Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
In many ways, director Jon Favreau has done something rather remarkable--he's made a film about a man who has decided rather impetuously to take on the problems of the entire world and make them his own. And then we get the distinct pleasure of watching that individual crack and crumble under the weight of that self-imposed responsibility. Tony Stark has learned that with great power comes a psychological meltdown that he may not recover from, and who other than Robert Downey Jr. could personify such a person? As much as we like to think that Christopher Nolan's dark, brooding and largely perfect Batman films have cornered the market on tapping into the psyche of a man who has elected to become a protector of humans, allow me to submit Favreau's IRON MAN 2 as a film that challenges nearly every level of hero building and turns it into a profile of a man whose massive ego is simply not enough to handle the task at hand.
Of course, IRON MAN 2 also features explosions to the tenth power and some of the messiest, clunkiest, and most believable fight sequences comic book-based films have seen to date. The beats of this film don't resemble (I'm hoping intentionally) any superhero film I've seen to date, especially in the earliest scenes. Even the first fight sequence between Iron Man and Mickey Rourke's Whiplash on a Monaco racetrack seem realistically paced. Just as it begins to get revved up, it's over, and Rourke is captured (perhaps by design). But then we realize that Rourke's Ivan Vanko wasn't trying to defeat Stark--the man he hates most in the world largely because of sins committed by Stark's father, Howard, against Vanko's Soviet defector father decades earlier. He was trying to show that the Iron Man technology is out in the hands of criminals, and this, to quote Vanko, would show the world that "God can bleed." For the first time, Iron Man is made to look vulnerable.
Most of the film takes place six months after IRON MAN, and in that time Stark has essentially turned the world into a peaceful place, primarily because the world's evil empires are afraid of the red-and-gold warrior kicking their ass. The U.S. government (in the guise of Gary Shandling's Senator Stern) of course, wants the Iron Man technology for weapons purposes; Stark says No, because Iron Man isn't a weapon. He says it's an extension of himself.
Stark is now a man with two jobs--running Stark Industries and protecting the entire planet--and like most overworked people, the strain on his life is overwhelming, so much so that he turns over the reigns of the company to his trusted assistant Pepper Potts (a returning Gwyneth Paltrow). And like similar busy men, Stark's world of associates grows to include a new helper in the form of Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson in a nice, understated turn, if you disregard the extra-tight wardrobe) and the more overt presence of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson in a much bigger role this go-round) to help him with his superhero business. Fury is still after Stark about joining--perhaps leading--the Avengers initiative, which means that these events take place before or during those in the recent THE INCREDIBLE HULK film, where Stark's cameo makes it clear he is fully on board with the super group. But I digress…
There are two enemies for Iron Man to contend with in this IRON MAN 2, which makes the film sound a bit overcrowded, but it doesn't feel that way at all. Vanko is the defective twin of Stark, with his bastardized, crude Iron Man technology helping fuel his Whiplash persona. Even his facial hair is a knockoff of Stark's perfectly groomed goatee. Vanko isn't a bad man, and in a strange way, we feel for the guy only because we know growing up the way he did, he didn't have a chance. Rourke conveys a wrestler's swagger with an intelligence and patience that no one else in this movie even comes close to. I love the way he peers over reading glasses when sizing up someone.
On the flip side of Stark's nemesis list is fellow inventor Justin Hammer, played to scene-stealing perfection by Sam Rockwell, who inhabits the lesser industrialist like a used care salesman trying desperately to sell you the worst car on the lot. After Vanko is captured, Hammer swipes him out of prison and stages it to look like Vanko is dead. Hammer admires Vanko's skills as an engineer along with his overt desire to kill Tony Stark, and he sets Vanko on the task of building a new army of Iron Man soldiers. If Vanko is a unformed twin of Stark, then Hammer is Salieri to Stark's Mozart, and it's fascinating to watch the dance these two do. Stark has no respect for Hammer or his hack work, but it makes some degree of sense for them to stay aware of what the other is doing. Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux (TROPIC THUNDER) are smart to give each new character a complete justification for being added to this universe and giving them things to do once they are dropped into the IRON MAN world. There's no window dressing or famous faces just sitting around giving this film some added level of clout.
For those uber-comic book geeks, Favreau hasn't forgotten you either, since a portion of his job with IRON MAN 2 is to pave the way for THE AVENGERS film. There are repeated references to events transpiring in New Mexico ("The Land of Enchantment"), and a certain star-centered shield makes a rather blatant cameo here (and don't you dare leave until after the credits are complete). Favreau in many ways is setting the tone as well as plot for THOR and CAPTAIN AMERICA. And as structured as you might think Favreau has to be to make all of that happen, IRON MAN 2 has a spirit as free and wild as the man at the center of this story. Writer Theroux seems to know exactly how to write for Downey, how to inspire him to build Tony Stark into the most human of all superhero alter egos. There are several sequences in which there's actual overlapping dialogue, much like a revved up Robert Altman film. When Stark walks through a room full of admirers after he opens his company's Stark Expo or maneuvers through onlookers at a Monaco restaurant, he doesn't just exude confidence; he talks the talk and never loses his place in simultaneous conversations. Downey is breathtaking at times.
Never is that more apparent than in the scenes between Downey and Don Cheadle (as the recast Lt. Col. James Rhodes), which are loose and funny and truly resemble encounters between two age-old pals who also happen to work together frequently. Rhodey is the only man worthy of the tricked-out War Machine armor that he ends up wearing for the film's climactic battle. But more impressive is the armored fight scene between Rhodes and a drunken Stark at a party at Tony's house. I'm sure most of what we're looking at is CGI, but damn, does that brawl feel real and weighty and nasty.
The details of the plot I'll let you discover, but I appreciated that it was dense without being confusing, and I loved that it felt grounded in a kind of reality where pressures and emotions figure into a person's disposition as much as their reaction to being praised and loved by millions. IRON MAN 2 is a different kind of superhero film that still manages to roll around in the glitz and glamor and expectations of studio films while taking chances like an indie might. Favreau has assembled a team to make these movies that should never be broken up, and I hope he and Marvel Studios have the courage to keep caring about characters and plot as much as they do about spectacle and volume. After seeing it twice now, I've grown to really appreciate IRON MAN 2's attempts to harness a certain kind of intellectual appeal and make that as sexy as the explosions. This is a film that I think gets better upon second viewing, and I'm beyond impressed with the life that bubbles forth from this work. I can't wait to see it again.
-- Capone
capone@aintitcool.com
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