SPOILER DISCUSSION

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1.There’s a strange decision to go for a POV styled shot at the 10 minute mark that does absolutely nothing for the film. It’s jarring, makes the film messier, and has no purpose as either a formal marker or a manner of exploring theme. The punch-line of the sequence culminates in Tony confusing Stan Lee for Larry King, but the shaky camera makes the misunderstanding less apparent as it gets lost in the movement.

2.The repetition of Justin’s (Sam Rockwell) obsession with besting Tony in the manner he feels Tony has bested him is funny enough. First with Ivan, he makes a comment that the latter should check him out on television at the Expo, clearly a reference to Tony’s television driving stint. Then at the conference itself, he comments that his robot demonstration is better than Tony’s cheerleaders.

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3.Speaking of being on television, the lead-up Tony’s television appearance is fantastic. The camera slowly pushes into him as he stares at his own reflection; it’s clear he’s going to make a dramatic decision in response to his sense of impending doom. The transition to Justin then being interviewed and ignored as Tony shows up on the television is fantastic.

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4.Unfortunately, enjoying this moment of brash recklessness is made difficult by the fact that the narrative demonstrates not one but two roadblocks which distract. Early on, when Ivan is making his way to Tony, he gets a fake passport and tickets to the racing event. But as evidenced by the sequence described in the third point, Tony’s decision is abrupt and brash. The idea that Ivan somehow predicted that Tony would be at this event is absurd. While the story might theoretically allow for such an exception, say Tony’s attendance at the event as an audience member is functionally public information so Ivan finding him is within reason, it’s edited and presented in a fashion which makes the incongruity more present.

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This problems stack up when Tony attempts to get into his suit. His transformation process takes over 30 excruciating seconds, time in which Whiplash could conceivably kill him with no threat of retaliation. But then as soon as Iron Man tries to shoot his first blast, Whiplash responds by swatting faster than the shots can come out. It’s overwhelmingly evident that Whiplash has a huge speed advantage compared to Iron Man and has no intention on letting the latter attack, yet the film expects the audience to believe the antagonist waited as Tony went through his change.

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5. Speaking of the fluid push-in mentioned in the third point, I wish the movement was repeated again at the 53 minute mark. Tony asks Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) what she would if she only had one birthday party left and receives an answer granting him permission to go wild. If the camera slowly pushed from wide shot of him sitting in the chair to the close-up of him drinking and making another “bad” decision, the film could establish a nice visual motif. The first push in marks the car race. The second push in could have marked the disastrous birthday party.

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It’s a shame because at the 61 minute mark, there’s a great push-out on Tony who is eating doughnuts in the middle of a giant doughnut sculpture. The shot ends on Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) yelling at Tony and eventually convincing him to get back to his superhero duties. As the third push on Tony, the movement would have done a great job showing him moving away from his self-destructive spiral, but instead it’s a wasted opportunity.

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6.While the overt sexualization of Natasha is distracting most of the time and has aged exceptionally poor, the consistent use of attractive women as a way of bypassing Tony’s natural defenses is a nice touch. It starts with the subpoena he gets at the start of his expo. At first he thinks the woman approaching him is one of his groupies, but it’s clear that she was picked because of Tony’s disposition towards attractive women. She can actually deliver the summons to him without getting blown off somehow.

Likewise, Natasha is sent in to spy and check up on Tony. Her good looks and charms combined with Tony’s natural inclination to underestimate her capabilities makes it understandable why he wouldn’t be able to figure out her identity, even if the fight with Happy (Jon Favreau) should have tipped him off to something being off.

7.The framing of this shot and the position of both Iron Man and War Machine suggests an epic intensity, but the colors are so muted and undifferentiated that the feeling of the image gets lost. Instead of being awed, we’re left scanning the environment to determine what is a robot and what is not. Even Iron Man’s iconic colors fail to liven up the scene, becoming lost in the abyss of what’s around.

This issue is endemic with many of the action sequences and makes watching the film disappointing. More polish would have helped the film have a stronger identity.

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8. That being said, the initial fight between War Machine and Iron Man is so much goofy fun that it’s hard to not enjoy at least the way it begins. Tony asks the DJ for a “fat beat to beat [his] buddie’s ass to” and proceeds to immediately sweep Rhodey off his feet in slick fashion. The propulsion through the glass along with the score is fine, but Tony’s suave ending position seals the deal.

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9.It’s simple but I like the reincorporation of the laser blast between War Machine and Iron Man. At first the two friends shoot each other with their blasts in disagreement and end up splintering from one another. By the end of the film, the friends shoot with each other in agreement and come back together as a duo. It’s a simple thing, but who said simple was bad.

10. The continued usage of Tony’s reactor as an extension of his personal growth is still present in this film. Iron Man sees Yinsen and Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) helping Tony open up to and embrace people in more emphatic fashion. They help to fashion his literal heart and help him open up his emotional one. Iron Man 2 sees a similar relationship occuring between Tony and Howard as the former learns just how much the latter believed in him. The new core Tony puts into his chest is literally an element he synthesizes via his father’s note, a father-son tag team effort that brings forth new life.