Iron Man 2: Discuss!

[cleolinda]

Things blew up and I am tired. However:

1) A lot of people are saying that they saw a little Tom Cruise in Sam Rockwell's performance (maybe it was the insane grinning), but I saw Gary Oldman circa The Professional + Dana Carvey. I really started to dig him once I realized this.

2) Scarlett Johansson, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, does some really fantastic things with her legs. I am pretty sure she went to the Sayid Jarrah School of Ankle Death.

3) Don Cheadle: A huge upgrade.

4) So Mickey Rourke is holed up in Sam Rockwell's factory lab garage whatever thing, and he's got his Russian prison Eastern Promises tattoos and his cockatoo and his mouthful of gold teeth and he's tinkering at this little table with these grannyish little glasses, and... so help me God, it was weirdly hot. Please, help me. Between this and the Sam Worthington at the Oscars thing, it seems certain now: you find yourself the dorkiest pair of glasses on the premises and I am yours.

Comments

[evilbearhunter.livejournal.com]

2) Scarlett Johansson, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, does some really fantastic things with her legs. I am pretty sure she went to the Sayid Jarrah School of Ankle Death.

That's EXACTLY what I was thinking. That may have been even more badass than when Sayid killed that dude with his legs. She got a guy around the neck with her legs, in midair, then landed on her feet. Awesome.

[aka-paloma.livejournal.com]

3) Don Cheadle: A huge upgrade.

Ah hah! I knew that would be the case. Take that, naysayers.

[nimlotbradamant.livejournal.com]

Dude, I just saw Charlie's Angels and was all, "Wait, wasn't that Justin Hammer?" He plays basically the same guy in both movies.

I thought the most awesome part in the movie could have been when Pepper climbed into that car with the Iron Man suitcase and ordered the chauffeur to drive her into a maelstrom of death.

It was loads of fun.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

That scene got so weird--it was like, you got your slapstick in my grim lightning-whip death!

[jaysta-11.livejournal.com]

I really wasn't impressed with it. Sure, it was entertaining and all, but it just didn't live up to the hype for me. The story line just didn't suck me in the way the first one did and it seemed like it took forever to get going.

First one was better, IMO.

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

First one was definitely better. This one was a bit slower - but once it did get going, holy shit, the action scenes were insane. I just could have done with more of them.

At least he treated Captain America's shield like a piece of crap good only for propping up his tech, though. :D

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

I loved Sam Rockwell in this. It's like Favreau took him aside and said, "Okay. Hammer wants to be Tony Stark and he's trying really hard to do it, but he totally sucks at it," and Rockwell just fucking ran with it. It was MAGICAL.

Fully agreed on points two and three. And may I add that I was so happy to see Scarlett's curves have come back. Gosh, she was so pretty in this, especially when she was making Happy look grossly incompetent or being Nick Fury's total equal like it ain't no thang. *grabbyhands*

I liked Vanko about a million times more than I was expecting to, even accounting for my mindless lust for deep voice + Russian accent. He was a much more interesting villain than I thought he'd be. Man. The volume in our theater was so loud that when he was using his energy whips, my chest vibrated, too, which was kind of worth this migraine I'm still nursing as a result.

SO HOW MANY PEOPLE FORGOT TO STAY THROUGH THE CREDITS AND MISSED THE COOL THING? HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING, PEOPLE?

so cool

[saoba.livejournal.com]

Sam Rockwell OWNED that part, he was every phony gladhanding jerk in the history of the world rolled into one. If he couldn't be Tony Stark he'd try being a Bond villian- which he also sucked at.

Did you catch the self-tanner stains on his hands in the scene where he met Vanko?

[smu.livejournal.com]

I admit, I enjoyed it. I think it suffers a little from sequel syndrome, but it was still good. Still funny. I thought RDJ was amazing in it and I can't believe how much I loved seeing Ivan. He turned out so interesting. I loved when he kept demanding his bird.

I have to say, though, I would have enjoyed it so much better if the guy in front of me hadn't gotten a handjob from his girlfriend during the big battle sequence. Who the fuck DOES that?! I'm still boggling over that.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

. . .

[ninepointfivemm.livejournal.com]

I sense a little Gary Oldman, but Gary Oldman as JEAN-BAPTISTE EMMANUEL ZORG. With the guns. You could tell he was so thinking of the "That's mah fayvrit" scene with the guns in Fifth Element.

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

Poor Rhodey didn't get a flamethrower. :(

[mysticowl.livejournal.com]

I can actually kind of see the hotness of the glasses. It was nevertheless terrifying hotness, because even in glasses, he can snap you like a twig. In general, it was just a great performance from him.

I like that bit where we were shown a photo of Ivan Vanko in his pre-prison days and he's all "I am inteligentzia, therefore, a whimp with a soul patch" and now he's hacking your drones and killing your puny guards.

[hobbitomm.livejournal.com]

Is it time for me to post pictures of me in my loupes (those magnifying glasses thingies) to get you all swooning?

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

My favorite moment: "Congratulations, Sir, you have created a new element."

(Also, building a tiny LHC in his lab. WTF, Stark, you win.)

[smu.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I kind of fangirl Jarvis. He's like a tiny robot voice version of Stephen Fry. :D

[dried-frog-pill.livejournal.com]

but I saw Gary Oldman circa The Professional + Dana Carvey. I really started to dig him once I realized this.
The whole movie I was trying to figure out why Sam Rockwell was so familiar to me - I'd forgotten he was in Frost/Nixon - but I so see the Dana Carvey.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

I love your username. :D

[acaciakitty.livejournal.com]

Visual impairment is hot; I have always said this.

I totally agree with you on point #3. After the movie I turned to my (bespectacled) husband and expressed my pleasure that they replaced poopy old Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle.

And, yeah, how much fun was Sam Rockwell in that role?

[wintersheir]

Just swooping in to say SQUEE I LOVE YOUR ICON

[quitesometime.livejournal.com]

this movie would not have been half as much fun as it was without me being as much of a massive comics geek as i am. that being said, with the captain america reference, war machine exisitng, plus the tony/pepper actually happening, and then the thor after the credits, i was left explaining a lot to my non-geeky friend i dragged to see it with me.

[carduelinae.livejournal.com]

+1. I think I was the only one in the theater who laughed when Tony said they could offer him Secretary of Defense.

[sun-star-n-moon.livejournal.com]

I totally loved it! But then again, Im pretty easily won over by movies.

Also, me and my friend decided we wanted to be Scarlet Johansson's character when we grow up. End.Of.Story.

[mallmouse.livejournal.com]

My husband dragged me to watch it because his friend bailed the last minute, and it only reminded me how much Twilight (I said TWILIGHT, NOT Bad Moon) has ruined me for any other movie. Again, yes it was shit, but it was magical shit. Damn movie had spoken straight to my ovaries. In IM I kept facepalming myself (much to the chagrin of my husband)

Don't worry it will pass

[andromedabastow.livejournal.com]

It was hard for me to start reading again out of the sentiment, but then I reminded myself that not all books should be about emotions as plot. Now I'm back at reading again.

BTW
I like your icon but for the life of me I can't understand the joke...care to explain?

[kanedax.livejournal.com]

I came out of it actually liking Scarlett's character. I went in thinking I was going to hate her, but now I can't wait to see if they actually make her an Avenger or just keep her as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

Pepper's still cuter, though...

Our AMC actually played IM1 at 9 pm, then IM2 at midnight, so I got to be reminded of the Howard/Cheadle bit. I actually came to appreciate Howard a little more in the most recent viewing. Cheadle was an upgrade, to be sure, since Cheadle trumps Howard and pretty much 90% of the actors in Hollywood, but he also played the character itself a lot differently. I could never see HowardRhodey swiping Stark tech, beating up Boozie at the House Party and bringing it to the Air Force, but CheadleRhodey seemed perfectly capable of doing something so... I don't know if underhanded's the right word, but...

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

I have loved Scarlett's character FOREVER. The Black Widow is crazy awesome and I really liked how they tweaked her to fit into the movie. She was just as fierce and competent and insanely hot as I could have hoped for.

She had great chemistry with Pepper. And Tony. And Fury. And Happy. And, fuck, everybody she came into contact with. Well done, Scarlett. She WANTED that role so badly and it totally showed.

[westwardho]

Dunno. I still liked Terrence Howard better than Don Cheadle.

Maybe it was just that things were so busy that there was no character-defining moment, like the Afghanistan flyover call between Stark and Rhodes in the first movie.

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

I think my husband summed it up for me when he said that he could buy Terrence Howard's Rhodey as Tony's friend, but not so much as an Air Force colonel. Don Cheadle did both really well.

[la-petite-singe.livejournal.com]

I just posted my own insanely tl;dr thoughts @ my journal, but YES! Dana Carvey/Gary Oldman describes it perfectly. Hee. I love him. And Cheadle is always awesome. Always.

[gannet-guts.livejournal.com]

I love how Sam Rockwell has to work in a dance in practically every movie he is in. He's like mini Christopher Walken.

[munin-and-hugin.livejournal.com]

Scarlett Johansson was great! The Ankle Death, the red hair, the snark, loved it all. I also had a huge nerd moment when she whipped out the widow lines in her big fight scene. XD

I was wondering if anyone else caught that the script did a hat tip to the Howard/Cheadle changeover? It was in the courtroom scene when Rhodey walks in:

Tony: "Hey buddy, didn't expect to see you here."
Rhodey: "It's me, I'm here, deal with it. Let's move on."
Tony: "I.. I just, I'll drop it."

Hee! (I love both of the actors equally, and just for continuity purposes would have liked Howard, but, well, at least I got my Scarlett-Johansson-as-Black-Widow. It was the most I could ask for in the sequel.

And Sam Rockwell did remind me of his character in Charlie's Angels, especially the dancey bit.

Glasses always make for geek chic hotness. I don't know why, they just do. (I admit, I prefer my contacts, but I do whip out the hot librarian glasses if I want to impress someone. They just fuck with my driving perceptions sometimes.)

[jaysta-11.livejournal.com]

I just realized that I forgot to mention that they CUT MY FAVORITE SCENE OUT OF THE MOVIE.

In the trailer, there was a bit before Tony jumped out of the back of the plane where Pepper kissed his helmet and tosses it out, and as Tony jumps, he says "You complete me!" and it's just the cutest thing ever AND IT WASN'T IN THE MOVIE.

</3

[askingxalice.livejournal.com]

WHAT.

WHAT.

....WHAT.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I really loved Mickey Roarke, especially his entrance on the racetrack with SLOW MOTION SWAGGER and SLOW MOTION EXPLOSIONS HAPPENING BEHIND HIM and SHREDDING GUITARRRRRS in the score. It's my favourite cliche. Though I did love him from the start, when he was feeding vodka to his cockatoo. But ohhh I did adore him and his bad manicure.

Sam Rockwell, I have a hard time believing that he's a bad guy. This could be the point, but I still want to love him even when he's being a jerk. Also there was some weird fake tan thing going on with the scene where he was having lunch with Mickey Roarke and I couldn't stop staring at Sam's hands. Seriously, what the hell, there were bright orange streaks. I don't know if they came from Mickey or what.

I LOVED the part where Natasha got to pwn like, nine guys in the space of time that it took Happy to beat up that one dude. AND THE LOOK ON JON FAVREAU'S FAAAACE when he saw what she did. <3 <3 <3

[lupegarou.livejournal.com]

someone mentioned it in the above questions, but in the scene where Sam Rockwell's character first meets Mickey Rourke's character, the stuff on Sam's hands is self-tanner :)

[pocket-size-g.livejournal.com]

So glad I'm not the only one with the Gary Oldman thoughts! Nobody else around here saw him (but they didn't see Tom Cruise either), and I was starting to think I was losing my mind.

[mercat.livejournal.com]

His glimpses were so brief in the trailers that I legit thought it was Gary Oldman. My friends thought I was crazy because they "knew" it wasn't him, and I thought I was going crazy because HOW CAN COMMISSIONER GORDON BE IN IRON MAN.

[trash-addict.livejournal.com]

Seriously, #4? Um, I am sending help. That was really not what I was expecting to read.

[amaz0n-princess.livejournal.com]

I literally squeed loudly in the theatre in the shot of Scarlett walking next to GP, and her gorgeous curves were all over the place, making GP look like a 12 year old boy.

[litlover12.livejournal.com]

Seriously. For crying out loud, Gwyneth, eat a sandwich.

[nb2000.livejournal.com]

I got to see it last Monday, yay for the UK getting it early. I feel like an idiot for not staying through the credits though, I had one of those moments where I thought about it but didn't. I'm especially disappointed cause I kind of love Agent Coulson (I have no idea why, I just do)so the extra scene would have been nice, have to wait for the DVD I guess.

Normally I'm one of the biggest Scarlett Johanssen haters, can't stand her, refuse to watch her movies and roll my eyes when she turns up in something I do like. Amazingly though, I actually kind of liked her in this. Not that I suddenly love her (because I don't and won't, ever) but she was good and her fight scenes were awesome.

I was trying not to judge Cheadle before I saw the movie but part of me was a little disappointed, if only cause I really hate when movies and tv shows switch actors. But again, he was wonderful and totally sold me on the switch.

I was...torn about Mickey Rourke. Sitting in the jail cell after the racetrack fight in just his undies? *shudder* No. But then he put some clothes on, and particularly when he was lounging about with the bird during the "Take his bird! And his pillows! And his shoes!" scene he was weirdly hot.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I loved the way he just sat there looking at Hammer, mildly inconvenienced, like, "Really? We're doing this now? Well, you can just kiss those two henchmen goodbye, Sparky."

Argh, hit post too soon. I love Don Cheadle and am not terribly fond of Terrence Howard, so I immediately got clappy when they announced the recast. And I always forget that I actually like Scarlett Johansson onscreen, so I was surprised that I really liked Natalie/Natasha.