I got this one out of order too. It looks like the order should be - Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man II, Thor, Might Avengers. But, the inclusion of Black Widow and Nick Fury such significant roles, not to mention agent Coulson of course, added to the fact that they are actually discussing the Avengers Initiative at the end of the film makes this the true prequel to the Avengers movie. I like to think of if like comic books, which is of course a propos, and that the Iron Man title put out there September issue and it's concurrent with the Thor September issue, even though they actually came out two weeks apart - you don't necessarily read them in chronological order.
I'm familiar with War Machine from the comics and the movie version is pretty cool. From what I've read of the comics, it's after Rhodes left the army but he kept the suit and has kind of become this mechanical angel of death and justice. Pretty wicked stuff and nothing like how he started out, but if they ever do a War Machine movie, which I would totally see, it's interesting to ponder if they might go there.
Ivan Venko, I have never heard of. His fondness for the energy whips and bring Russian reminds me of Omega Red who is an X-Men villain, and one of the few I might add, that can stand toe to toe with Wolverine and in some situations over power him (whips that are unbreakable and drain away energy). I'm a little confused by his methods, I get the whole wanting Stark to sufferer, but wouldn't it be more effective to go about it in a different manner? I mean the best way would be to make Iron Man obsolete, but not by going the super-villain route.
The Justin Hammer character is one from the comics, but I'm not familiar with him. He certainly seems slimey enough. I hope that he gets used again. Having someone who is trying to compete with and better Tony Stark is as satisfying as having someone who is trying to take on Iron Man.
I've been kind of rating and ranking these movies as I go, and it's hard to say for sure, but I like this one at least as well as I like the first Iron Man movie. It's rare in comic book movies, and movies in general for the sequel to be better than the first one. Not that it can't be done, and I think this might be an example of that. Of course, the movie is only good because we have the first one setting things up for us, so I'm going to call it a tie. The final prequel standings are, in order, the Iron Mans tied at #1, Captain America at #3, Thor at #4 and the Incredible Hulk at #5. They're all decent though and I have enjoyed watching them a second or third time as the case may be. Of cource I am looking forward to all the sequels, Iron Man 3 at the top of my list (it should be out on DVD before the holiday), Thor 2 hits theatres in November and while I can leave or take the Asgardians, I am excited to see Natalie Portman's character in Asgard, and we have the Captain America sequel coming out next Spring, and I think I am looking forward to this one the most and can't wait to see how they handle Cap in the present day.
Iron Man II on IMBd
No comments:
Post a Comment