MOVIE: Iron Man 2

Went to see Iron Man 2 at midnight with Chris and his friend Kevin this morning. Here are my thoughts. Definitely a fun movie to go see. I was very happy with the length, the content, and the multitude of concepts from the comics that were instituted. Certainly worth most of the hype surrounding it's release.

Without further adieu, and with air warning...

*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

In a nutshell, I'd say this movie overall was "as good as" the first. A very different movie in many ways, but I was happy with it, and the various "easter eggs" (the most visible to the average Joe will be a certain red-white-and-blue-with-start visual reference).

There were scenes where I would swear they made sure Robert Downey looked exactly like Stark from the comics -- it was eerie as heck! The underlying storyline of Tony's impending "end", but not by alcoholism, was a decent basic plotline (was that Vibranium?). The adjustment of duties for Pepper and Tony, also interesting.

Natalie/Natasha: Wow. Er... yum. Er... yeah. I'm single, and can occasionally delve into the superficial, so.. yeah.

Tons of comedic relief in the movie (thanks mainly to Downey, of course). If you thought he was born to be Tony Stark in the first movie, you'll think he was actually BORN Stark and renamed himself to Downey later in life after this movie.

Subplot involving Rhodey and 'that other armor': That was done pretty clumsily (or at least, not thoroughly). There were some story points around all of this that were frustrating to me (but I'm a lifetime collector and have many versions of Iron Man in my head -- i.e., I'm tainted). I would have better believed that Rhodes would have ended up finding a RECORDING giving him a heads up that it was PLANNED versus how it happened in this flick. Oh well.

Russian physics son-of-genius (unofficially as) Whiplash and other characters: This worked out decently. I actually enjoyed the forced-fight between "War Machine" and Iron Man. The director's chance to slowly beat up one man whil the Widow took on 20 others was classic. Nick Fury was of course completely reinvented to fit the actor and movie -- barely even recognizable as the "Ultimate Marvel" version of the character, much less the classic (about as similar as Hugh Jackman's Wolverine to the comic book... in other words, NOT). But Fury's still "cool", right? (yawn)

Odds and Ends: Baaaaaad replacement for the Rhodey character (needed a manly man, not an accountant-type). I'd swear Tony's father was Walt Disney. I'd swear that the "secret" was a map of Disneyland. Despite great CGI through most of the film, the "garage scenes" seemed very cheap to me (a video with graphics thrown on top). Yes, I'd bet it was Vibranium that was "created".. maybe.. Red and Silver was always my favorite (and possibly all Black). She should have worn actual leather, not that spandex-looking crap (yum). Was Hammer's speech based loosely on Microsoft's Balmer and his renowned outlandish public speaking habits? Software problems... next time don't use OS X (hah - kidding).

Ending: Actually ended up very rushed(!) to me. "Duck!" *whizzzz* "Done!" What?? First movie actually had a better final battle, I feel.

The expected post-credits video: Cool, but... I expected the item found to be bigger, not classic. Interesting.