Civil War Countdown - Iron Man 2

I'm so sorry, I promise I'll finish this.

So, yeah, Iron Man kinda kicked shit off. Suddenly, between this, and The Dark Knight, suddenly superhero movies were the big thing. Everybody wanted a slice, so we began to get movies about characters that we'd never seen before. There was a new Hulk film, but it very loosely tied into the canon set up by the films and wasn't very spectacular (it was good, but not spectacular). We even got a Watchmen film (that's due for a underrated movie review in the future). So, naturally, Marvel was keen to do a follow up to Iron Man, and something that would open up to a franchise that was a risky move from the start. Naturally, people were excited. Then they saw the movie. Wait, I think that's a bit unfair to this movie, hold on...

Iron Man 2 pretty much picks up where Iron Man left off, with the beginning scenes showcasing the press conference where Stark announces that he is Iron Man. However, we see it from a different point of view: Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), a crazy Russian physicist who's hellbent on making Stark pay for the way his family was treated. Meanwhile, Stark is just kicking off the Stark expo when he's subpeona'd for a senate hearing over the rights to the suit. At the meeting, various senators and our film's antagonist, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) argue that Tony should hand the suit over to the people, but he refuses, saying that there's no threat from the suit. When he returns home, we find out that the reactor in his chest is slowly killing him, which sends Tony into a spree of doing whatever the fuck he wants.

He appoints Pepper Potts to the position of CEO of Stark Industries, and meets Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson) who oversees the transition and becomes Tony's assistant. They all fly to Monaco, where Tony races in a classic F1 track. Not for long, as Vanko suddenly shows up with a pair of electronic whips, powered by his own homemade arc reactor. Tony defeats Vanko and he's sent to jail, where he soon breaks out with the aid of Hammer, who employs Vanko to make arc reactors to power his new set of droids which he has built to counter Stark's arrogance. As Tony gets closer and closer to death, he gets more and more unruly, to the point where he's holding a birthday party and begins to wreck the place in his suit. Stark's friend Rhodey (this time played by Don Cheadle, not Terrence Howard. Who's Terrence Howard?) steps in, commandeering his own suit and engaging in a fight with Tony. He ends up flying off, bringing the suit to the army, where Hammer weaponizes it, turning Rhodey into War Machine.

Back with Tony, he receives a visit from Nick Fury and Natalie reveals herself to be Natasha Romanoff, a highly trained agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury tells Stark to find a way to cure himself so he can finally become part of the Avengers. While Tony is hesitant at first, he eventually caves in (after he's put under house arrest to find a new substance to keep him alive). He eventually does find something, after looking through his father's (John Slattery) old tapes and finds some clues that were left in an old map for the 1974 Stark expo. Harnessing the tech, he suits up and flies to the Expo, where Hammer is presenting his new Vanko-built drones. They all lock onto Tony and a huge battle engages between Stark, Rhodey, and the drones. Tony is eventually victorious however, as Vanko is killed and Hammer is sent to jail. After the credits, we get a small scene where agent Coulson finds Thor's hammer in New Mexico (setting up for the next movie, Thor).

As far as I know, the general consensus on this movie is that people generally hate it. I honestly think that they're justified in their feelings for it, but, some of the claims are rather unfair. Talking about the bad stuff first here for once, let me get out of the way the fact that the villains in this movie are too weak and almost feel way too unimportant. A huge comic character such as Whiplash shouldn't be written as a second-rate worker for the big guy. And, honestly, who really even cares about Justin Hammer? Sam Rockwell plays him like some clean-cut version of his Hitchhiker's Guide character, Zaphod Beeblebrox. He's a cut price Tony Stark, and maybe that's what they were going for with it, but it just doesn't work.

Another big issue is that the plot calls for the introduction of too many other characters. From the villain introductions, to the new Rhodey introduction that leads into the unveiling of War Machine, to the introduction of Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. It's just too damn over-saturated with characters, and that makes this movie largely feel like a drag sometimes. You forget who's the main character in the scenes, who you're supposed to be rooting for, and just...who?

That all being said, there are some things to salvage from this movie. First off, as usual, the actors used perform brilliantly with what they're given. Robert Downey, Jr still proves that he's the ideal Iron Man, and Don Cheadle portrays a much, MUCH better Rhodey than Terrence Howard. Mickey Rourke is always fun to see, and Scarlett Johansson is always a scene stealer. Even on their worst movies, Marvel knows how to assemble an all-star cast (expect me to bring that up once again soon).

Also, over-saturation of characters aside, the plot is actually pretty well put together. It does a pretty good job of meshing its plots together...Tony trying to save himself and prove himself to the Avengers, as well as Vanko powering up to attack Tony. It's very straightforward, and it does keep the audience in focus and well-entertained.

Iron Man 2 is far from a perfect movie. It's riddled with flaws and all sorts of issues that might make people slightly disappointed when compared to the original. However, calling it the worst MCU movie is a bit much. I'm going to give it a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars for its efforts, while keeping in mind its problems. If you haven't seen Iron Man 2 lately, I'd give it a rewatch and see if you can find the good bits sprinkled throughout. Who knows, maybe others will start to love it?