The FilmNerds Blog

Marvel’s massive plan to assemble four of its biggest franchises into a single mega-hit finally materialized this weekend as The Avengers opened to the biggest box office debut in movie history. Listen as Cinematrimony hosts Matt and Francesca Scalici give their real-time reaction on the way home from the theater. Did the Hulk finally smash his way into Matt’s skeptical heart? Did the specter of Francesca’s hated cinematic nemesis Scarlett Johansson overshadow the rest of the film? Find out on this episode of Cinematrimony.

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Matt and Francesca discuss the latest Marvel superhero franchise flick, Thor starring Chris Helmsworth and Natalie Portman.

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Hey folks,

I’m back in the realm of FilmNerds, for the first time in a long time. Our mutual friend Matt has kindly asked me to offer my weekly thoughts on the summer movies, since I pretty much see all of them anyway — and I’m more than happy to oblige. Naturally, this first summer weekend was the week of my graduation from college, and Mother’s Day — but somewhere in that time, I got to see the summer’s first blockbuster twice.

So without further ado — let’s kick off the summer…

“IRON MAN 2″

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson

Directed by Jon Favreau

“Iron Man 2″ shares basically all the strengths and weaknesses of its predecessor, the surprising 2008 hit “Iron Man.” It feels so much like a continuation of the first film that I’m both unsurprised how much I liked it and very surprised at how critics originally with the Jon Favreau-directed first film turned so violently on the second. I would never dare say some of their concerns aren’t valid, but I suppose the novelty of the first film caused them to overlook those flaws, and the hype surrounding this one opened it up to more scrutiny — even with how damn fun this movie is.

“Iron Man 2″ starts mere seconds after the first film ends, as a Russian scientist dies while Tony Stark (Downey) is giving the press conference from the end of “Iron Man.” As his son, Ivan Vanko (Rourke), holds his dead father and watches Stark, he swears revenge — to clear the name of his unjustly punished father from crimes done by Tony’s own father, Howard (played in film strips by John Slattery of “Mad Men”).

Skip forward six months. Stark, as he tells a senator (Garry Shandling) hell-bent on taking the Iron Man suit for the U.S. government, has “privatized world peace.” (It’s a shame that the audience doesn’t get to see any of this — as it stands, Stark as Iron Man doesn’t actually… do very much at all in the film.) Stark is reopening the Stark Expo to showcase scientific advances and, more importantly, to stoke his own ego. But he’s holding a secret — the palladium core that keeps him alive and powers the Iron Man suit is slowly poisoning him. Frightened by his imminent death, Stark begins acting rashly — and Vanko capitalizes with a super-powered suit of his own, culminating in an action sequence at a racetrack at Monaco that ends the first act and draws the attention of Justin Hammer (Rockwell), a Stark competitor with a grudge who likes the idea of putting Tony Stark in his place and sees Vanko as the mechanical genius who can do it.

On top of all that, Pepper Potts (Paltrow) returns as Stark’s beleagured sidekick turned C.E.O. of Stark Industries, Jim Rhodes (now played by Cheadle, replacing Terrence Howard) sees his allegiances further torn between his friend and the military, and Nick Fury (Jackson) and SHIELD return to monitor Stark for some secret project called the Avengers Initiative.

The new additions to “Iron Man 2″ are welcome and generally effective, though the standout, as I expected going in, is Sam Rockwell as the weasely Stark competitor Justin Hammer. Hammer’s hilarious bravado and insecurity, along with some choice moments and great lines, make it pretty easy for Rockwell to steal every scene he’s in. Rourke, though sadly underused (spending most of the film in Hammer’s secret compound and not really doing much) is menacing and makes the most of his screentime; it’s a villain in need of a more strongly structured screenplay. I didn’t mind Scarlett Johansson, though it’s a shame that her storyline is ultimately a distraction — though she unmistakably awakens the libidoes of countless teenage boys with her catsuit and ass-kicking, and Jon Favreau certainly lingers on the shaplier parts of her body. (Not a complaint, but these might be the shots held longest in the entire film, and that’s the sort of thing you notice on a second viewing.)

“Iron Man 2″ is flawed. You may find its climax rushed (but, unlike the first film, at least it has one). You may find yourself thinking about missed opportunities here and there, or wondering exactly what function SHIELD and its agents have in the film, other than serving as an extended trailer for the upcoming “The Avengers” film. But once again, the sheer charm of the cast and the humor and high energy of the thing make it a lot more enjoyable than it has any right being, given an almost total disregard for structure and scripting. Think about it like this:  the “Iron Man” franchise is basically Marvel’s very own “Ocean’s” franchise, though I do see “Iron Man 2″ being more widely accepted than “Ocean’s Twelve.”

I’ll generously give it a *** 1/2 out of four here, and yes, it holds up. It’s so much fun.

NEXT WEEK: A more timely review of “Robin Hood.” I’ll also be doing a weekly retrospective of the past decade’s summer movie seasons (2000-2009), running through each summer’s moneymakers, artistic successes and failures. So keep an eye out for that — the first entry should be up within the week. Thanks for reading FilmNerds.