Iron Man 2 (Movie Reaction)

Iron Man 2- Thank you yet again for another fantastic movie reaction, Reds! Iron Man 2 is a lot of fun, although I completely agree with pretty much everything you said. I like the first Iron Man movie a little bit more than this one. However, I do love that we get to meet Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson in this movie. And I love that we get to know a few characters a bit more such as Nick Fury played by Samuel L. Jackson, as well as Tony's friend and loyal bodyguard... Happy Hogan, played by Jon Favreau. Jon Favreau not only plays Happy within these Iron Man movies and a few other movies throughout this Marvel Universe, but he is also the writer, director, and producer of these first two Iron Man movies. And he and Robert Downey Jr. are very good friends in real life. And I really love Happy as a character within these movies. He was briefly shown throughout the first Iron Man movie, but he was much more of a background character. I am so happy he became much more within this movie. Happy is a great character. He's funny. Especially in the end of this movie when he gets so happy and proud of himself when he finally takes down the one thug working for Hammer, only to look around him and discover that Natasha had taken out all the rest of Hammer's thugs with so much ease. Hilarious!! I love Happy!! And Jon Favreau is both a brilliant actor and director. :) I also really enjoy getting to see Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury a lot more throughout this movie, and not just within an end credit scene like we got with him within the first Iron Man movie. Fury still wasn't in this movie too, too much, but he had a few very important scenes with Tony throughout this movie. Especially when they're talking at Tony's Malibu home about Tony's father, Howard, and how Howard had been one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s founders. I also love the end scene between Fury and Tony when Fury talks to Tony about making him a consultant for them, at least for now. Rather than making him an official member of the Avengers, due to Tony's self destructive and narcissistic behavior. Which makes complete sense. Tony is a bit of a loose cannon. I can't blame Fury, Natasha, and any of Tony's friends and colleagues for worrying about him for various reasons. Nonetheless... Nick Fury is amazing, and everyone loves him, especially because he's played by Samuel L. Jackson. :) And now... I really love Tony Stark as a character for the most part. And I especially love Robert Downey Jr. in the role of Tony Stark. Because he is absolutely brilliant, and hilarious. However, this movie is the first time that I come to see a bit of his character that I really don't like. And this is why Tony Stark/Iron Man isn't one of my favorite heroes within the Marvel Universe like he is for most of the fans of these movies. Yes... in the first Iron Man, Tony was cocky, arrogant, and full of himself. However, in the first movie, we really see Tony become humbled and learn from his past mistakes. And Tony rights his wrongs, and completely changes everything that he believed Stark Industries once stood for, in order to try to help the people who had been wronged and hurt by his company's weapons that had fallen into enemy hands thanks to Obediah... the villain within the first Iron Man movie. But then here in Iron Man 2, Tony once again grows to be even more arrogant than before, and his actions wind up hurting a lot more people, and nearly pushes away those closest to him for good. And in all honesty... Tony just really annoys me throughout a majority of this movie. His cockiness and arrogance, while these bad behaviors may be shielded in a way by his humor, is just through the roof throughout this movie. And it's all just more annoying to me than I wish it was. Don't get me wrong... I still love Tony Stark. I especially love him again by the end of this movie. I just feel that his arrogance is a little too much for me at times, and it is his biggest flaw. As a superhero, and as a character within these movies. His arrogance is why Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer very nearly defeat him. It's thanks to Tony's friends, including Coulson, Natasha, and Fury with S.H.I.E.L.D. that he doesn't completely fall and get himself killed. Pepper like always is great within this movie. I love seeing her and Tony grow even closer throughout this movie in spite of his poor behavior. And I love how Tony makes her CEO of Stark Industries, because please... she is more than capable of running the company. Even despite Tony himself nearly bringing it down. And Pepper is always the best one at getting through to Tony whenever he gets out of line. She can handle him and their company better than anyone. Because she knows Tony better than anyone. And despite her reservations with being so, she really does love Tony, as he loves her too. And now... they're finally together at last! Yay!! I love the ending between them when they finally kiss, and in front of Rhodey, which is hilarious. :) As for Tony's closest friend, Rhodes or Rhodey... First, I really like the actor who comes to pay him throughout this movie, as well as all future movies within the Marvel Universe that he comes to be in as well. For reasons unknown, possibly because he had other projects he was working on and was therefore too busy to continue playing Rhodey, Terrance Howard gave up this role. So, Don Cheadle has now taken over this role. While I do miss Terrance Howard, I also really love Don Cheadle as Rhodey. Maybe even more so. And now... I do somewhat agree with you that Rhodes was wrong to steal the silver Iron Man suit from Tony and deliver it into the hands of the military and Justin Hammer, and therefore unknowingly of course into the hands of Vanko... this movie's two villains. However, I do believe that Rhodey only did so with the best of intentions, given that Tony was spinning out of control and becoming more and more self destructive. And Tony came to see this by the end of the movie and actually agreed that Rhodey was right to take the suit from him. Although... Natasha does make a point in this movie to say to Tony and to Fury, that Tony has built in special protocols into all of his suits so that they can never be stolen and used by anyone else. Which reveals to us that Tony always intended for Rhodey to be able to use his suits as well. Most likely in a case of emergency. And him nearly dying and becoming self destructive are. So, in truth... Rhodey never really did steal the suit. But with all of this being said... I agree with you that their big fight inside Tony's home the night of Tony's party, was a bit too ridiculous and it went on for too long. However, it was Tony who annoyed me more during their fight than Rhodey. I love that we get to see Agent Coulson again, even though he isn't in this movie as much as he was in the first Iron Man movie. I really love the banter between Coulson and Tony. And yes... what appeared to be the broken looking shield Coulson had picked up to hand it over to Tony so he could level out part of the machine he was building, was indeed a broken prototype of Captain America's shield, which you will come to see very soon, as the first Captain America movie comes next just after Thor. :) And of course... you get to hear Jarvis even more within this movie too. I love Jarvis. I love his banter with Tony too, and it's all the more impressive because Jarvis is an AI built by Tony. Jarvis is as much of a character throughout these movies as anyone else is. And I love him. :) As for the three new characters introduced to us within this movie... I love Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow. I love that she comes to work for Pepper and Tony at Stark Industries, only to learn that Fury had placed her there to keep an eye on Tony for him, revealing that she's actually an agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. much like Agent Coulson is. Only, Natasha is a master assassin and a highly trained combat agent. I especially love seeing her fight in the end as she takes out all of the men upon breaking into Justin Hammer's headquarters with Happy. Fantastic! And she is most certainly beautiful. :) Also... yes, she does have her own movie. However, like you discovered, it isn't until way down the line, in phase four. You will come to know more about Natasha little by little throughout more of the movies within this Marvel Universe as they continue on. But you won't really get to know her so completely until her own movie, and there are good reasons for it coming out so much later. Sadly... not all of the original Avengers do get their own movies. Nor do some of the other upcoming heroes who come to join the Avengers in later movies. There is one of the original six Avengers who does not get his own movie, whereas characters like Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, etc... get multiple movies. However, this one Avenger does get his own show, which also comes out way down the line in phase four. However, in my opinion, this show does not do his character justice, and he totally feels more like a background character, or guest star more than anything else. At least to me. And to me... this is a real travesty, because I really love this character and the actor who plays him. But enough said. You haven't met this character yet, so we can talk more about him once you do soon. :) Justin Hammer, the first and most annoying of the villains within these Iron Man movies, if not within every Marvel movie... is played by Sam Rockwell. A talented actor, well known for playing bizarre characters such as this one. However, while Hammer is most certainly annoying, he is absolutely meant to be as such. He is written to be unlikeable in every way, which makes seeing Tony mock him and make a fool out of him that much more fun. Ivan Vanko on the other hand, is a villain that I actually really dislike as well, even though I am far more intrigued by this character than I felt about Obediah Stain in the first Iron Man movie. However, for me... I feel like my dislike of Ivan Vanko comes more from me really not liking the actor who plays him... Mickey Rourke. I never liked this actor at all, in any movie I've ever seen with him. I know he was a more old school kind of actor known for playing villains fighting against old school heroes such as those played by Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean Claude Van Dame, Dolph Lundgren, etc... I never really watched many of his movies, mostly because I don't like Mickey Rourke. But I suspect that maybe this is why there is a long dramatic pause when his character, Vanko is first shown in the beginning of this movie. It's simply for the actor, because so many people know him well for playing such villains. But with all of this being said... I really don't like Ivan Vanko either. Ivan Vanko is just silly, and in my opinion... lame. I hate how Mickey Rourke plays this character, I hate his entire costumes that just seems weak, and mostly... I hate that his motives for hating Tony are simply because he hates that Tony's father, Howard, had fired his own father for being a traitor much like Obediah Stain was, which Ivan believed led to his father's death. Even though for me... this is the most intriguing part about this character. And while Obediah Stain wasn't too much better, I still like Obediah Stain much more in the first Iron Man movie. Mostly because I really do love Jeff Bridges as an actor. In my opinion... I feel like the villains within all three of these Iron Man movies are the worst villains throughout all of these Marvel movies. I just don't like any of them. There are a few other villains in some of the other movies that I don't like either, but to me... these within the Iron Man movies most certainly stand out among the worst of the villains. Overall... I really do enjoy Iron Man 2 in spite of what I've pointed out to be some of this movie's weaker aspects. Tony, Pepper, Rhodes, Happy, Coulson, and Fury are all fantastic!! And I love the addition of Natasha Romanoff now too. I like this movie's overall storylines, and I love seeing Tony Stark once again rise up and continue to be a strong hero. :) Thank you again for another fantastic reaction for this great movie, Reds! I really loved watching Iron Man 2 again with you, and I am happy you enjoyed it. I'm happy we agree on pretty much everything too. :) And now... I am excited for you to be able to enjoy Thor, and can't wait for your reaction to the first Thor movie in July!! You may be surprised to see a very familiar face in this next movie. :) Until then, dear friend... Thank you, Reds! Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum