Iron Man (2008) & Iron Man 2 (2010)

Before we made a trip to the cinema to see Iron Man 2 last weekend we revisited the original on DVD, the first time I'd rewatched it since my birthday in 2008, and it's just as good as I remember. And then the sequel turned out to be as good if not better than the first, so I was very pleased. 

I'm a big fan of Robert Downey Jr and his unique style, and I think he works really well as Tony Stark/Iron Man, bringing to the movies a sense of humour and lightness that is lacking from comic book tales like the new Batmans. I don't mind 'dark' in my superhero movies, but it's nice to have a bit of variety. I'm surprised to find that my favourite non-Iron Man character in the two movies is played by Gwyneth Paltrow, namely Stark's assistant and then CEO of his company, Pepper Potts. Paltrow doesn't normally do much for me (probably since I saw her in Shakespeare in Love, which I found completely awful) but here she's a revelation in what could easily have been a role for a D-lister, not a Hollywood A-lister with an Oscar. 

Perhaps it's the playing against type that helps Paltrow excel as Pepper, mostly I think it's the terrific banter and chemistry she has with Downey Jr that makes her stand out. In Iron Man 2 I also found myself liking Scarlett Johansson too, another actress who if I know she's in something usually means I'll give it a wide berth (I've been stung by the pretentious Lost in Translation and the boring Ghost World). Here, in a relatively minor role, Johansson is by turns sexy, mysterious, and eventually, completely kick-ass awesome! 

There were some excellent fight scenes in both movies, particularly the end battle at the Stark Expo (wonderfully parodying Walt Disney's Epcot, especially in the footage of Stark's father - Cooper from Mad Men! - that directly reference's Disney's presentational style on his TV shows) when the metal-on-metal action is kinetic and you feel every jolt and collision. When Stark's friend, Lt Col James Rhodes, suits up in an old Iron Man erm, suit, in the sequel it improves the character, as does the fact that he's now portrayed by Don Cheadle. In the first movie Rhodes didn't really make much of an impression. 

Going back to the beginning of the first movie, it was an interesting move to begin with an extended piece set in Afghanistan, and echoes the beginning of X-Men when Magneto's youth during Nazi Germany sketches a harrowing background for the character. These meetings of real life and comic book worlds could be awful, but they really help ground the more fantastical elements of the stories. Thankfully there are also laugh out loud moments as well though, so it's not all unremittingly grim. 

With Samuel L. Jackson's extended cameo in Iron Man 2, I'm looking forward to both the next Iron Man movie, and the Avengers movie that will unite Tony Stark, Black Widow (Johansson), Hulk, Thor and others. I do love comic book movies.