The OtherArena

Jeremy Billones · Joined: 07 Aug 2006 Posts: 523 Location: Alexandria, VA

Saw it Sat night in a really bad theater. Unfortunately, I don't think it was good enough to watch again in a good theater.

I need to work up a really good rant on the flick, starting with the clown who scored the flick and ending with my God what the hell did they do to Pepper Potts.

eron · Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 412

There were things I liked. Things I didn't like. Things that worked. Things that didn't work. Without question, it went from being one of the smarter superhero flicks to being just another superhero flick.

matt farmer · Joined: 29 May 2010 Posts: 33

I really liked the second Iron Man. Course I didn't think it was as good as the first (which I felt was one of the best comic book movies ever). I took it for what it was and really like it. For some reason Scarlett Johansen (while looking great) came off almost as a bad actress, don't ask me why she just seemed stiff.

I liked the progression of the character though. Laughed at the Stan Lee appearance too!

Jeremy Billones · Joined: 07 Aug 2006 Posts: 523 Location: Alexandria, VA

How did the character progress? Heck, how did *any* character progress? One could argue that Rhodes went backwards, though unlike IM1 he had good reasons to distrust Tony. (I think, but I'm not sure, it was a plot point that Tony explicitly granted Rhodes access rights to fly the Iron Man armor -- the film seemed to ask that question but didn't answer it.)

I wanted to like the Howard/Tony subplot, but it was missing something. I'm not sure what.

Bob Morris · Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2883 Location: New Mexico

IM2 suffered from the same problem many superhero movie sequels have... trying to do too many things in one film.

You could have easily broken the "government thinks Tony's tech is too dangerous and gains ground thanks to Drago" plot for the second one, then saved the "Tony is dying and needs to find the right inspiration to improve the tech" into a third movie, which allows you to focus on Tony's downward spiral.

I don't consider IM2 to be a bad movie, but it did get to be pretty messy. Sometimes less is more.

matt farmer · Joined: 29 May 2010 Posts: 33

I agree with the less is more. Something that Transformers 2 really suffered from, and the GI Joe movie (even though it wasn't a sequel).

Jeremy Billones · Joined: 07 Aug 2006 Posts: 523 Location: Alexandria, VA

I have kind of a soft spot for GI Joe. Maybe that was because I saw it on DVD while snowed in at my cousin's place for the weekend before the Super Bowl, and right after it we saw Gamer and suddenly GI Joe looked a lot better :)

The writers strike hit just as one draft of the screenplay was completed, and they were filming it right as/just before the strike ended, so they were locked into a pretty bad script. Much of Act III got fixed in post-production (yes, it was worse), and at least one day of shooting was done with literally no script:

"We need a training montage"

"It's not in the script."

"C'mon, we've been filming training montages for 35 years. We don't need a script."

"Hey guys, I love GI Joe. Can I do a cameo?"

"Sure, Brendan, you showed up on the right day for it."