Marvel Studios' Iron Man 2 - The Broken Sequel

this video is sponsored by Ray Khan we found a way to create I think a nice fun tone and personality of the franchise that people seem to want more of and it's been an adventure making a second one [Music] we've given ourselves less time on this film that we did last time it's a much more ambitious project and this is part of this the fear that I had when we had started so late less than two years to do this to come up with a story set it up prep it film it cut it it's no excuse we're gonna have to do a great film but it does put everybody under tremendous amount of stress it was ambitious to begin with and now we've got it knocked it into overdrive doesn't be a lot of people not sleeping hundreds of people not sleeping we were an underdog the first time we came around all eyes were on us this time we worked our asses off just to get Iron Man to to a place where it could maybe be on the mantle next to the first one Iron Man's a memory probably better in their minds and it was on the film and so you're fighting it you know you're competing you're fighting against a set of expectations [Applause] imagine you were the one who made ayan man it was the smash hit that nobody really saw coming and that was because of you and your team your partners in this crazy punky and fresh crime you guys started something that nobody thought would work nobody truly believed in what now now everyone believes in it everyone wants a stake in it everyone wants a sequel everyone wants a sequel that captures the magic the first one did and every one of the producers the execs the pockets want something different from it they want something different from what you want and they want it in two years instead of the three years it took you to make the first one good luck Iron Man 2 is a weird movie and even weirder sequel on one hand it's one of the best looking Marvel movies Matthew Lee batik cinematography is filled with incredible energy it's insanely colorful the sets and locations are much more diverse than the first film the sense of scale is off the charts tons of extras crazy practical effects different suits the best suits different locations that almost never feel like a green screen studio and action scenes that are more fun more inventive and more engaging on the other hand it's a freaking mess a fascinating mess a film that was rushed to film that have way too many cooks in the kitchen a film that most people who worked on it seemed to dislike a film that tries to be about something but was edited down to be a movie about nothing a movie that has enough plots for three movies a movie that is so clinically fun to watch made so perfectly lightweight and enjoyable to consume but comes off as pretty much entirely empty void of a deeper meaning and a grander purpose half an Avengers set up half a rushed Iron Man sequel this is Iron Man 2 and this is why Iron Man 2 is broken but first well it's crazy right now and it's our job to make things less crazy for the people who will save us that's why we need to stay home and what better way to pass the time than to watch your favorite movies and listen to your favorite tunes audiobooks podcasts and anything and everything you want with the rakin wireless earbuds their latest model the rake on everyday e25 comes in a variety of colors with six hours of playback time in six different sizes the best fit your ear to give you a nice noise isolating fit need to get some exercise throw these bad boys on and get to it without worrying about being tangled up and tied down by traditional wired headphones and best of all you don't need to have a Kevin Feige sized pile of money sitting in your vault to afford them rake on earbuds start at about half the price of any other premium wireless earbuds on the market I've been using the everyday e25 to rewatch Smallville every night until the crack of dawn I may be missing out on my precious hours of beauty sleep but you're missing out on the damn fine sound quality they're discreet they're stylish they're comfortable and you can get yourself a pair for 15% off by clicking my custom link in the description that's by rake on.com slash high-top you'll be supporting my channel and getting yourself some super great and super affordable earbuds in return it's a win win I have a weird relationship with iron man - I wouldn't say we were ever in love love is a strong word I love the first iron man always have and I always will but with iron man - it's more of a fascination a fatal attraction it's the MCU movie that I have seen the most times and I would consider it to be one of the most fun superhero movies you hear that a lot from critics right oh it's a fun superhero movie and most of the time a fun superhero movie really means a fairly uninspired lightweight forgettable but enjoyable experience - passable to hate and too meaningless to love and what's weird is that it seems like Iron Man 2 was edited down to be just that a passable sequel a great popcorn flick a film that in no way tops the freshness and heart of the first one but isn't offensive enough to be considered a massive disappointment a fun superhero movie I say edited down to be that because it is clear abundantly clear that Jon Favreau writer Justin Theroux Robert Downey jr. and the entire cast and crew did not and fryer men too to be just another fun superhero movie quite the opposite in fact they wanted to go bigger they wanted to make something that stood toe-to-toe with the first film and most importantly they wanted to dive deeper into the character of Tony Stark yes we're going to look more beneath the mask we're hoping because we know a lot of people are going to see this film whether we or not imbue it with a sense of that kind of humanity and naturalism and and love of the game that we had last time to be fair if Iron Man 2 succeeds at any of those things that freakin excels at going bigger a 200 million dollar superhero flick that looks sounds and feels like a 200 million dollar superhero flick just look at Tony's introduction we get an exhilarating thirty eight second long take we're an armored up Tony jumps out of a plane and starts skydiving into a sea of exploding fireworks while ac/dc blasts it's exciting visually engaging and it captures the tone that we love from the first film we follow up that shot with Iron Man slamming what a great way to introduce Tony a sensory overload of excess like I said at the beginning of the video the problem with this movie sure as hell ain't the visuals even with the new 4k transfer where Disney put what's essentially an Instagram filter over the film to take out the film grain yes they did this and it's horrible and someone should get fired you're disrespecting the work of the artist to make your movies look like digital Iron Man 2 still has color it still has pop it still has a unique style and a wonderful clever blend of practical and CG effects and if you're like me and lie awake at night wondering why the CG looks so good in this movie looks a million times sexier cleaner and more cinematic than modern Marvel flicks this is y so our pre-business is just coming out of a previous department of animators that are doing the job of the editor the stunt coordinator and the cinematographer we're actually engaged in all those people in that process the first film it's been very important to job in to us that we don't just make everything CG just to make it CG shooting practical elements seems big and expensive but it's actually less expensive than the did type of digital work that would be required and the less you're asking of your vendors to create out of nothing the more likely you are to achieve something that that fools the audience but did we get that deeper examination of Tony Stark that John and Robert won it the answer is complicated there are two Iron Man twos and that is extraordinarily clear when watching Iron Man - there's the Iron Man - the filmmakers wanted and there's the Iron Man - that Marvel Studios wanted the first Iron Man - the better Iron Man - is about it's not about you that's not even about us it's about legacy did he inherit the sins of his father what was the best part of his dad what's he gonna do with his life or rather it wants to be about legacy therefore what I'm say if I'm saying anything it wants to kind of like the first film question the legacy that Howard Stark left Tony was Howard the legendary futurist to encourage the most brilliant and creative minds so from all of us here at Stark Industries I would like to personally introduce you to the city of the future or was he the cold alcoholic neglectful father that took sole credit for Anton Vanko work the Howard that Tony remembers I'd like to personally show you my and what part of Howard did Tony inherit the hero or the selfish egotistical tortured alcoholic Ironman to presents these ideas and themes and it establishes characters and antagonists that support these ideas and themes but it never really gets the chance to explore them properly let's switch things up and talk about those antagonist from my book there's some real interesting set up with whiplash Ivan Vanko the very first scene in Iron Man 2 is a twisted version of Tony building the arc reactor in the cave both Tony and Ivan used their father's knowledge and teachings to build themselves a heart at their lowest points the difference is Ivan and his father are poor for God in Russian criminals while Howard and Tony were famous celebrated visionaries ivan is set up to be this dark reflection of Tony Stark a villain created because of Howard Starks sins Ivan believes his father died and nobody because the stark legacy destroyed any possible chance of a Vanko legacy now he wants to destroy Tony make bill bleed people will improve the government right prove that Iron Man isn't a hero that should be worshipped by the people but an irresponsible prick that shouldn't be trusted and that's a [ __ ] great idea a perfect idea for a sequel a decocker Joker level villain on pay they even got mickey rourke the problem is for some stupid reason this is barely explored barely developed on Ivan and Tony essentially have one face-to-face conversation and it's maybe the most dramatic scene in the film go from one family of thieves and butchers but now like will guilty men try to be right throughout history you forget pull the legs [ __ ] that family is destroyed but this is forgotten about abandon for [ __ ] sake Tony thinks Ivan is dead for the majority of the film ankles alive throughout the first act it's implied that Ivan and his father are supposed to be these tortured geniuses that got screwed over by Howard's lack of empathy and pure douchery instead of cheesy stereotypical angry generic Russian bad guys characters that are used to critique Howard and critique Tony and his downward spiral his character regression but by the 40-minute mark the film is edited in a way that makes the vanko's look like slightly smarter cheesy stereotypical angry generic Russian bad guys it turns out in a scene that looks as if it was clearly a reshoot that Ivan's father was planning to sell all of Howard's ideas and inventions to the Soviets Vanko is the other side of that coin Anton saw it as a way to get rich when your father found out he had him deported it's such a massive waste what could be complex what could be a superhero film where the villain isn't entirely wrong where the villain is a somewhat sympathetic darker version of the hero that exists because of the hero's father sins is reduced to an angry forgettable Russian dude out for revenge what could be morally gray becomes so bland Lea black and white I explained to Justin Theroux into Jon Favreau that I wanted to bring other layers and colors not just make this Russian a complete murderous revenge embattled Marvel just wanted a one-dimensional bad guy so most of the performance ended up on the floor and it's too [ __ ] bad but it's their loss at the end of the day you've got some nerd with a pocket full of money calling the shots you know Favreau didn't call the shots I wish he would have you can catch a glimpse of how this relationship between Tony and Ivan was supposed to play out in the deleted scenes when you let her go she's not like us she's normal we're the same the SIB I'll pee it but that's what they are deleted scenes if you look in the deleted scenes we include any deleted scenes are you seeing some of the deleted materials in the in the end of the we've seen so that scene was much longer - you can look at that I think we have that included this was a longer scene you'll see the original scene that we shot much longer version which in the original conception so I have to fight very hard to keep the scene in as I was getting notes from above saying hey get it out take ten minutes out get this out get this out in the deleted scenes you can see it see that the deleted scenes and goodbye there is another villain in Iron Man 2 and he is by far the best part of the film which is surprising because unlike Vanko his purpose isn't to tell us or show us anything about Tony or his legacy his purpose isn't anything profound or complex in fact it's simply to be the Daffy Duck to Tony Stark's Bugs Bunny that being said this villain this national treasure is maybe the most charismatic and for sure my favorite antagonist across the entire MCU we talking the right guy Justin Hammer what a freakin legend and that's why I got a YouTube legend to talk about my hero Justin thanks Alex that's right I'm Nando from Nando V movies and I am here as the Internet's leading Justin Hammer expert to tell you guys that Justin Hammer is great he's uh he's really funny and it does a cool dance so yeah he's really good is that not if that's not enough [ __ ] um let me just go grab some coffee I'll be right back alright so Alex Justin Hammer why is he the best character in Iron Man 2 and the perfect character for Iron Man 2 well first Justin Hammer is funny like Sam Rockwell puts in an incredible performance he's able to improvise like Robert Downey jr. and John Favreau did so well in Iron Man 1 and he's got a very strong presence one of the things John Favreau said about Sam Rockwell is he hired him specifically because he needed someone with enough charisma just be overtaken by Robert Downey jr. when they're filming scenes together and I think you can see from the courtroom scene that that holds up pretty well he's also really good at adapting the weapon scene where he's doing the demonstration for roadie in the generals apparently Justin Theroux wrote that scene the night before and they gave Sam Rockwall an earpiece and Sam Rockwell did those lines on the day having not heard them before and you look at what came out of that it's one of the most memorable parts of that movie it's super funny the ex-wife speech that was not planned and yet it is awesome the second reason Justin Hammer worked so well in Iron Man 2 he's incredibly effective oil for Tony Stark at this point in his life you see Tony Stark has gone through a journey of self-discovery an Ironman one and it came out of different character he cares about people he wants to be responsible and now in Iron Man 2 he needs to face off against a character who is the worst version of Tony Stark he is egotistical he is narcissistic he's a womanizer he's unethical that's Justin Hammer he is what Tony Stark would be if Tony Stark never had his experience in Afghanistan so pitting me knew Tony Stark against the old Tony Stark is a great way to contrast how much he has grown and forced new Tony Stark to decide who he is now and the third reason Justin Hammer is so excellent he's honestly a really effective villain like a lot of people come out of Ironman to seeing Vanko as the main antagonist but really all Vanko is is a guy who creates some evil whips and uses them to fight Tony at a car race and then losses until Justin Hammer comes in frees Vanko from prison give some resources and most importantly gives him a new goal and motivation right Vanko all he wants to do is kill Tony in the beginning of the movie but Justin sits him down and says no no you're doing this wrong you need to go after his legacy because really legacy is what Iron Man 2 is all about it's about Tony coming to terms with his father's legacy it's about Tony forging his own legacy as iron man so in that movie you would want a villain who is attacking that legacy specifically and whit lash is not that I mean like you could make the case that the film would be more effective if there was no whiplash and Justin Hammer was the in case I make in a video when all you have is a hammer but that's beside the point go watch that video after this will probably be in your recommended people all that goes to say Justin Hammer or is kind of like the uncle gazpacho of this movie right he's fun he's effective and he is dangerous and if you want to put the ex-wife I guess the ex-wife is Mandarin and the submachine gun is whiplash I don't know I've really thought this one through yet so basically Justin Hammer is awesome and don't think I forgot about the dance I know we already played that clip but hey let's play it again oh that's uh that's good stuff one thing both the Favreau Iron Man films do is make Tony the villain of his own story Iron Man was so unique because there weren't many Cape films were the hero's greatest enemy and obstacle was themselves the major risk Ironman two takes is starting off the film with Tony already having regressed so heavily from where we last saw him at the end of Ironman he is gone from fully embracing his growth into a selfless hero an Iron Man that wasn't out for fame or fortune but instead existed to atone for the harm that fame and fortune cause there's nothing except this there's no art openings there is no benefit there is nothing to sign there's the next mission to an ego fueled the rock star I'm not saying that the world is enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted peace and years because of me it's honestly jarring especially when you watch these films back-to-back tony is slowly regressing back into the character he was the beginning of Iron Man 1 the irresponsible narcissistic prick who had to get kidnapped and tortured in a cave in order to get his act together only with Iron Man 2 there is no cave there is no grand moment of growth or rebirth instead the film has Tony be slowly dying from his own toxic blood as Jarvis so eloquently puts it unfortunately the device that's keeping you alive is also killing the shrapnel in his heart represents his sins and as we discover in this film the arc reactor represents the sins of the father the sins of Howard Stark and now those sins are literally poisoning Tony's blood the stark blood so just like Ivan Vanko on paper this is a great idea can Tony forge his own legacy as Iron Man or will he succumbed to his self-destructive nature will he be poisoned by the tainted blood of the stark name that's genuinely a really smart really deep and really adult internal conflict for a hero to face but just like with whiplash what we get doesn't come close to feeling smart deeper adult it doesn't even feel much like an internal conflict we get a few quieter moments where Tony is by himself but most of the time he is acting like a thrill-seeking jackass and yeah he is acting that way because he is dying but other than a few short short scenes I never feel scared for him I never feel the pressure I never feel the existential dread of worrying about becoming your father worrying about what legacy you leave behind it's fitting that Tony's birthday bash is also his lowest point it's the only time in the movie where it feels like Marvel is allowing us to not like the person Tony is regressing into and we get this terrific moment where he screams at the people who are encouraging his behavior where he screams that woody has become what he has let Ironman become but before we can process the weight of that moment the whole movie is like this any emotional beat is edited down to its most basic form in service of keeping the momentum and fun energy going the Edit is in character based save for a few moments but plot based every scene goes on exactly as long as it needs to to progress the plot without ever really pausing to be about something deeper as ass backwards as this might sound Iron Man 2 feels like it's trying so desperately hard to be lightweight and avoid drama as you might expect this massively messes with the pacing at 49 minutes we get our first and only dramatic scene between Tony and Rhodey looking at you rody seems genuinely worried about his friend his brother he sees that Tony is self-destructing and realizes that in this moment he doesn't need an Uncle Ben style lecture about responsibility but instead needs a friend we want to do this whole long gunslinger act and it's unnecessary you don't have to do this alone you know I wish I could believe that I really do but you got to trust me contrary to popular belief I know exactly what I'm doing now let's fast-forward a tiny little bit less than 10 minutes later rody is kicking Tony's ass destroying his house telling him he doesn't deserve to wear the suit and makes the choice to turn over the suit to the United States government and sure rody is probably in the right Tony and his current state shouldn't have the power the Iron Man armor grants him but this all happens way too soon and way too fast how does rody even feel about all this we could be shown the real interesting moral dilemma that both he and pepper are facing Tony passes off the massive responsibility of running Stark Industries onto pepper because it's boring boring I'm giving you a boring word you do it idea I just figured this out you run the company and he forces rody to trust the government and sleaze balls like hammer and senators turn over trusting his best friend what kind of emotional toll would that take on both these characters we get bits of it tiny bits small moments where they are stressed angry and want nothing to do with Tony that isn't enough for me it's like writing a really good story with these marvelous and very human characters and then expecting the audience to feel something when you cut down that story too small easily digestible bullet points Iron Man 2 is a film made up of really solid cliff notes huh here we are at the donut where were you're reintroduced to Nick Fury whose purpose in this film is to I'm here to give some exposition maybe next time I'll get to kick some ass oh and I haven't mentioned Black Widow for a reason that reason being the only reason she is here is to look fire kick some ass and set up the Avengers she serves no real purpose and doesn't affect Tony's growth in the slightest yeah you know I love this shot and I love how Nick Fury is basically Tony's sponsor who is here tell him to get his [ __ ] together but like mr. Jackson said himself Knicks major purpose is to give exposition it's to explain the plot and character motivations to Tony and to us singing each essence based on unfinished technology how was it the arc reactor was a stepping stone something great they go the other side of that coin it's buddy next 20 years I find a few breaks on you heaven they said that you were going for something means and now you are then you can solve the real heart in this same conversation with Nick and about an hour and 10 minutes into the film Tony for the first time since Ironman one reminds us of the fact that he feels somewhat abandoned and neglected by his father he was cold he was calculating he never told me he loved me and never even told me he liked me another really telling and personal line and idea that should have been established much earlier in the film if Iron Man 2 is about the sins of the father the sins of the father's legacy then why is Tony only mentioning how he feels about his father halfway through the movie why is Tony's emotional conflicts becoming clear halfway through the movie the problem with having this come so late is that this conflict has to be resolved shortly after it's truly introduced it has to be resolved so that Tony can go into the third act with a clear head and a clean bill of health and when I say shortly after I don't mean like 20 minutes after or even 10 I mean the cathartic moment the resolution to his daddy issues happens less than five minutes after he brings them up and don't get me wrong this scene is my favorite scene in the film it's slower paced and entirely built on the emotion and the character of Tony Stark but because Iron Man 2 were what Marvel turned Iron Man 2 into doesn't feel like exploring anything too deep or too serious this moment isn't about the similarities between Tony and his father it's not about the flaws and the deep-rooted issues that they both share it's not about Tony realizing that he needs to escape the sins of his father and get his act together but more about Howard giving Tony the perfect video message that proves he did indeed love him what is and always will be my greatest creation is you but this doesn't feel burned it doesn't feel like the boost and kick in the ass Tony needed to earn the mantle of Iron Man again especially considering that he lost and only 15 minutes ago instead it feels like a waste of a really cathartic moment that would work much better if the film felt like it was about something instead of wanting to be about nothing I'm sure in the script are what they had originally planned Tony forging the new element to powers heart would be symbolic for him coming to terms with both the good and bad of Howard the icon and the neglectful father forging the new element would mean forging his own legacy and once he does that it is a coconut [Music] he's free from the sins free from the toxic stark blood that was slowly killing him and now we can go to his father's Expo and save the innocent save his loved ones and save the people he has the responsibility to protect he can save them from the stark family mistakes once again a beautiful and powerful idea on freaking paper take a shot for every time I've said on paper in this video but in the actual film this moment comes across as insanely ridiculous and contrived I'm not one to care about the logic of a movie I care way more about the emotion but you're telling me that the element that Howard had discovered decades ago but couldn't synthesize in his lifetime can not only be made by Tony in a day but is also the exact element Tony needed to power his heart he proposed elements should serve as a viable replacement for palladium okay anyways Tony gets his [ __ ] together some pretty colorful and innovative big boom boom boom war machine gun for 30 minutes funny sweet banter make up with the loved ones Avengers set up joke the end there's a really good Iron Man movie and even better sequel somewhere in here release the [ __ ] Favreau cuts but sadly we can only judge the film that we saw not the genuinely smart attempt at exploring Tony Stark that was left behind in service of being fun in service of being a fast paced adventure in service of setting up the Marvel Cinematic Universe our source says that Iron Man 2 wasn't the movie Jon Favreau wanted to make Marvel interfere heavily with his work on the movie and turned the project into an infomercial for the Avengers Favreau felt the movie was rushed into production they pushed him into it without a fully realized script Favreau wasn't the only one unhappy with Iron Man 2 Robert Downey jr. saw those same problems and according to our source while he's locked in for Iron Man 3 chances are that will be his last movie doesn't that depress you a little bit imagine creatively messing with the guy you started off your entire franchise imagine [ __ ] with his vision on your 3rd freakin film I'm sure John Favreau and Marvel are all good now I mean both he and Robert Downey jr. came back to play their characters a gazillion more times but still I really want to see their fully realized Iron Man 2 and not Marvel's Iron Man 2 Marvel Studios broken Iron Man 2 a movie with a bunch of pieces that work well enough on their own but when thrown into the blender they become fractured broken and don't blend together at all I originally didn't plan on even discussing this film when I made my video on Iron Man I made the first video to spread the love and I wanted to leave it at that but then that cynical part of my brain started itching and that itching led to some thinking if Iron Man 1 started the entire MCU everything that works everything that amazes us and captivates us then Iron Man 2 was the start of everything I don't like about the way Marvel makes movies you take something that's fresh that's exciting that's full of heart you take that something and then pressure the people who created it to do it again and do it quicker not only do you do that but then you start to pick apart edit rework and mock up what they came up with until you feel that it is the most mass appealing product it can be this has happened again and again and not only at Marvel Studios it's happened at Sonya WB at Fox and will continue to happen and that's just [ __ ] but there's no easy solution as long as these films keep making money and they will this cycle will repeat itself that doesn't mean I want it to this won't happen to every movie but in my opinion it shouldn't happen to any movie you could watch Iron Man 2 20 times like me and not even notice any of what the filmmakers are trying to say because what they are trying to say is rushed interfered with or left on the cutting room floor entirely and that's wrong I would never call Iron Man too bad I would never say that it has no merit but I would also never call it exceptional it's a mess of ideas and it's broken nature keeps those ideas from blossoming into something special something unique something powerful instead what we are left with is this almost forgotten sequel that most everyone considers fine and an Iron Man movie that sadly nobody really cares to remember to the fans of Iron Man um you know I'm the biggest fan of Iron Man it was my life I lived it for two years and since then all I've been doing is thinking about it I went around the world saw how it was how it was received so now that I know that people share our tastes were perfectly tuned up in the sense that the audience is waiting to see what we do next and I will not let them down you but things change a lot around here yeah everything we shoot it changes everything else everything's changing but we're gonna try to keep your stuff pretty intact so that you could you could prepare and dig into it I'm changing my sexual preference on this movie everything nuts everything's up for grabs

Channel: HiTop Films

Views: 531,121

Keywords: Marvel Studios' Iron Man 2 - The Broken Sequel, hitop films, hitopfilms, iron man, iron man video essay, iron man 2 video Essay, iron man 2, hitop films mcu, mcu video essay, sam raimi’s spider-man, Tony stark, Jon favreau’s iron man - the insane origin, marvel cinematic universe, robert downey jr

Id: Zz8bQ_K_IjQ

Length: 33min 4sec (1984 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 17 2020