Iron Man 2 Reviews (Spoilers)

[Losonti Tokash]

How is he still free after the Iran Powered Armor Test Video?

What? There were three tests shown. North Korea, Iran, and then the Hammer test.

By the way, did the Korean mech look like a Mad Cat to anyone else?

[Jeremy]

Well, that explains how he is still free.

[Havok]

I am not familiar with the story in the comics.

Vanko's father fled communism to work with a major corporation and was then exiled for wanting to make a profit on his product.

As far as the comics go, Vanko doesn't exist. (Well at least as far as my collection goes, which is issue 2- 298) He is an amalgam of two different characters, namely Whiplash (the whips) and the Crimson Dynamo (vaguely character wise and the armor)

Tony Stark's control of the Iron Man suit is hideously dangerous. A man becomes a god in that suit, and what kind of king's justice would an enraged and drunken Stark be willing to show? If I were Rhodes, I would have tried to knock Stark out when his face shield was up. That may violate Posse Comitatus, but how long until an inebriated drunk with a hand cannon misses his shot?

Tony Stark in the comics is a very bad alcoholic. This scene is really the only time they touch on what happens when someone out of control does posses the type of immense power that Iron Man has. In the comics Tony eventually relinquishes the Iron Man mantle to Rhodes after basically hitting rock bottom, pretty much losing everything to Obidiah Stane.

Stark is sickeningly narcissistic. I love it.

This is played up a little more in the movies. In the comics he is more like a combination of the Bruce Wayne's from the Batman movies of Bale and Keaton.

The Hammer guy, how can such a dunce run a major corporation? How is he still free after the Iran Powered Armor Test Video?

The Iran test was Iran not Hammer. As for his company, one of the things that they did take from the comics was that Hammer used a heavy dose industrial espionage to make his company successful. It is more his ability to implement other people's tech than his own business savvy that made him who he was.

Vanko is (minus the toothpick) likable. I really wish that Tony's Power Armor Lite only covered a portion of him. I also wish that Tony would have lost a limb or suffered serious injury in his first fight with Vanko. It would have brought home the prosthesis line very nicely and heightened the impact of "making god bleed".

While a nice touch and would have added some much needed tension, it is just a problem that gets handwaviumed away with tech in a two hour movie.

[CaptainChewbacca]

How is he still free after the Iran Powered Armor Test Video?

What? There were three tests shown. North Korea, Iran, and then the Hammer test.

By the way, did the Korean mech look like a Mad Cat to anyone else?

The Hammer-test was Tony zooming in on old satellite footage taken during the Iran test.

[J Ryan]

How is he still free after the Iran Powered Armor Test Video?

What? There were three tests shown. North Korea, Iran, and then the Hammer test.

By the way, did the Korean mech look like a Mad Cat to anyone else?

The Hammer-test was Tony zooming in on old satellite footage taken during the Iran test.

It was clearly a third test. First we get the Sat image of Iran and north Korea which were still images. Then tony shows ground level video of if I remember right the north Korea one falling over and the iran one shooting randomly. We then see the hammer test.

Tony then puts out "iran and north Korea are 5 years away. Hammer is 10 years."

[Bilbo]

The portable Iron Man suit he used to stop Vanko the first time. Did Tony call it the briefcase or the football?

[DarkSilver]

he called it a football.

[Bilbo]

he called it a football.

So I was remembering right. Very cool.

[Simon_Jester]

Vanko's father fled communism to work with a major corporation and was then exiled for wanting to make a profit on his product.

He was exiled (if Vanko is to be believed) because Howard Stark didn't want to share credit and profits.

The Hammer guy, how can such a dunce run a major corporation? How is he still free after the Iran Powered Armor Test Video?

What, Hammer? He tried to build a suit, it failed and crippled the pilot. That happens in the defense industry, mostly with high performance jets. Sometimes the prototypes crash and kill people. Nobody likes it, but you don't see defense contractors getting thrown in jail when it happens. Systems like that are extremely complicated, and they can't be totally debugged before the live testing starts.

I mean, Stark had a couple of accidents testing his suit that could very easily have killed him (mostly involving head trauma). It shouldn't be a surprise that Hammer actually did manage to injure someone (as did the test that led to the suit falling over and shooting up the test site).

[Shroom Man 777]

Vanko's father fled communism to work with a major corporation and was then exiled for wanting to make a profit on his product.

He was exiled (if Vanko is to be believed) because Howard Stark didn't want to share credit and profits.

Samuel L. Fury said that Daddy Stark had Vanko Sr. deported because Vanko was after the money. As if Daddy Stark was such an altruistic humanitarian non-profit mang and not a sleazy piece of shit capitalist war profiteer. Heh.

[img]What,%20Hammer?%20He%20tried%20to%20build%20a%20suit,%20it%20failed%20and%20crippled%20the%20pilot.%20That%20happens%20in%20the%20defense%20industry,%20mostly%20with%20high%20performance%20jets.%20Sometimes%20the%20prototypes%20crash%20and%20kill%20people.%20Nobody%20likes%20it,%20but%20you%20don't%20see%20defense%20contractors%20getting%20thrown%20in%20jail%20when%20it%20happens.%20Systems%20like%20that%20are%20extremely%20complicated,%20and%20they%20can't%20be%20totally%20debugged%20before%20the%20live%20testing%20starts.[/img]

It looked like the Hammer test WAS the Iran test, that Hammer was in Iran trying to build them armor designs or something, which might be a bad thing for Uncle Sams.

[Ghost Rider]

Vanko's father fled communism to work with a major corporation and was then exiled for wanting to make a profit on his product.

He was exiled (if Vanko is to be believed) because Howard Stark didn't want to share credit and profits.

Samuel L. Fury said that Daddy Stark had Vanko Sr. deported because Vanko was after the money. As if Daddy Stark was such an altruistic humanitarian non-profit mang and not a sleazy piece of shit capitalist war profiteer. Heh.

But given Daddy Stark's were likely for American interests versus Vanko's, to which Stark felt it was better to just throw him out.

Really a slight flaw of the film as it makes even the underline motivation of Whiplash very meh. Add this to the rest of his mess, Whiplash has more of a whiny bitch spilled milk vibe rather then any real justification.

[Imperial Overlord]

Really a slight flaw of the film as it makes even the underline motivation of Whiplash very meh. Add this to the rest of his mess, Whiplash has more of a whiny bitch spilled milk vibe rather then any real justification.

Gotta disagree with you Ghost Rider. This needed more, not less development. It's an incredible dick move to resolve your dispute with the co-creator of a piece of technology by deporting a Soviet defector back to the Soviet Union. It gives Whiplash a credible motivation for revenge, as well as a background that allows him to create his own Arc Reactor.

[Ghost Rider]

Really a slight flaw of the film as it makes even the underline motivation of Whiplash very meh. Add this to the rest of his mess, Whiplash has more of a whiny bitch spilled milk vibe rather then any real justification.

Gotta disagree with you Ghost Rider. This needed more, not less development. It's an incredible dick move to resolve your dispute with the co-creator of a piece of technology by deporting a Soviet defector back to the Soviet Union. It gives Whiplash a credible motivation for revenge, as well as a background that allows him to create his own Arc Reactor.

On that, I have to agree with you. It was for me thrown away, so for me I made my conclusion...but as if they gave it more then Nick Fury's 1 second infodump, it would've given a better context to the conflict.

[Sarevok]

I wish Whiplash was a smart villain instead of a lucky lunatic. He does not like using his helmet when fighting two Iron Man battesuits. Thus he got killed by a concussive blast. If he had it on the blast would not even have fazed him in slightest. He is lucky in sense that he did not get head shotted by auto targeting guns a millisecond after arriving. In first Iron Man Stane had a valid reason to remove his helmet after his targeting system got knocked out. Whiplash seems to just want to look intimidating. How a moron like him is supposedly both dangerous and a genius is beyond incomprehensible.

[Simon_Jester]

It looked like the Hammer test WAS the Iran test, that Hammer was in Iran trying to build them armor designs or something, which might be a bad thing for Uncle Sams.

Uh... that sounds wrong to me. I don't remember that.

I wish Whiplash was a smart villain instead of a lucky lunatic. He does not like using his helmet when fighting two Iron Man battesuits. Thus he got killed by a concussive blast. If he had it on the blast would not even have fazed him in slightest. He is lucky in sense that he did not get head shotted by auto targeting guns a millisecond after arriving. In first Iron Man Stane had a valid reason to remove his helmet after his targeting system got knocked out. Whiplash seems to just want to look intimidating. How a moron like him is supposedly both dangerous and a genius is beyond incomprehensible.

I suspect the blast could have killed him through the armor. There are limits, and those things are supposed to be extremely destructive.

[Nephtys]

No, the Hammer Test was something completely different.

The Iraqis had this weird Robocop ED-200 thingie.
The North Koreans had this Clan Mad Cat thingie that falls over and guns down the camera.
Hammer had the suit that torso twisted too fast and hurt the pilot badly.

[tim31]

Twist too fast?? It rotated the torso 180 degrees!! The average human body doesn't go that far! We're talking very serious tissue damage!

[Havok]

Twist too fast?? It rotated the torso 180 degrees!! The average human body doesn't go that far! We're talking very serious tissue damage!

Dude, it probably severely damaged his spinal column as well.

[White Haven]

Given that the suit's axis isn't the spine itself, it's not even just /twisting/ the spinal column through a half-turn, it's ripping it clean apart so that the top half is on the front of the body.

[tim31]

Absolutely. Spine seperated at the lumbar, and the possibility of damage to the intestines.

[Havok]

I wish Whiplash was a smart villain instead of a lucky lunatic. He does not like using his helmet when fighting two Iron Man battesuits. Thus he got killed by a concussive blast. If he had it on the blast would not even have fazed him in slightest. He is lucky in sense that he did not get head shotted by auto targeting guns a millisecond after arriving. In first Iron Man Stane had a valid reason to remove his helmet after his targeting system got knocked out. Whiplash seems to just want to look intimidating. How a moron like him is supposedly both dangerous and a genius is beyond incomprehensible.

Just to DA here...

There are any number of reasons that may have prompted Ivan to keep removing his helmet. Improperly tested and insufficient life support, bad targeting software, power mismanagement, not being accustomed to the HUD, simple claustrophobia etc..

Aside from that, just not understanding the tactical advantages and disadvantages of the Iron Man suit on his first flight and how it should be used negates nothing else he did. It is like saying, how a moron like Stark is supposedly both a superhero and a genius in beyond incomprehensible because he didn't undergo all the tests he should have before his first flight and almost died because of the icing issue.

[Temujin]

Finally got to see it. Was supposed to go last week but shit happened.

Anyway, while good, it seemed to fall a bit short of the original. Now onto the specifics:


Justin Hammer: His character was no replacement for Stane. Stane was competent. They went out of their way to make Hammer an insufferable little shit, but then gave him nothing redeeming in the way of being a villain. I’m only superficially familiar with the comics, but I don’t see how someone who is supposed to be one of Stark’s rivals could have his entire industry be as incompetent as it was. The ex-wife missile is a perfect example, you just new it was going to fail. It would have been a nice twist to have that weapon save the day. Instead we get an annoying geeky Stark wannabe.

The way they rewrote Stane for the first movie, even though they completely changed the character, worked well, because he served as a father figure for Tony and the rest of the world trusted him. Hammer should have been an older character with ties to Howard Stark who then could have served as a father figure type for Ivan and they could have shared a hatred for Stark that extended beyond basic jealousy on Hammer's part.

I agree completely here.


Rhodey:

I think that Don Cheadle did a great job taking over for Howard, and as good as I thought Howard was, Cheadle was better, although he seemed to have a smaller role this go round as Rhodes and as far as interacting on a friend level with Tony. I still think that they missed on Rhodey again. As I said before, Rhodes was a big burly 'hey sexy mama' black guy, basically a stereotype from the late 70's but he was great with Tony and the character grew in a pretty cool way, eventually becoming Iron Man and then War Machine. I think that Micheal Jai White (Spawn) would have filled the role perfectly.

Again I agree. You nailed it perfectly. What I’ve seen of Rhodey in the comics was a big muscular guy, not some short, scrawny, geeky looking guy. Neither of the two actors they have had did him justice.


Ivan Venko: His motivations were a bit too one dimensional for my taste, but I do like the fact that as others have mentioned, he’s a great amalgamation of many different characters who wouldn’t work on their own. Though the whole Venko’s father being exiled for wanting to make a profit after defecting was a bit silly, and needed a more in depth explanation.


Widow: Yes, Scarlet Johannsen is fucking hot. I’d tap that tight little ass in a heartbeat. But I really can’t say that she’s anything more than eye candy. I certainly don’t see any great acting ability there.


Others stuff:

• RD Jr. still great as Stark, as is Paltrow as Pepper.
  Fury could have been utilized better.
  Good to see a larger role for Happy.
  The Hammeroids' heads looked a bit reminiscent of SW PT Battledroids.

By the way, did the Korean mech look like a Mad Cat to anyone else?

Yes, very much so. That was actually what I thought they were going for.

Finally, fuck them and the end of the credits shit! I hate when they do that. I don't know whether to sit and wait or leave, and most of the time I get nothing. Then I leave and miss something. Is that bit on Youtube yet!

[Kingmaker]

Did anyone else think "Don't cross the streams" the first time Stark and Rhodey did the simultaneous repulsor shot thing? And of course, in the end crossing the streams was the solution.

The whiplash mk.1 suit was kind of stupid. Could he have put some armor on it? He could have been killed by a cop with a handgun, or powered armor suit with super strength punching him hard. Surely that must have occurred to him. The only decent justification I can think of is that he was more concerned with concealment than protection and didn't expect Stark to have his armor football.

[Havok]

Did anyone else think "Don't cross the streams" the first time Stark and Rhodey did the simultaneous repulsor shot thing? And of course, in the end crossing the streams was the solution.

The whiplash mk.1 suit was kind of stupid. Could he have put some armor on it? He could have been killed by a cop with a handgun, or powered armor suit with super strength punching him hard. Surely that must have occurred to him. The only decent justification I can think of is that he was more concerned with concealment than protection and didn't expect Stark to have his armor football.

For one, Ivan doesn't have the tech that Tony did, so actual functioning armor was out of the question. Also, Ivan's plan was not to have a prolonged battle with Iron Man, but just to attack Stark and at least hurt him and make sure it was very public. He had no allusions to defeating Stark if he was able to suit up. He also seemed to be resigned to the fact that he was going to ultimately fail.

And, I was going to let someone else point this out, but since no one has... How the fuck does Ivan even know that Stark is driving? He surprised everyone, including his driver (who threw his helmet completely pissed off) with that 'bucket list' stunt.

This is really the only plot hole I can think of in the movie and it could have been closed with a 5 second shot of Ivan watching a quick newscast track side of what had transpired.

[Imperial Overlord]

And, I was going to let someone else point this out, but since no one has... How the fuck does Ivan even know that Stark is driving? He surprised everyone, including his driver (who threw his helmet completely pissed off) with that 'bucket list' stunt.

This is really the only plot hole I can think of in the movie and it could have been closed with a 5 second shot of Ivan watching a quick newscast track side of what had transpired.

He knew Stark was going to be at the track. The pit crew suit would have given him all kinds of access, getting him in and allowing him to close with Stark's position. That would be Plan A. It's not like Tony's last minute substitution was kept secret. The whole track would be buzzing with it. Ivan then adjusts his plan to attacking Tony's car. It really doesn't require much in the way of explanation.