It’s Good

Look at me. The most anticipated movie of the summer comes out and I am taking my sweet sweet time to tell you about it. I am such a cruel creature. I was originally going to start this post by telling you I saw some unknown indie flick and go off into a review of this made up feature but that served to be way too much effort. My laziness has won out (as it often does) and I shall no longer prolong you wait to the impending review.

JJ Abrams Super 8 preview was short, confusing, and somewhat interesting. It was about a minute and a half and consisted of some on screen writing about stuff from Area 51 being moved to somewhere else in the States. Then it was followed by a vehicle driving wildly through a field, then onto some tracks, then hitting a train. It then showed a close-up of one of the box cars being broken out of. Da da daaaaaaaaaaa!

Now I have heard roamers that this upcoming film is supposed to be a prequel to Abrams’ very successful and dizzying Cloverfield exploring the origins of the destructive beast. He seems to be using the same promotional technique to spread the hype like wildfire. This does not seem to be a shaky hand-cam movie which will make many people happy and maybe it will have more story than the previous movie. I do believe it will be as successful as the first movie simply because Cloverfield left many questions unanswered.

Based on the preview I myself am a little pensive about Super 8. These kinds of promotions are definitely from the mind of a marketing genius but they also leaves me wondering what the film makers are hiding. Even though Cloverfield was entertaining I don’t think I would have seen it in the theatre if I had more info. But this is the key to their marketing, curiosity, which means I will most likely see it if nothing else I want to see comes out the same week.

Even though there is less mystery about this movie it will not stop geeks/nerds from pouring endless hours into the analysis of the trailer.

Gotcha!

Iron Man 2 follows billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) after he has revealed his metal clad alter ego. He has saved the world many times from different menaces and his personal antics have him on the front page of many newspapers and magazines. The US government wants control of the “Iron Man weapon” which he refuses to relinquish. He has made an enemy of Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) the owner of a competing weapons company. And an enemy from his fathers past is ready for revenge.

There are many layers to this movie woven together to create a worthy sequel to the original. There is Tony Stark dealing with his new life and the additional pressures involved, his relationship with his assistant, and his new friends and foes. We are taken deep into the characters that we already know and properly introduced to the new ones. The story is well told, entertaining, and fun.

Like many sequels there is more talking than action. This allows for a better understanding of the personalities in the movie creating multifaceted individuals instead of one dimensional beings. But the talk is balanced by the well placed action. These scenes move the story along with out seeming random or unnecessary. Even though those sequences are fantastic both in the classical and modern sense they are not ridiculous. There is a level of believability in all of it.

Iron Man 2 has some returning characters from the first movie including Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Lt Col James Rhodes (Don Cheadle who replaced Terrence Howard), and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). We also get to see more of Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) and Agent Coulson (Clark Clegg) as the story is being weaved into the upcoming Avengers movie. We are also introduced to a number of new faces Natalie Rushman/Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) an agent of SHEILD, Howard Stark (John Slattery), Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and Iron Man’s newest enemy Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) also known as Whiplash.

All the characters were well cast. Cheadle was a much better Lt Col Rohodes than Howard was. Even though he was playing the very proper military type he seemed less stiff or forced. Sam Rockwell’s Hammer was an entertaining character. He was sly but a joke at the same time. His performance reminded me a lot of his Zaphod Beeblebrox in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Rourke played an awesome villain. His deep raspy voice coupled with his tattooed body, dark hair, and gilded teeth made him ominous. The biggest surprise was that ScarJo didn’t make the movie suck. Even though her role was quite small and she didn’t say much I was still expecting her to do something (or maybe nothing) to ruin the final product. But she fit the role. A big fear is that if she is given a bigger role in the next movie will she be able to perform? And, as my friend said, she looked real good. She came off as sexy but not skanky. The thing is I can’t disagree.

Overall the movie was great. Just like the first movie Iron Man 2 tells a great story, has interesting characters, and takes you for a ride. I totally recommend seeing this in the theatre it is definitely worth the money. Anybody who sees it will have a good time and enjoy the experience. Remember to stay until after the credits, there is a tidbit there for you.

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