Reel Time Updates: Iron Man 2

So, yes… I did go see Iron Man 2 this past Saturday night with a couple of my movie buddies. The theater was buzzing, but not packed like I thought it would be. The showing was at 10pm, so I guess the heavier crowds had come and gone a little earlier. We did have a little trouble finding three seats that were: a) adjacent to one another, b) not near any kids, and c) not directly in front of anyone using our seats for Ottomans.

The Trailers: There was a decent spread of trailers prior to the film: Inception, Despicable Me, The Last Airbender, Grown Ups, Shrek Forever After, Super8, and Eclipse, to name a few. I’m really looking forward to the first three. Shrek I can take or leave. Grown Ups is a comedy (Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, etc.), and I can take or leave that entire genre. The Super8 trailer was yawn-worthy and had a real “been there, done that” feeling to it. It was basically just a big name-dropper (Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams), and while that combo may stir up geeky squeals from some people, I was not impressed.

The trailer that seemed to elicit the biggest reaction from any part of the audience was the Eclipse preview, which sent several front rows of adolescent girls into shrieking fits, particularly when Taylor Lautner appeared on-screen (I think Team Edward is starting to fizzle out after two films). As we watched hordes of unhealthy-looking vampires stepping out of murky lakes and knocking over trees, one of my friends wryly remarked that the film would actually be a little scary if it weren’t “Twilight”.

My Take on Iron Man 2: I’ve read several reviews that have accused Iron Man 2 of being too choppy plot-wise, with a story that jumped around too quickly. I did not really sense this during my viewing, but then I was too busy enjoying the film, and, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m not a very objective movie reviewer.

There were quite a few little sub-plots, yes, but not enough to distract from the overall story. It definitely seemed to give a lot more focus to Tony Stark than to Iron Man, but that made sense because of the situations Stark’s character was going through/being placed in. The off-the-cuff humor seemed to have doubled in the second film, and the snappy dialog elicited plenty of laughs from the audience.

Samuel L. Jackson’s character (Nick Fury) was upgraded from appearing as part of Marvel’s end-credits teasers to an actual film participant. One disappointment was that Scarlett Johansson’s character (Black Widow / Natalie Rushman) spent a lot more time as Natalie, and not nearly enough time as the bone-crunching, leather-clad Black Widow. When she did finally start breaking out the arse-kicking moves, though (towards the end of the film), they were pretty awesome. As was the finale showdown fight between a bunch of evil military drones (they can salute!) and Team Iron Man/War Machine. (Oh, and I’m sorry Terrence Howard fans, but Don Cheadle kicked his butt as Col. Rhodes.)

I could probably give a more comprehensive take after a second viewing, but for now Iron Man 2 freakin’ rocked. Good story, good dialog, good acting, good special effects, and lots of action. Perfect film to start off what looks to be a great summer at the movies.