EARLY REVIEW: IRON MAN 2

When it comes to super hero movie sequels, it's usually the second time, not the third, that's the charm. This trend began with 1981's Superman II and we've seen it carried on more recently with Spider-Man 2, X-Men 2: X-Men United, and of course, The Dark Knight, which currently stands as the most financially and critically successful example of the entire genre. (Contrast those sequels with Superman III, Spider-Man 3, and X-Men 3: The Last Stand, all of which were colossal disappointments—can the recently announced Christopher Nolan-directed Batman 3 avoid the same dismal results?)

Iron Man 2 sits comfortably among those second films that are just as good as—and in some ways even better than—their predecessors. It is a true sequel in every sense of the word. It picks up where the previous film left off and continues the story thread introduced at the very end of 2008's Iron Man—namely, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) revealing to the public that he is the new armored hero known as Iron Man. The new film sets out to explore the effects that this revelation has on the world, on those closest to Stark—particularly his long-suffering executive assistant and possible future romantic interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow, who matches her charming performance in the first film) and his best friend, U.S. Air Force Lt. Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle, replacing the original film's Terrence Howard)—and on Stark himself.

Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts.

Cheadle takes over as James Rhodes.

And as time goes on, it becomes clear that outing himself may not have been Tony's brightest move, as it jeopardizes his relationships with friends and associates and earns him the wrath of business rivals and those who have a personal axe to grind against the billionaire genius inventor/industrialist. Those who come not to praise Stark but to bury him include weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and renegade Russian physicist/ex-convict Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke). Plus, a U.S. Senate committee, led by the determined Senator Stern (Garry Shandling, believe it or not), demands that Tony turn over the Iron Man armor to the U.S. government. And if that's not enough, Stark is dealing with a very personal problem, one that even his brilliant mind is finding impossible to solve.

Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) makes his case.

Rourke on the rampage.

Hey now! Shandling takes on Stark.

Along with the new faces in the cast is Scarlett Johansson, who plays Stark's enigmatic new assistant, Natalie Rushman. And returning with bigger, somewhat meatier parts are the film's director, Jon Favreau, as Stark's bodyguard/driver, Happy Hogan, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, director of the U.S. espionage organization called S.H.I.E.L.D.

There are parts of Iron Man 2 that reminded me of another sequel: Rocky III. As Tony Stark relishes his wealth, fame, acclaim, and popularity, Ivan Vanko is in a cramped, dingy, decrepit lab, laboring tirelessly as he prepares to confront Iron Man. I couldn't help but think of Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa, flush with success, too busy posing for the cameras and adoring admirers to focus on training in his lavish luxury hotel suite, while Mr. T's Clubber Lang is in a dark, filthy rathole of a gymnasium, working to push his body beyond its limits.

In fact, if there's anything truly disappointing about Iron Man 2, it's that the conflict between Stark and Vanko does not really reach its full potential. It's handled somewhat superficially, in very broad strokes, and the final resolution of their conflict comes off somewhat anti-climactically—though not quite as anti-climactically as the final confrontation between Iron Man and Jeff Bridges's Obadiah Stane in the first film.

Robert Downey Jr. is terrific, as one would expect. He simply OWNS this film, and while Tony Stark isn't always the most likable person, your sympathies are always with him because of the charm and the humanity that Downey Jr. brings to the role.

Mickey Rourke is effective as Ivan Vanko (his character is never referred to by his super-villain name, Whiplash), bringing plenty of menace and sleaze and still possessing the impressive physique he displayed in The Wrestler.

Sam Rockwell has the somewhat thankless task of competing with Rourke as the villain of the piece, and while Justin Hammer is nowhere near as flashy or as threatening as Vanko, Rockwell delivers. He's smarmy, weaselly, and conniving—sort of a less comical version of the character that Paul Reiser played in Aliens.

In the role of James Rhodes, Don Cheadle brings more warmth, humanity, and intelligence to the table than Terrence Howard did. The friendship between him and Downey Jr.'s Stark seemed more real to me. In Cheadle's hands, Rhodes gets to make good on a promise he made to himself in the first film, and this results in some spectacular action and fight sequences.

The chemistry between Downey Jr. and Paltrow is palpable. They work together as if they've been doing it for decades, and their scenes sparkle with witty banter and mutual affection.

Scarlett Johansson's Natalie is not given a whole lot of character development, due to the demands of the story, but she has great presence and acquits herself nicely and believably in one of the film's more exciting action scenes, during which she (sort of) teams up with Favreau's Hogan. However, those people who are familiar with the comic-book version of Johansson's character will no doubt wonder why we never hear her speak with an accent.

Johansson springs into action.

Not surprisingly, the special effects are great. The fight scenes are like a comic book come to life. And there are great little moments and in-jokes that are sure to please comic-book fans and filmgoers who are enjoying watching the "Marvel Movie Universe" unfold and develop, with the establishment of an ongoing continuity that will stretch across a number of different films. The building of this continuity is aided by the participation of Jackson as Nick Fury. Oh, and by the way: DO NOT LEAVE DURING THE END CREDITS. STAY UNTIL THE VERY END OF THE MOVIE. You'll thank me later.

That Nick Fury is one bad mother—

I must acknowledge that there is some disjointedness in the storytelling, causing a few moments where I was pulled out of the film and a little confused by the narrative. Things may become clearer with repeated viewings, but I do know that there are some moments that were shown in the trailers that didn't make it into the final cut. Maybe that's part of the reason for the disjointedness, in which case an expanded director's cut for the DVD release would be welcome.

Overall, Iron Man 2 is fun and exciting, which is exactly what you would want and expect from a blockbuster super hero movie. It doesn't try to reinterpret the genre or challenge the audience in the way that The Dark Knight did—and that's fine. It's not out to turn everything in the first movie on its ear, or set off in a completely different direction. It's a continuation of its predecessor, a logical next step. A worthy sequel.

Now, all Marvel has to do is avoid the dreaded "third-movie trap" that ensnared Superman, Spider-Man, and the X-Men. Maybe Favreau, Downey Jr., and crew should start comparing notes with Christopher Nolan...?

The Time I Met One of My Personal Heroes

I figured I'd kick off my blog with a piece that I wrote not long ago, for my Facebook page. It's still fairly timely and it seems like a good way for me to get into the groove here. Future installments will be all-new material, as time permits--though I may repurpose some stuff, when it's appropriate. (For example, I've got this great story about me and George Takei...)

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It’s been said that it’s not always a good idea to meet your heroes in person, because more often than not, they end up disappointing you. Maybe they’re having a bad day which has put them in a foul mood, and you end up catching them at their worst. Maybe they’re too shy or standoffish to give you the kind of reaction you’d want. Or maybe it turns out that, despite their impressive work and accomplishments, they’re just not very nice people.

Not long ago, I met one of my own heroes: Novelist, screenwriter, and director Nicholas Meyer.

Writer/Director Nicholas Meyer

He was in NYC to do a book signing at Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side, for his memoir, The View From The Bridge, in which he recounts his journey to Hollywood and his experiences writing the novel and screenplay for The Seven Percent Solution, which led to his directorial debut, the time-travel caper Time After Time, which in turn led to his most popular film, Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, which he directed and co-wrote (without receiving a writing credit).

Meyer would go on to direct the groundbreaking nuclear holocaust TV movie, The Day After, and would return to the Star Trek universe for the fourth film (as a co-writer) and the sixth (which he co-wrote and directed). He has a number of other films to his credit, as well. Of course, my interest in his work lies primarily with his contributions to the Star Trek canon.

Let me say right off the bat: Star Trek II is one of my all-time favorite films. It’s definitely in my top two. I’ve loved it from the first time I saw it, back in the summer of 1982 when I was about to turn 13. I’ve watched it so many times over the years, I’ve lost count. There was a time when I could recite all of the dialogue verbatim, from start to finish. (No, I’m not particularly PROUD of that fact, but it illustrates just how much of an impact the film had on me.) I liked Star Trek: The Motion Picture a whole lot. It’s what first sparked my interest in the original television series. But Star Trek II grabbed my imagination in a profound way and has never let me go.

(Incidentally, if you have Star Trek II and Star Trek VI on DVD, you simply MUST listen to Mr. Meyer’s director’s commentaries. They are compelling, informative, and thoroughly entertaining—among the best DVD commentaries I’ve ever heard.)

Meyer directs William Shatner in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, 1982.

So it was a no-brainer, when I learned that Mr. Meyer would be in town to sign copies of his memoir, that I would attend this in-store event. Hell, I’d already bought the book and read a large chunk of it.

Mr. Meyer started off with a reading. He surmised that everyone in the audience figured that he’d read about his work on Star Trek, so he threw us a curve ball: He read the chapter about working on The Day After instead. I didn’t mind—I have vivid memories of watching that film with my brother, and some of the imagery from it is still burned into my brain. And he read the chapter with great flourish and dramatic skill—if an audiobook is produced, no one but Nicholas Meyer should record it.

After the reading, he opened the floor to questions. There were a couple of pretty “out there” Trekkie nutjobs in the audience who asked him ridiculous questions that delved into arcane Star Trek minutiae. And he’s the absolute wrong person to ask that kind of stuff, because, as he’s long acknowledged, he’s mostly unaware of the ins and outs of Star Trek, having never been a real fan and having watched only the first movie and a handful of episodes—with that happening only because he got the gig directing ST II. One of the nutjobs kept asking Mr. Meyer about his work on the Star WARS films. The other guy started rattling off a list of all the original TV episodes that have probably been affected—or rendered null and void—by the creation of an alternate timeline in the new Star Trek movie. I watched as Mr. Meyer’s eyes glazed over before he finally—and politely—cut the guy off and explained that he really didn’t understand what he was talking about.

After a while, the Barnes & Noble employee tasked with managing the event, a young lady, started wrapping up the Q&As, even though a number of people still had their hands raised. Mr. Meyer asked her why. The young lady looked at her watch and murmured something about the schedule. “What time is the store open till?” Mr. Meyer asked. “For a while longer,” she replied. (The store was actually going to be open for another three hours.) “Well, let’s keep this going a while,” Mr. Meyer told her. “People still have questions. I came a long way to be here tonight.” Now, how cool is that?

Aside from the nutjobs, the questions were fairly intelligent and Mr. Meyer’s answers were detailed, informative, and often very funny. The guy has wonderful stories to tell, from dealing with brain-dead Hollywood execs to spending three days with Laurence Olivier, one of his own heroes, on the set of The Seven Percent Solution.

I summoned up the nerve to raise my own hand. When called upon, I told Mr. Meyer how much of a pleasure it was to meet him. I then told him about my own recent showbiz experience: The fact that I had an option deal on the table for my very first screenplay. But, I explained to him, I came to the realization that the producers with whom I was dealing were… well, they were boneheads, and I couldn’t stand the thought of me being bound to them for the next couple of years. So I walked away from the deal, and probably ended my screenwriting career. I asked Mr. Meyer if he was ever in a similar situation, and if he was, what did he do—or what WOULD he do in that kind of situation?

First, he told me that this was NOT the end of my screenwriting career. Then, he said that if you can’t enter into a deal feeling good about it, and feeling good about the people that you’d be working with, then it’s probably not a good idea to commit to it. He told me that Hollywood has some of the nicest, most trustworthy, most loyal, most generous people working there—but of course, that doesn’t apply to EVERYONE in the business. There’s some really bad behavior—same as in every other industry. And while you can’t expect to always work with those great folks, and you may sometimes find yourself involved with not-so-wonderful people and making certain deals out of necessity, you shouldn’t enter into it feeling bad about it. So he told me I probably did the right thing by walking away. I kind of knew that already, but it felt really good to hear someone like Nicholas Meyer put any lingering doubts I might have had to final rest.

Later, as I walked up to the signing table and had Mr. Meyer sign my book, I said to him, “It really is an honor to meet you. Your work means so much to me. I want you to know that The Wrath Of Khan is the reason for my lifelong love of Star Trek.” He smiled warmly.

I went on: “I grew up to write some of the Star Trek comic books and a few short Star Trek novels.” His eyes lit up at that. He seemed to be impressed. I continued: “And when I was writing them, you were there with me. You couldn’t possibly know that of course, but I felt like you were there, sitting on my shoulder, guiding me and inspiring me the whole way.”

At that point, and I have to stress that I am in no way exaggerating here, Mr. Meyer became very emotional. He got choked up. His eyes started to tear up and his voice broke as he said, “Thank you.” He was really, truly touched by what I had told him. It was extraordinary. I couldn’t have been the first person to say something like that to him, could I? Regardless, he was moved.

And then, damn it all, MY eyes started to tear up! I managed to tell him again how happy I was to have met him, and I concluded with, “I really look forward to seeing what you do next.”

Mr. Meyer quickly regained his composure and replied with a chuckle, “Yeah, me too!” And with that, I took my autographed book and moved on.

On this occasion, it was very good to have met one of my heroes.