Because of its rather unique take on superhero origin stories, Iron Man was quite enjoyable and offered a glimpse at the birth of a superhero from his purely embryonic origins. The initial need for superpowers was unnecessary as Tony Stark is depicted as an enviable character prior to his iron baptism – an affluent playboy who drives fast, philanders without remorse with woman who are satisfied with the fact that he has had their wrinkled and stained dresses dry-cleaned overnight so that they can slip out just as easily and cleanly as they slipped in. Only a smile crosses their face as they are dismissed by the secretary.
In other words, Stark was established as an archetypical superhero inasmuch as his charm and bank account allowed him to accomplish and experience things that are idealized to the point of being unattainable by the average person. Then the film makes him mortal, letting the audience see how quickly one can perish if in the wrong place at the wrong time. Suddenly, money matters not, but Stark’s saving grace is his intellect and his determination to survive. Forced to rely on his innate talents, the superhero and the audience have bonded, and in much more of a way than one could bond with Peter Parker, the awkward teen who is bitten by a spider or Bruce Wayne who watches his parents brutally murdered in front of him, but has enough fiscal resources and an erudite butler to help him adjust.
Stark becomes the every man; his sense of survival transitions from sexual conquests and cars to self-reflection and the overall ramifications that his perpetually burgeoning capital has on society; the question of how he exists within himself and as a part of the world that his is charged with corrupting through the manufacturing of decimating weapons takes center stage. And, at the end of Iron Man, when Stark tosses aside the 3×5 cards that feed him a cover-up story to announce that he is Iron Man, there’s a sense that he does it because he can’t return to being a fraud, the face of a company with causes irreparable damage. Or, I would have liked to think…
Iron Man 2 confirms that my reading of the first film is a bit wonky, and instead of continuing Tony Stark’s changed-man personage, Iron Man 2 devolves Stark’s character back to the chauvinistic playboy. While this was charming in the initial film, Stark’s character was saved when he becomes reflective. There is little reflection in Iron Man 2; instead, Stark and Iron Man have become commodities; commodities that Stark himself is manufacturing and marketing, primarily when he arrives on the first day of Starkfest — the yearlong gathering of techno-junkies that will unveil the newest revolutionary weapons, gadgets, and gizmos to grace the world stage – dressed as Iron Man before stripping of the suit to make a speech about how he will not talk about how many times he has saved the world. As Stark’s humility flies out the window, so does our connection with him as Iron Man 2 actually illustrates him as more of a snarky ass than a guy we might empathize with.
Overall, this snarky persona has a binary effect on the audience. To writer Justin Theoux’s and director John Favreau’s credit, this snarky persona is actually closer to the one illustrated by the Iron Man comic books. Tony Stark was never really a likable guy in the comics and his struggle between being a model asshole mogul often conflicted with the inner responsibility to stop bad things from happening. At the same time, Stark’s snarkiness also pushes the audience to care less about what seems to be the primary plot of the film – aside from forging a bridge to the Avengers movie that will come out soon – the fact that Tony is dying from palladium, the “element that is keeping [him] alive,” which the HAL-like voice reminds us of in a rather unnecessarily expositing voiceover. (Tony presses his thumb to a small gadget to find out his “blood toxicity” reading three times within the first twenty minutes of the film.)
One would think that this recognition of mortality might bring Stark back to the character that charmed us in Iron Man; however, his mortality juxtaposed with the faux immortality of the Iron Man suit impels Tony to act recklessly, which in one sense could be seen as a cry for help. Unfortunately, this potential cry for help becomes a way to kill twenty-five minutes of film and elicit some cheap laughs – more from fist-palming than from genuine comedy.
Segue: There is no bigger face-palm in the movie than when Howard Stark, Tony’s father, talks to him from beyond the grave and reveals that the invention Howard is most of proud of is “you”. This is not a spoiler; if you can sit through this film and not predict the word that’s coming after the pregnant pause, boo.
Depressed and struggling with his impending death, which HAL reminds us again “will kill [him],” Tony gets trashed during his birthday party, and our first glimpse of him is as a DJ, dressed in the Iron Man suit, slugging Dom Perignon. In a way, this is sad. Truthfully, not sure what I would do if I knew I was going to die sooner rather than later, but after Don Cheadle dons his own suit and orders the guests to leave, he and Tony proceed to destroy Tony’s house while fighting to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” which is a fine song, but prefaced by Stark requesting the late DJ AM to lay down a “beat.” In the end, the entire scene is an exercise in unnecessary footage.
Aside from relegating Stark to an annoying figure, which is actually a credit to Robert Downey Jr. who manages to make Stark simply annoying and not obnoxious, the film has some fine moments. The CGI is still rather stellar and the combat scenes involving Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Iron Man are worth sticking around for, as is the preceding scene where chaos breaks loose at Starkfest. I promise, I’m not ruining anything. It’s a comic book movie. If you didn’t expect chaos, you’ve never read a comic book.
Likewise, I was a bit hesitant about seeing Iron Man 2 because the previews were jammed with so many characters that it looked as if this would be the second coming of Joel Schumacher’s red-headedBatmanstepchildren, but surprisingly, the cast of characters don’t sink the film. Mickey Rourke’s performance is rather subdued, and while his character is important to the action that unfolds, it is also rather restrained and the revenge angle is not overly-complicated. Really, it serves to expose Stark as the snarky ass that he seems to be.
In addition, Scarlett Johansson’s turn as Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanov/Black Widow is also rather subdued, and the sequence where she takes out a dozen guards is quite well choreographed and not overly Matirx-y [sic?] And, Sam Rockwell, who is slowly becoming my number one for “Most Underrated Actor” does a fine job as the oblivious and thoroughly incompetent Justin Hammer.
In the end, the one thing that Iron Man 2 drove home for me was that Iron Man is not a very interesting character. He’s really just a man in an iron suit, and there was no need for a sequel aside for being a bridge to the upcoming “Avengers,” “Captain America,” and “Thor” – if you chose to stay around for three minutes beyond the credits – films.
DYL Mag Score: 6
