Phase 1 Revisited: Iron Man 2

In which I revisit a previously explored topic with fresh eyes and an open mind.

Marvel was understandably eager to follow up its success with The Incredible Hulk and especially Iron Man with something sooner than 2011's Thor.  Despite the resulting film's blockbuster status, it was the closest thing to an outright failure to come out of the MCU and the presumed reason for Shane Black helming Iron Man 3 instead of Jon Favreau.  While every other Marvel film has its base of support, the one thing that everybody seems to agree on is that Iron Man 2 is "the bad Marvel movie."

Having stabilized East-West relations and essentially privatized world peace, Tony Stark reopened the Stark Expo: a public exhibition of inventors, scientists and visionaries working for the benefit mankind.  What at first seemed to be nothing more than some shameless ego-stroking, however, turns out to be something far more desperate.  The palladium core in his chest piece - the very thing that keeps him alive and powers his suit - is rapidly poisoning him.  While he grapples with the absolute certainty of his impending death, Ivan Vanko - an old face from his family's past - resurfaces with an Arc-powered suit of his own, determined to destroy Stark's legacy before he dies.

Despite being the so-called "bad Marvel movie," Iron Man 2 is not itself a bad movie.  There's nothing especially awful nor offensive about it.  It's an average quality, summer action flick with some superior visuals, a stellar cast and a notably rushed script.  It's only "bad" when you consider just how high Marvel had already set the bar at the time of its release.

While it's obvious by now that the movie was hurried into production because nobody expected the MCU as a whole - and Iron Man in particular - to go over as well with the public as it actually did, it's not without its charms.  Although betrayed somewhat by the levity of its tone, Iron Man 2 is in fact the darkest Iron Man film that we're likely to get outside of an adaptation of Demon in a Bottle - dealing with the inevitability of Tony's death in incredibly stark terms.  Downey continues to be absurdly fun, Rhodey was thankfully upgraded from Terrance Howard to Don Cheadle and the increased presence of S.H.I.E.L.D. went a long way to us caring about Director Fury, Agent Coulson and Black Widow before The Avengers itself rolled along.

Interestingly, however, Iron Man 2 retroactively improves with seemingly every new Marvel release.  Tony's boast that he's America's nuclear deterrent contextualizes his character development by the time of The Avengers, where he specifically chastises Fury for having his own nuclear deterrent "because that always works so well."   Revelations from The Winter Soldier transformed the obnoxious Senator Stern from a pompous windbag to a covert Hydra operative trying to keep Arc-powered weaponry out of independent and S.H.I.E.L.D. control.  His comment about privatizing world peace and his resistance to being rolled into the existing military infrastructure will doubtless prove to be especially interesting by the time that Civil War roles around, where he ultimately sides with the US government's Superhero Registration Act.

While Iron Man 2 might not be the absolute disaster that it's often made out as, it cannot be overstated just how underwhelming the film is, especially as a sequel to the truly exceptional Iron Man.  Justin Hammer plays out like a joke that you just don't get: a lame, bizarro Tony who seemingly exists only to remind us just how cool Stark himself actually is.  Although somewhat interesting, Whiplash is an ultimately wasted villain who plays second-fiddle to Tony's palladium poisoning.  The movie suffers from the same structural problems that plagued the first Iron Man, but ends on a note that's not even as exciting as squaring off against Iron Monger.

When all is said and done, though, Iron Man 2 is a perfectly serviceable action-comedy that doesn't quite deserve its poor reputation.  You won't miss out on anything if you opt to skip this Marvel entry, but you won't hate yourself afterwards if you decide to check it out.  It's simply one more Iron Man for especially big fans of the franchise.

Rating:  7/10

Buy on BluRay:  Only if you want to own all of Phase 1.

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