On to the topic at hand…

Iron Man and War Machine

The Iron Man 2 trailer has been released, and it looks excellent.

Tony Stark, Pepper Pots, and Rhodey (now played by Don Cheadle) are back to save the world from . . . → Read More: Iron Man 2 trailer released]]> First of all, I have to say how shocked I am that I’m mentioning this before Lee. Somebody must have him locked in a very nasty dungeon. Good luck with the escape, Lee!

On to the topic at hand…

Iron Man and War Machine

The Iron Man 2 trailer has been released, and it looks excellent.

Tony Stark, Pepper Pots, and Rhodey (now played by Don Cheadle) are back to save the world from Whiplash, a Russian with an axe to grind against Tony.

Rhodey, as is apparent from the screen shots, takes on the mantle of War Machine to fight along side Tony as Iron Man.

Whiplash is apparently no moron. I’ve never read a comic with that character, but he’s apparently smart enough to whip up (see what I did there?) one of those power devices to add some special effects to his whips… and a bunch more of them to power his band of merry killer-bots.

Iron Man and War Machine vs. the bad guys

War Machine’s auto-aiming gun is pretty cool, too.

I hope they include some real character growth here. One of the dangers of a sequel is just throwing the characters into an action bonanza and forgetting that the characters, not the action, are the more important piece of the movie. I’m not saying that’s what they’re doing, here – it looks like Tony’s still got a lot of cocky to lose, based on the beginning of the trailer.

Also, I love that Gary Shandling is getting work, and it’s against type. And of course, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury makes a quick appearance.

Can’t wait! Bring it on!

The next Stargate SG-1 film titled Stargate: Continuum now has a July 29 DVD release date.

Marvel has announced that Iron Man 2 has been confirmed for release in 2010, in addition to a movie about Thor. Also reported: the Avengers and Captain America (with Matthew McConaughey as the lead?) in 2011.

Also . . . → Read More: Movie news roundup – Sci-Fi and comics lovers, rejoice!]]> Lots of news and some rumors hitting the net lately… here are the best of the bunch for Sci-Fi and comics lovers:

The next Stargate SG-1 film titled Stargate: Continuum now has a July 29 DVD release date.

Marvel has announced that Iron Man 2 has been confirmed for release in 2010, in addition to a movie about Thor. Also reported: the Avengers and Captain America (with Matthew McConaughey as the lead?) in 2011.

Also announced by Marvel: an Ant Man movie, though the timeline for the film is unknown. (This is where they start to lose me… Ant Man? Seriously? I think they’re stretching to reach a mainstream audience with that one. My guess is his popularity in the Avengers movie will determine if this one really gets made.)

Iron Man, Tony Stark, will make a cameo in The Incredible Hulk.

Superman: Man of Steel will now not be delayed due to the “Justice League of America” film but is geared up for a 2009 release with Brandon Routh back as Superman.

Both Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Dark Knight will run over 140 minutes. In fact, The Dark Knight may run close to three hours.

Speaking of The Dark Knight, director Christopher Nolan has signed on for a third Batman feature, and Christian Bale has expressed interest as well. Details of plot are even starting to circulate – apparently the film will focus on Two-Face and may introduce Robin, following the plot of the graphic novels “The Long Halloween” and “Dark Victory” for a rough outline.

I’ve heard a lot of people saying this was the best superhero movie . . . → Read More: Review: Iron Man]]> Robert Downey Jr. has been touted as the perfect choice to play Tony Stark. When I first saw the trailer I was doubtful about that choice. I always pictured Stark as taller, and with a deeper voice. Now that I’ve seen the movie, I’m over that. He did a great job, and I really can’t think of any better choice. Excellent casting.

I’ve heard a lot of people saying this was the best superhero movie ever. Before I saw the movie, I doubted that would be true, though I figured it would make a good shot at the title. Turns out I was right on that one. This took a heck of a shot, but it doesn’t, in my opinion, take down the reigning king, Spiderman. Here’s why: I left both of the first two Spiderman films elated and breathless; Iron Man had me happy and pumped. Great reactions to both franchises, but it’s a matter of degrees — Spidey gave me the extra effort.

To be fair, going in to it I prefer Spidey over Iron Man. I’ve always been intrigued by Iron Man, but never captivated. So I guess I’m not impartial. I do think it’s possible to make an argument that the Spidey films are objectively superior, primarily on the strength of the story coming through on a more personal, rather than global level. But let’s get back to concentrating on the current movie for itself.

First of all, the eye-candy level is impressive. Lots and lots of nice shots. The suit looks and works great. But that’s not the focus of the movie. As with all the best special effects movies, the effects are there merely to support the story. It’s a very good story, too. The uncaring head of the world’s leading weapons manufacturer comes face-to-face with the reality of his own inventions and realizes that he has to undo the damage he has done. It’s a big task, on a global level. The movie keeps it manageable and the bad guys are terrorists, not governments, which ensures we’re rooting for the hero without damaging the movie’s marketability.

There are a lot of nods in there for comic fans, too, which is nice. Supporting character Rhodey gets to telegraph his eventual role as Iron Man’s partner, War Machine. S.H.I.E.L.D gets a huge nod (though I won’t comment on the rumored presence or absence of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury). There is a definite setup for an Avengers flick, and an obvious potential for a whole series of Iron Man movies.

My vote for best moment in the entire movie – the moment that made me actually loudly exclaim “Oh, Yeah!!” before the rest of the audience reacted, was actually a moment that was partially played for subtle comic effect, as well as dramatic. The way he took out the terrorists holding hostages in the town was just too cool, and I didn’t see it coming. Absolutely perfect.

But now I have to come back to something that didn’t work as well for me. And the problem I have is that I don’t know who to pin it on. This could be the way the character is in the comics (I really haven’t read much Iron Man), or it could be the way he is written for the movie, or it could be the director’s choices, or it could be on Downey Jr.’s shoulders: aside from early on, about midway through the cave sequence in the beginning, I don’t ever get much in the way of emotion or conflict – there were opportunities for that to come through, I think, but it didn’t – unless you count innuendo. Very little in the way of vulnerability. I do recognize that that was a conscious choice, I just think it could have been loosened up a bit – at least for a scene or two. It kept me from being as emotionally invested in the character as I could have been.

Maybe that’s always been present in the character. That could explain why I never got fully caught up in the series. I just don’t relate to him as well as to some other superhero characters (specifically, Spiderman, Superman, and Batman come to mind).

Anyway… despite the flaws I’ve seen, I still think this is easily in the top five best superhero/comic movies ever. It should prove to be a strong franchise, and is probably positioned better than any other comic book movie to spawn spin-offs and cross-overs. In the comics, Tony’s worked with just about everybody in the Marvel Universe at one time or another. I anticipate at least one sequel, probably more, and an Avengers spin-off, and I eagerly look forward to them.

And DO NOT LEAVE until after the credits. You’ll be glad you stayed.

So… 4 stars.

(1 down, 12 to go.)

After a promising beginning, dealing with the “death” of Captain America, and setting up some multi-decade intrigue, the movie’s plot devolved into nothing more than, “here’s a character, here’s his/her power, he/she isn’t a team player, now everybody get together and fight something.”

They did attempt a small bit of character development, especially with Captain America and Bruce Banner/Hulk, but . . . → Read More: Review: Ultimate Avengers]]> I was really hoping this movie would be better than it was. Alas, it wasn’t.

After a promising beginning, dealing with the “death” of Captain America, and setting up some multi-decade intrigue, the movie’s plot devolved into nothing more than, “here’s a character, here’s his/her power, he/she isn’t a team player, now everybody get together and fight something.”

They did attempt a small bit of character development, especially with Captain America and Bruce Banner/Hulk, but it was really not handled well. And the villains were not developed at all! With the promising set-up in the World War II setting, there was a lot of mystery surrounding these guys. The writers obviously wanted to do something with it, but either couldn’t figure it out, or it got cut completely out of the movie. Early on, one character even asks, “Why are they still here?” and the response is all we ever get about it: “We don’t know.” That’s it.

The real answer, of course, is so the good guys have someone to fight. But that’s not really helpful, plot-wise.

It’s a shame, because reading about some of these same characters in the current Marvel “Civil War” event in the comic books, it’s obvious that there is a lot of excellent character development and interesting story to draw from. It’s really disappointing that they chose to make this release so unsatisfyingly formulaic. I’ve seen better story arcs in many of the Marvel cartoons (like the X-Men and Spiderman cartoons that aired on U.S. TV in the 1990′s).