Iron Man 2 is the sequel to the 2008 film "Iron Man" and the third entry in the MCU. This film is messy. It is 5-6 different plots, most of which are worthy of their own entire films, jammed together in this one story. In saying that, this movie is also wildly entertaining and incredibly rewatchable. To this point, this is without question the funniest Marvel movie at the time of its release, the most loaded in terms of charismatic and entertaining side-characters, and has quite a few sequences that genuinely leave you admiring how cool they have managed to make this genre. However, aside from the massive overload in terms of storylines (which I believe was studio-mandated and forced upon the filmmakers), it yet again struggles to make the main antagonist interesting. Mickey Rourke plays a grizzled tech-genius whose father was scorned by the Starks, so now he is out for revenge against Tony....that's it, that is as deep as it gets, and unfortunately, when the character turns from villain to "super" villain, it does not get any more interesting. Sam Rockwell delivers a very fun performance as the film's secondary antagonist, which definitely helps the flow and overall vibe of the film, but at no point is he to be taken seriously, so that removes any and all tension from that conflict. This film also introduces Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow, who plays well alongside the main cast and definitely holds her own individually. Additionally, Don Cheadle replaces Terrance Howard to the benefit of the movie as he instantly has some incredible chemistry with RDJ. Overall, while this may be the most structurally flawed movie of the entire first phase of films, as I mentioned before, it is fun, genuinely funny, and has so many great characters that you can almost just appreciate its pluckiness.
The Incredible Hulk is the second entry in the MCU following the very successful "Iron Man", and while that film had the duty of introducing the audiences to - what was at the time - a niche character among the general public, this film had the advantage of utilizing one of the most popular comic book characters ever created. So, was it able to make due with its source material? Not really. This film struggles with finding the right notes in almost every aspect. For example, the pacing is off, the villains are mostly uninteresting, and the love interest is not much of a character. Edward Norton delivers a balanced performance as the film's lead character, and the action, for the most part, is pretty solid, but it feels as if they were struggling to construct a plot that had as much character or attitude as Iron Man did. It would be wrong to compare two completely different characters who require separate tones, but ultimately, those tones that made Iron Man so successful need to be replaced with something that suits the character of Dr. Banner more appropriately, but also engages the audience to the same degree, and while the right chord was struck from time to time, I feel as if this was a miss overall. In the end, I would be hard-pressed to say that this was a bad film, mostly forgettable, with some good action sequences that elevate the overall product.
Iron Man (2008) is a very solid foundation that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was built upon. A charming cast of central characters, a lead whose charisma is nearly unmatched, and an overall fun premise make for an entertaining ride. The movie shows its strength when it establishes Tony Stark as a character and details his progression into a hero; however, the opposition to that very strength is where the film falls from great to just very good. Jeff Bridges delivers a good performance as Obadiah Stane; however, the character ends up as a one-note, corporate guy with a twisted agenda....something that becomes rather commonplace in the MCU. The third act of the film struggles to close out what had been two very impressive acts by delivering a climax where the action wasn't the greatest in terms of spectacle, choreography, or the right amount of tension, which stems from the less-than-stellar writing for the film's antagonist. Overall, the film's positives heavily outweigh the detractions; it is a very solid action movie that has its own flaws, but in the end, it does exactly what it needs to do and passes the test with flying colours.
