But this isn't Canada

[cyrano]

Herein please find my review for the new Iron Man movie.
Precis: Better than it really had any right to be.


I'm still just here for RDJr. If he's not your cup of tea, then you probably want to keep moving. He continues to be delightful, and his script writers obviously spent far too much time hanging out with him, because the things that come out of his mouth are lovely.

However, his back up band is also very good. We see very little of Gwyneth Paltrow this time around, which is unfortunate. Don Cheadle is very human, and I liked him a lot. Sam Rockwell is awesome (again) as the one bad guy who actually gets character development this time. (Hint to the writers: Russian prison tattoos are *not* character depth.) Gary Shandling brings his comic expertise along and makes what could have been a bit cameo something worth watching.

We get the Black Widow this time, and more of the trend of independent female characters who have something to do besides wait to be saved or turned into love interests. (Yes, there is kissing this time, but it didn't feel gratuitous and it didn't feel like a betrayal of what happened at the end of the first film.)

I spent most of the film going "Yay they opted against the idea of let's just make the bad guy a bigger stronger version of the hero, and at the end I was a little sad. But we still got Two Pals Fighting Crime, and the idea that Tony lets somebody in enough to play as a team.

Which brings me to backstory. I love backstory, especially when it makes sense and meshes with what we already know, informing our present with what came before. Yes, the dad thing was a little pat, but I liked it. I also really liked the plot line of "This technology you created and then didn't fully test is killing you" and the way, again, it plays into the way his character reacts to things.

Because I like *consequences*. And thus I loved the government-wants-Iron-Man plotline. For a summer blockbuster, things were played more or less intelligently, and the important part is that there was RDJr.


Coyote says: Four wags.

Comments

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

I thought the "Palladium poisoning" was kind of a sanitized metaphor for the drinking problem, but given that they're selling this to the kids as well it really worked. I have to say the daddy subplot didn't do much for me, though OMG was I the only one having serious "Venture Industries" and "Rusty/Dr. Venture" flashbacks? During the "City of the Future" bit I kept expecting to hear the theme music from Venture Brothers. Although I could've done without the constant "Here's the key, moron!" boots to the head.

I loved "Team Stark", and I kinda dug Tony going regressing a bit when he thought he was dying. The party bit just about killed me. And it was great that Nick Fury was the one to give him the bitch slap he needed to pull himself together.

Loved Natalie/Natasha fiercely for a variety of reasons. Her kick-assery was top-notch. I was a little sad that they cut out my favorite line from the trailer (the "You complete me!" bit) as it made me laugh every single time I saw it.

And we got RDJr in a wife beater doing engineery-sciency stuff and that always makes me very, deeply happy.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Oh god yes, I forgot to mention the whole 'rolling up his sleeves and building stuff' sequence. I love superheroes who are practical and do stuff. (:

And no, you were not the only one waiting for Jonas to speak forth from beyond the grave.