Needless to say, I enjoyed it, which is why I was disappointed with World's article that came yesterday. You can read the first portion of it here http://www.worldmag.com/articles/16702 . Here is a quote from part of her conclusion-

"The action scenes are fun when they get going, and the film (rated PG-13) is, for the most part clean. (A few double entendres and occasional swear words are the worst of it.)
The biggest flaw, however, is the lack of moral core that should propel a superhero movie. The bad guys have no grand, dark schemes other than to destroy Stark and sell weapons to the military. The greatest moral outrage seems to be over the government't theft of Stark's Iron Man suit. Paten infringement is certainly a problem, but it's hardly a superhero issue."

Quoted from Hero without a Cause by Rebecca Cusey

I guess I was so disappointed because I normally agree with World's movie reviews.
I can't agree with this one. The last two sentences are completely false...

First, to be unsatisfied with out much action? Gack....There seemed plenty! But my bigger bone to pick is on the moral issues.
I found Iron Man 2 refreshing. Although there was plenty of the impossible, the issues the characters struggled with seemed to relate more to everyone's lives. Stark is believable as a plain, sinful, but lovable human. Stark has trouble with his friendships and relationships, but everyone acts rationally and believably.

I am not a superhero movie person. I can't stand the Spider Man movies. Seriously, MJ ruins them for me. She is irrational. I just can't like her. Batman takes itself a little to seriously and the girl is almost equal unlikable, but I enjoy the movie more. I couldn't connect with Superman at all.

I think Iron Man leaves Superhero stereotypes behind. First, I think it does not take itself so seriously, but it does taken human nature and character seriously.
I can watch it without saying "oh brother" at sand man, green goblins cackle, or Peter making dramatic choices. (Sorry, not trying to smash Spider Man. I think it is an excellent film for those who love comic type superhero films. It's well done, and I love Tobey Maguires performances.)

Stark's choices and pain are real but it's not over dramatized. Everything may be abnormal, but the people are normal.

I think it's interesting that the director of the film, Jon Favreau, casts himself as Happy Hogan. To me, this was a small picture of the film. Happy is really not so bright, but good. He is a simple average guy, and he's a character we can all relate too. The director plays the role of a comparatively insignificance character, but a character that adds to the group of believable, lovable characters.

All the characters in the movie make mistakes. All the actors play flawed people. In essence, no one is set up to be a superhero.

I was impressed by the way friendship was portrayed. Stark's real friends do plenty of things that make him mad. Plenty of things that are hard for his friends to do, but certainly the best for Stark and everyone else involved. I found this true portrayal of friendship extremely refreshing.

All good stories can not help imitating the greatest story, but I found some of the themes in Iron Man 2 particularly interesting.
At one point Ivan Vanko says, "If you make God bleed people, people will cease to believe in him." This actually made me LOL. This guy needs to read his Bible. I guess bad guys don't change much....

The movie is mostly clean. The opening scene scene earns it's PG 13 rating with some disturbingly immodest dancing, but as a whole it's considerably cleaner then the original Iron Man.

I guess this is more of a rant/ramble/musing then a review. I haven't watched Iron Man for awhile so I can't say if it's better then it's sequel. I think it is more cohesive, but not so satisfying. I thought the ending of Iron Man 2 was amazing for a superhero movie! It was actually a satisfactory ending! As a whole, though, it wasn't as cohesive...a little more choppy and rambling.

Basically I don't think it's perfect, but I do recommend it. It is certainly creates an interesting conversation. So why couldn't I have just said that to begin with?

Thanks for reading. If you got to the end, you are a very determined (or very bored) person.
Miss Pickwickian