DVD Review: IRON MAN 2

IRON MAN 2 (2-Disc digital Copy Edition)

DVD Review by David Blackwell

DETAILS: 124 minutes, audio commentary, four deleted scenes, two featurettes, music video, digital copy of movie

VIDEO: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)

AUDIO: English 5.1, French 5.1, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, English 2.0 DVS

Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

STUDIO: Paramount Pictures/ Marvel Studios

Theatrical RELEASE DATE: 5-7-2010

DVD RELEASE DATE: 9-28-2010

STARRING Robert Downey Jr (Tony Stark), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Don Cheadle (Lt. Colonel James Rhodes), Scarlett Johansson (Natalie Rushman), Sam Rockwell (Justin Hammer), Mickey Rourke (Ivan Vanko), and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury)

WRITTEN by Justin Theroux, based on the Marvel comic book

DIRECTED by Jon Farveau

Ever since Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has revealed himself as Iron Man, his life has begun to unravel. The very thing that keeps him alive (the mini-reactor) is poisoning his blood. Then there is a Russian bad guy, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who wants to bring Tony Stark down and a business rival (Justin Hammer) who wants to put Stark out of business (and have the Iron Man technology for himself). IRON MAN 2 is about men having issues with technology while having issues with each other. Rhodes and Stark even get into a fight while Ivan Vanko is set on getting revenge on Stark (even if it means accepting Hammer’s help). Then you have the hot new employee working for Stark Industries, Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson). Stark has his hands full while his faithful assistant Pepper tries to hold his company together.

IRON MAN 2 is entertaining as the first one. It has plenty of action and humor. Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell chew scenery in their scenes, but Rourke does it better than Rockwell with a pet bird and playing it up as a Russian. Robert Downey Jr. plays Stark like in the first film. IRON MAN 2 isn’t a ground breaking sequel like THE DARK KNIGHT was compared to BATMAN BEGINS. It is just popcorn entertainment for the summer. I did miss the director not including a couple of scenes from the trailers (Pepper kissing Iron Man’s helmet and throwing it out of the plane- my favorite moment of the IRON MAN 2 trailers).

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentary by director Jon Favreau on disc one.

Disc two has four deleted scenes (with optional audio commentary by director Jon Favreau) which were either cut for pacing or didn’t fit the tone of the film (including two scenes which were featured in the trailers). The blu-ray does include additional deleted scenes.

Two featurettes-

CREATING STARK EXPO- behind-the-scenes in what went into creating the Stark Expo for various scenes in the film. They based it of the World Expo in New York State.

The other featurette is on the practical and CGI special effects in the film.

Rounding out the extras are an AC/DC music video and a digital copy of the film. The theatrical trailers aren’t included on this set.

FINAL ANALYSIS: IRON MAN 2 is as entertaining as the first IRON MAN, but it doesn’t break new ground for the series. The extras are OK, but I wish they included more of them on the DVD instead of holding some over for the Blu-ray exclusively.

This DVD review is ©10-1-2010 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com