Short Review: Everything they did right in the first movie, they did wrong in this one.


In this follow up to Iron Man, director Jon Favreau comes down with a serious case of the sophomore blues. The original film had a sarcastic edge that smoothed out a clunky but still enjoyable plot. The origin story of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) introduced an externally belligerent/internally weak man who finds the cure for his mid-life crisis. In the original Stark is forced to beat down his past self, personified by his business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). This outing avoids all of that messy character stuff and focuses on lots of loud noises, flashing lights and Scarlett Johansson in a body sock.

Tony Stark returns having achieved world peace thanks to his use of the Iron Man suit. At least, that is what we're told. We never get to actually see him protect the world. It's all explained in a Senate hearing. This makes Stark's hero work an abstract. This in turn makes it meaningless. If it is not on the screen, it doesn't exist for the audience.

The screenplay by Justin Theroux clearly explains that the world is at peace in the opening moments. One would then expect that in turn this world peace would be threatened. Nope. Stark is attacked by Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), a Russian physicist with a grudge. Vanko's personal vendetta is funded by Stark's weapons manufacturer rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). World peace is never actually threatened. The only things threatened in this story are the egos of a bunch of scummy super-geniuses. This does not make for a riveting central conflict.

This lack of stakes is the main reason the film fails so completely. Theroux doesn't paint himself into narrative corners, he paints himself out of the whole room. He is so busy introducing characters for the upcoming Avengers movie and fumbling with technological presentations that he almost doesn't have time shoehorn in any actual characterization.

There are numerous scriptural issues that make the story fall flat. This is evidenced in Stark giving up his company in the first act. Once he does this he has literally nothing to lose. At no time does he find it critical to get his company back. It is just something that happens. If it has no deeper value, why does Theroux involve it in the film?

At one point Hammer tells Vanko to take Stark's "legacy" from him. How does the audience know when his "legacy" is taken away? We are given a statement of action by the villains and it involves a motive no less intangible than them saying they're going to hurt Stark's feelings. This is poor writing.

Vanko's whole motivation is a vacuum. Favreau gives us enough to understand that Vanko is fueled by revenge, but this revenge is hollow because we don't understand its cause. This results in Vanko being little more than another hurdle Stark must overcome instead of a villain to confront. (Spoiler warning) This is why at the end, Stark so easily overcomes Vanko and his droid army and why Vanko's death has zero dramatic punch. He is a non-entity. (Spoiler done)

The film also lacks any symbolism or meaning. In the original we were given the cheesy, but effective symbol of Stark's heart. Does Tony Stark have a heart? Yes, and its sitting in this little glass box. It is a symbol that is referred to and played upon throughout the entire film.

In this film, Favreau sets up a similar conceit. Stark is literally being poisoned by his suit. While the suit gives him fame and glory, it is also making him more toxic (both literally and figuratively). This is a solid metaphor and it is strongly established early on. It is then left unused.

One would hope that when they set up in the first act that Tony Stark and Iron Man are one in the same and that he gains so much through wearing the suit, that in the end he would have to discard the suit in order to complete his heroic task. This would make Stark the real Iron Man and make the suit his accessory, instead of it being the other way around. No such luck.

Overall, this version of the film is an incomplete draft of what should have been a more enjoyable production. It stinks of something that was rushed to market. This is not a good movie. Its not even a passable one. The film ultimately becomes an elongated teaser trailer for the upcoming The Avengers movie, hitting screens in 2012.

Labels: Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Mickey Rourke, Robert Downey Jr, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, sequel, superhero

Click here to buy your copy of
You Are What You See and learn
to change the world from your couch

Labels: Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, film, Giselle Itié, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, movie trailer, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Sylvester Stallone, Terry Crews

Screenwriter: Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder)
Director: Jon Favreau (Zathura: A Space Adventure)
Actors: Robert Downey Jr. (Chaplin), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love), Scarlett Johansson (The Island), Don Cheadle (Ocean's 11), Sam Rockwell (Moon), Samuel L. Jackson (Snakes on a Plane), Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code), Kate Mara (Transibberian), Jon Favreau (Swingers) and Garry Shandling (What Planet Are You From?) and Olivia Munn

Labels: Don Cheadle, film, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Favreau, Kate Mara, Mickey Rourke, movie trailer, Paul Bettany, Robert Downey Jr, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson

This is getting increasingly rare these days, this film lives up to all of its hype. It is a great film.

Darren Aronofsky (Pi) directed this tragic story about a washed-up wrestler named Randy 'The Ram' Robinson (Mickey Rourke). Robinson is a slow-witted lummox who is at the end of his career. Once a national All-Star Wrestling star back in the 80's, Robinson has descended into wrestling small venues of a couple hundred people while sleeping in his van because he can't make rent. Robinson attempts to cobble together a normal life out of the spent remains of the past few decades but finds living outside of the lights and rink troublesome at best. Aronofsky covers the action with a very natural light and very little intrusion. The key to the film is that the slow disintegration of Robinson seems like we are witnessing reality unfold. The combination of Rourke's brilliant performance and the organic development of the scenes makes this is a riveting film.

This is a character oriented piece so the lead must carry his load. Mickey Rourke's performance is as good as you have heard. He deserved the Oscar for Best Performance for his work in this film. In my world, the Oscar shouldn't be distributed every year, but something that is earned. It should only go to an actor who dominates a role - who becomes the only person who could perform it. Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector or Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump are two examples. Rourke's Robinson is on par with these performances.

The biggest surprise from the film is Marisa Tomei in the role of aging stripper Cassidy. Cassidy, like Robinson, makes a living by her body but that body is becoming too old. Robinson's body is breaking down, her's has to compete with girls fifteen, perhaps twenty years, younger. The parallels between the two aren't lost on Aronofsky and he plays the two off one another perfectly. Tomei has made a good living portraying ditzes and sluts. Usually, these roles don't give her much to work with and she tends to fall into the background (What Women Want is a good example of this.) She has started take on meatier roles such as the distraught Gina in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. With this film she provides a strong performance that makes up for whatever mistakes and/or poor judgment that awarded her a Best Supporting Actress win for My Cousin Vinny.

The film delivers and couldn't have been made better. It is nearly flawless, in my estimation, and I sincerely recommend it. The way the film is shot, the brutal wrestling matches, Robinson's painfully slow descent, all of it is done to perfection and is worth seeing.






Related Reviews:
Marisa Tomei movies
What Women Want (2000)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)


Other Critic's Reviews:
SouthCon
Film Critics United

Labels: Darren Aronofsky, film, Marisa Tomei, Mickey Rourke, movie review

Screenwriter: Hossein Amini (The Four Feathers)
Director: John Madden (Shakespeare in Love)
Actors: Diane Lane (Hollywood), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Thomas Jane (The Mist), Rosario Dawson (Sin City), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick) and Hal Holbrook (Wall Street)

Labels: Diane Lane, film, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mickey Rourke, movie trailer, Rosario Dawson, Thomas Jane

Screenwriters: Robert D. Siegel (The Onion Movie)
Director: Darren Aronofsky (Pi)
Actors: Mickey Rourke (Sin City), Marisa Tomei (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead), Evan Rachel Wood (Across the Universe) and Mark Margolis (Gone Baby Gone)

Labels: Darren Aronofsky, film, Marisa Tomei, Mickey Rourke, movie trailer