| Saw it, loved it, saw it again! |
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| Written by BadMojo*HOPE* |
| Friday, 21 May 2010 13:22 |
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Saw it, loved it, saw it again! It is the quintessential summer action movie sequel that hits all the right targets. Tony Stark is once again the hero you don't want to root for but do. And his ego takes more than a few shots...including getting both E-whipped and P-whipped. Ivan Vanko is a villain you kinda, want to root for, even though he's on the wrong side. Underneath all the ugly, thickly accented menace is a deeply wounded but brilliant and utterly fearless man. Who is not in it for the money or the glory, but for redemption and not for himself either. Some have won Oscars for far less worthy performances in far more artsy flicks than Downey and Rourke deliver here. The supporting cast is nothing less than outstanding! Where to begin...ok, with the one I've adored since first laying sight of her in Lost In Translation and predicting (correctly) that she had a bright future- Scarlett Johansson, proves she can more than hold her own as an action femme fatale. Love her but FEAR HER! Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer is the baddie you love to hate here. No two ways about it, he is simply shit in an expensive (non-metallic) suit. Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts manages to be both supportive and a pain in the iron rump...sometimes even in the same scene. Samuel L. (Muthafukin) Jackson IS Nick Fury, adding his personal charisma and playful charm to the mix. I wish he had made Master Mace Windu as likable as his Mr. Fury, instead of just a brooding badass (it wouldn't have killed him to have at least smiled occasionally). Garry Shandling, I admit I've never liked. Which makes him perfect as the sanctimonious, hypocritical, whiny, Lieberman-esqe Senator Stern. Don Cheadle manages to be more than just a side-kick or partner as he navigates his way through conflicting loyalties and feelings towards Stark.As you can tell from this, the Iron one has a lot of problems, and he will need all the help he can get in overcoming them and there is no guarantee that he will. Few things are worse than action movies that take themselves too seriously. That is not one of the problems the IM mk2 faces here, however, since humor abounds in many forms, growing out of the dialog, characters, performances and situations. There is even some smart satire. As in all Marvel Comics-based movies there is the Spot Stan Lee mini-game, which was more challenging than usual...it took me two tries...blink and you WILL miss him. The pacing and effects are impeccable! Not a scene is wasted and you can see every dollar in its budget on the screen. This is the best action sequel since Dark Knight. If the dreamfactory keeps making action movies of this caliber, with so much great talent on display, then it is just a matter of time before one of them will win the best picture Oscar, and the genre will start to get the respect from critics it already gets from audiences. 4.5/5 Stars, or 90%. |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 15 July 2010 22:56 |