It’s hard to figure out why close-ups are so barren.
In fact, this may be the first disc to ever perform better in the long and mid-range than in close. The level of crisp, discernible detail is staggering, from bricks, to trees, to the people. Establishing views, from Monaco at 26:07 to the Stark Expo that kicks off the film are wonderfully rendered. Sharpness is the initial highlight of this AVC encode, even if it doesn’t always lead to much. Oh, and if you stick around after the credits, you get another advertisement. No one will fault it for being short on content, that much is for sure. Iron Man 2 is not as funny, creative, or as witty as its predecessor, yet it does quite a few things right. It allows the effects crew to work their magic, and help the character in his battle of good versus evil, because that’s just what these guys do. Iron Man 2 explains the upgraded look with an actual story background, that of Stark’s older power source beginning to fail him. Keeping the idea and concept fresh is tough. The whiz-bang, “what did I just see” editing becomes a bit much, but at least the explosion of an entire parking lot is kept in frame for all to enjoy. A robot army begins assault a technology expo hosted by Stark, and off we go into a familiar land of killer robots blowing things up. In fact, Vanko seems like a secondary villain considering the finale. Apparently invulnerable, even when being smashed repeatedly into a brick wall by a car, Vanko’s eventual final battle is far too brief. The focus is on a new villain though, a Russian physicist Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) who may be fluent in his native tongue, but his accent kills his English dialect. To its credit, Iron Man 2 does loosely fit the Avengers story arc into the plot, and in the process, developing the character of Tony Stark however slightly. Does he have a purpose? Two villains, three heroes, two leading ladies, and countless robots later, we have a sequel and the answer. It does not use its time well for sure, inserting characters like Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) who just sort of exist. That is irritating, but the smooth-talking, witty Downey salvages any material, even when the film becomes a bit sluggish. Now, in this sequel, he becomes one of a plethora of characters, many underdeveloped, purely to sell the idea of the follow-up. We know this because if you stayed after the end credits of the original Iron Man, Samuel L. See, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) will eventually join the Avengers in that superhero cross-over film whenever that happens.
IRON MAN 2 SOUNDTRACK MAYHEM IN MONACO MOVIE
Now, Iron Man 2 brings us the next level of movie marketing, where the plot of the film now becomes an advertisement. At home, unskippable trailers, various FBI warnings believing you are a pirate, and menu ads push merchandise in your face too. It’s bad enough when you are forced to sit through multiple trailers, a few commercials, still ads, and additional in-movie advertising at the theater.