The MCU was a landmark of cinema because of the way it serialized entire movies and brought them all to a breath-taking conclusion. This was a journey that was marred with certain complications. Enter Iron Man 2, where they seemed to not know where they wanted to take Tony Stark's story. While Iron Man 3 would prove to be just as unhelpful, it seemed that after the initial Iron Man movie, Tony Stark shined a lot brighter in the Avengers movies or other movies that were not his.
For starters, the villain in this movie was rather forgettable. Mickey Rourke gives a good performance as Whiplash, and Sam Rockwell is always good for an entertaining villain, but they just didn't mix well. There seemed to be too much conflict without enough actual story between them to make Hammer and Whiplash's interactions really click. They could be funny in the same scene, and they even pulled off a few good gags here and there. Overall, though, they both ended up just fizzling out of the series all together, both in person and memory.
One thing I did not hit on in the first review was the part of Thomas Howard. I have always loved him in pretty much any movie he is in and Iron Man is no different. This is why I was a little heartbroken that he was not returning as War Machine for the sequel. Apparently, he got top billing for the first movie and he wanted that again. When the studio refused, he walked and we got Don Cheadle instead. Cheadle has sat in that position comfortably ever since and we are all good for it. He brought some of his own personality and charm to the character and it worked like a perfectly fitted puzzle piece. A bit of a shame, but hey, who doesn't love Captain Planet, am I right?
The story, however, is not wrapped up with a very tight bow. In fact, there are some plot holes you could drive a semi through. For some reason, they decided that the fuel source for his power generator that was surgically implanted in his chest is now killing him. So, thinking he has no more time to live, he decides to go on a bender. This brings up conflict with Rhodes and the two of them go on and off while Whiplash is in the background, trying to kill Tony for his father ruining his father. This whole plot was a mess from the start.
The biggest plothole lies within the sickness that is killing Tony. Bringing it into the story from the start painted them into a corner that they needed to get out of. So, what do they do? Make it to where his father made a new power source, made needless clues and difficulty to get to it and told Tony through a secret recording. His father somehow knew he would need this new power source and put the code for it in a secret message in a miniature Stark Industries display. It even miraculously cures Tony's illness immediately! To say this was nonsensical would be a grievous understatement.
They handled some scenes with grace, obviously. They had a ball with Tony and Hammer going head to head in the courtroom at the very beginning. Some interactions with Tony and Nick Fury are quite comedic, but Fury basically is just a downer through the majority of the film. They also did very well with War Machine and Iron Man teaming up at the end to defeat all of the Whiplash drones, as well as the man himself. The battle was done well enough, but it's not going to be in any history books. While their teamwork was fun to watch, they're still just robot drones along with Mickey Rourke in a knockoff Iron Man suit.
One of the biggest points in this movie's favor, though, is the introduction of Black Widow. Scarlett Johansson makes her debut as Natasha Romanova and does such a spectacular job, that the fanbase welcomed her to the Avengers with open arms. Her scenes of kicking ass did make it to the Marvel history books, especially mixed with some comedy from John Favreau. It's kind of sad that people actually liked her more than they liked this movie, thinking she deserved a better first appearance.
It's a mix and match of good and bad, but it's also not especially favorable around campfires. With how well the Avengers series did, this is seen as sort of a black sheep among the herd. It has its definite pros, but the cons kind of weigh it down to mediocrity. Iron Man would go on to become one of the most beloved characters in the MCU, but it most certainly wasn't due to his solo series in the franchise. As well as Robert Downey Jr plays him, it's still going to boil down to the script and what it provides to the series. This may have been an early entry, but it still did very little for the MCU as a whole. Black Widow and shiny new suits will only get you so far when you know what menace is over the horizon. That storyline is about to begin and it will shake this series to its very foundations. Virtua Snap.
