Has He Lost His Mind? Can He See Or Is He Blind?

Alrighty then, one more double tying into The Avengers and then on to the main event itself!

Today, we're looking at the genesis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as its sequel. So, let's get into the high flying action of the Iron Man duology.

Now, I've reviewed a comic on Iron Man much earlier in the blog's history (the trade called Iron Man: War Of The Iron Men) but I never went into his origin story. Well, let's go through that now, shall we?

Iron Man was created in 1963 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber and Don Heck. Thematically, the Iron Man title was used to represent the Cold War and the idea of business tackling communism.

Tony Stark is overseas, observing how his new technology is aiding the American war effort, but is injured by a booby trap and taken hostage. His captors demand that he make weapons for them, but with the help of fellow prisoner Ho Yinsen, he constructs a suit to both make his escape and sustain his heart, after the heart became loaded with shrapnel.

The origin is perhaps one of the best of any hero in comics and to this day, remains the same, save for updating the war to the current day (the first film naturally has this event occur in Afghanistan). The one exception I can think of is The Invincible Iron Man, a straight to DVD film from 2007, in which he's in China trying to raise a city (I'll get to that one somewhere along the line).

So, with the first movie going with that for the first act, how does the rest of it go?

Well, after Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) gets back to America, he announces that Stark Enterprises is getting out of the weapon manufacturing game and he spends his time making better versions of the suit. Tony's partner, Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) is not pleased about this change in plans, and decides to take things in his own direction. All the while, Tony's trying to prove not just to the world that he's making an effort to change, but his friend Jim Rhodes (Terence Howard), his secretary/love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and himself.

Going into the film back in 2008, I had little knowledge of the Iron Man franchise. I knew that Tony was one of the few heroes whose identity was public knowledge (though Marvel did kind of flip-flop on that) and that the suit was his means of escaping. Though the film did look really good based on the trailer, I still wasn't sure on how things would turn out. But here's my opinion in a nutshell: if The Dark Knight had not come out in 2008, this would have been my favourite movie of the year.

There is just so much to love about this movie. It's a wonderful mix of humor, action, drama and even the faintest hint of romance. Even with the changes between the comic history and the movie, they are changes that aren't done to the movie's detriment.

Let's start with the characters: I swear, it's like Robert Downey Jr. was born just to be Tony Stark. Even though the film doesn't really go into detail with Tony's alcoholism (often considered his Achilles heel in the comics), it's still present as is his desire for attention, over-confidence and dry sense of quick-wit. The man with a thousand one-liners, never missing his mark and always at the ready. RDJ's best role by far and he is an absolute joy. My absolute favourite part of the movie is this exchange, between a reporter (Leslie Bibb) and Tony:
“What do you say to your other nickname, "The Merchant Of Death”?”

“That's not bad.”

He says that without missing a beat. AND he manages to seduce the reporter, despite the fact that she's basically mud-slinging! He's like James Bond minus the spy part!

And his slight evolution from playboy to crusader is totally believable. I say slight, because he's still got ways to go, but that works. As does his attempts at being sincere with Pepper about how much he needs her. RDJ swaps gears within a second anytime he needs to and he's wonderful.

Speaking of Pepper, of any love interest in any comic book movie, she is the absolute best. She's independent, capable, confident, and funny. As a bonus (spoilers for the... what is it, six people who haven't seen this yet?), she DOESN'T get kidnapped AND she actually helps take down the villain! Holy crap, she's not a prop! Why has it taken this long to happen?! Why can't Mary Jane Watson be more like this?

Terence Howard's the straight man for this film, when Pepper's not on screen, and that totally works. Too bad he couldn't be War Machine, but hey, he was still a great supporter.

Jeff Bridges... holy crap, Jeff Bridges was a marvelous (no pun intended) villain. Cool and confident (yeah, this movie oozes confidence), even when going to the brink of insanity (“TONY STARK BUILT THIS IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!” Come on, you knew I was going to do it). And when he climbs into the Iron Monger suit... awesomeness ensues.

Action-wise, it blows (again, no pun intended) the competition away. Seeing the Iron Man suit in action, my jaw dropped the first time he flew. And even today, I'm still in awe of what they've achieved. Whether it's just simple flight, or taking on planes and hitching a ride on them, it's breathtaking.

Now, with me and my tendencies to find flaws, did I find any in this film? One. And it's a small one: over the closing credits, Black Sabbath's Iron Man is playing. That is awesome. However, it's instrumental. I was hoping for the original. Yeah, the lyrics may not play out well with the movie, but still, it's an awesome song. There, that's the only complaint, a tiny one.

Also, the changes I mentioned? There's only one major one: in the comics, Edwin Jarvis is the butler of the Avengers, and is kind of like Alfred, to an extent. In this movie, he's an AI instead, voiced by Paul Bettany. Am I bothered by this? No, because he has Edwin's dry wit and is extremely useful. Much like Edwin.

Oh, and Coulson. He's awesome. Nothing more needs to be said.

So, yes, I love this movie and I highly recommend it. 4.5/5. Oh and the scene at the very end of the credits? Amazing. Samuel L. Jackson's first appearance as Nick Fury and in that very short scene, he commands the scene. “I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative”. And with that, the game changed even more.

But how does Iron Man 2 stack up?

Six months after the end of Iron Man, in which Tony Stark has revealed he is Iron Man, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) seeks vengeance on Tony for what Tony's father did to his own. Meanwhile, Tony's dying from the arc reactor that keeps his heart going and is growing more and more reckless. He's trying to win Pepper over, but only succeeds in pushing her further away, as well as Rhodey (Don Cheadle stepping in to take over the role from Terence Howard, the only change in actors between the two films). Can they save him from self-destruction?

You know, I get sick of people who are like “it's not as good as the first, boooo!” And that goes for anything. To them I say: so, because it may not be super-special-awesome, it's automatically deemed crap? Piss off! You just don't appreciate what you've got. You just want more and more of everything, without even knowing what you want.

It's not AS good as the first, sure, but it's still damn enjoyable!

Of the new characters, Mickey Rourke is really good as lead villain, Whiplash. Able to take on Iron Man with just a couple of special whips, he amazes early on and always seems to have an ace up his sleeve.

Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, Tony's business rival and second villain of the piece, isn't as good as Whiplash or Iron Monger, but he's still pretty good. It's not his fault he gets overtaken by Mickey Rourke (and his “burd”. I love that bit)

Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow makes her debut, ready for The Avengers, and damned if she's not cool. I'm a huge fan of Scarlett (personal life choices aside) and for her to be a part of this world is wonderful, as is a bigger role for Nick Fury, who is hilarious.

Don Cheadle does a great job in the role of Rhodey, probably right on par with Terence Howard. And yes, he does get to be War Machine.

And that leads to the best scene of the entire movie. As Tony's at home, drunk as a skunk, and showing off his Iron Man capabilities to his party guests. Rhodey's had enough. He gets into one of Tony's suits, tells everybody to leave, and gets into a physical match with Tony. To the tune of both Queen's Another One Bites The Dust and Daft Punk's Robot Rock. HELL. YES. This is too awesome for words. Seeing the two of them just duke it out, at one point using gym equipment, is priceless. When it comes to action, I'm a huge fan of close quarter combat, and this does not disappoint.

I know I didn't mention much about Tony and Pepper for Iron Man 2. Well, pretty much everything from the first movie applies here, but with a huger development on their chemistry, which is magical. And it pays off, as we'll (or rather, you'll) soon see...

Another great thing both movies share: awesome music. Both of them start with a kickarse AC/DC song, with Back In Black in the first movie and Shoot To Thrill in this. Hot damn.

But there is one big flaw with the movie, and that's with the end, so there will be spoilers.

Now, Tony and Rhodey teaming up to take on drones, that's all cool, that's fine. But Whiplash in his own suit... it's just a little too similar to the Iron Monger/Iron Man confrontation from the previous movie. I mean, it's still cool but I was hoping for something a little different.

But still, I highly recommend this film. And not just because Coulson is still awesome. 4/5

And the scene at the very end of this one? Damned if it wasn't good.

Well, that clears the rest of the Avenger tie-ins. Next time, the main event itself.