Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain American Reviews

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron Man 2’s story in a nutshell is Tony Stark outs himself as Iron Man.  Justin Hammer, a rival in the weapons industry, continually tries to out do him while, Ivan Vanko, the son of  a scientist that worked with Tony’s father, seeks revenge for his perceived theft of his father’s work.  Whew.  Don Cheadle replaces Terrance Howard as Rhodey and dawns his war machine armor towards the end of the movie.

Ivan Vanko is The Crimson Dynamo in the comics, but he seems to be a combination of that character and Whiplash/Backlash from the comics.  Mickey Rourke does a great job as this evil, but sympathy inducing character. 

I’ll keep this short since I’m doing three smaller reviews today.  The graphics are as good or better than the first movie.  The comedic aspects of the first are in full tilt here without going to far.  The action is top notch.  The characterization of the turmoil inside of Stark in this case is rather than changing as a person due to his near death experience in the first movie, has to deal with the reality that he is going to die from his power core poisoning him.  Captain America’s shield (or a prototype?) makes as appearance and a television shows that the events of The Incredible Hulk are going on at the same time.  Also the after credits sequence alludes to the next movie in the series.

Iron Man 2 is decent, but the weakest entry in the trilogy.

8 out of 10 suitcase armors.

Thor (2011)

Chris Hemsworth is Thor, Anthony Hopkins is Odin, Natalie Portman is Jan Foster, Tom Hidleson is Loki.  With that out of the way, I didn’t know what to expect from this movie.  I liked the Ultimate version of Thor, who isn’t anything like this Thor, personality wise (originally… Jeph Loeb screwed that up).  Thor was missing during the time I was reading New Avengers, so I wasn’t as familiar with the character as I had been other comic characters. 

The story, though complicated with all of its mythology, is boiled down pretty simply in the introduction (with a lot of awesome action).  Thor due to brash actions that start a war is stripped of his power and sent to Earth by his father, Odin.  There’s some trickery by his brother Loki and Asgard is put into danger as well as Earth (or Midgard to the Asgardians). 

I found it odd that they never straight up called the Asgardians ‘gods’, but were referenced as being worshipped as gods.  The word god for current society is so convoluted or vague that calling a physical being with super powers a god could be confusing… I guess.  If they are aliens, that’s weird at best, but I’m pretty sure everyone will call Thor a god outside of the movies.

The graphics are good.  The characterizations are entertaining and fun, but serious when they need to be.  That seems to be a pattern with the MCU.  Comedic aspects mixed eloquently with serious aspects.  This is a bit more serious than Iron Man 1 & 2, but not as much as Captain America.  This is a good movie as well.  It may be the most important movie in the series to watch before The Avengers due to Loki being the main villain in both.

9 out of 10 Mighty Mjolnirs

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

This movie is more of a set up for The Avengers if anything.  It is still a really good movie.  I frankly like having bigger universes link up to each other to create a wider continuity.  A lot of reviewers complained about the ending just being a set up for The Avengers and didn’t pull of a good ending in it’s own right.  I really disagree.  But first… synopsis time.

Chris Evans is Steve Rogers who is a scrawny and can’t get into the military to fight during WWII (this is a period piece in case you were wondering).  He is accepted into a super soldier program due to his heart and his understanding that power shouldn’t be abused.  Hayley Atwell is Peggy Cater, who is a British intelligence officer and Steve’s love interest.  Hugo Weaving is the Red Skull.

The Red Skull obtains an object (that is Asgardian in origin) called the cosmic cube, which seems to be an infinite power source.  Hydra (a Nazi scientific offshoot, that becomes independent during the movie) creates weapons the will dominate the allies and allow The Red Skull to take out the Nazis and the Allies.

Steve Rogers becomes the first super soldier, but the man who created the serum is killed and no one else can get the solution to work (remember this isn’t the digital age).  Steve becomes a USO/Bond selling entertainer, which is hilarious by the way and really reflects the time period.  When his childhood friend is captured in Europe, Captain America disobeys orders and proves himself as a soldier (before this even his fellow soldiers taunted him).

I’m not going to spoil any more, because I actually know people who haven’t seen this yet, so I’ll stop there.  The Red Skull is awesome.  He’s evil and deceptive and feels like an equal to Cap in almost every way.  Chris Evans and his skinnying had people nervous about his portrayal, but he does a fantastic job and I even forget that he played The Human Torch from time to time.  This movie could have been really bad, but it was done really well. Joe Johnston more or less makes up for JP3 with this movie.  Sorry had to do it.  Side Note -  JP3 is okay on occasion, it just isn’t anywhere near the first two movies.

The ending is really sad and I think sets up the man out of time aspect to Steve Rogers that wasn’t touched upon in this movie, but I’m sure will be explored in The Avengers or Cap 2.

This leads directly into The Avengers and should be watched before this beast comes out Friday.  I’m seeing the marathon which is all five of these movie followed by a midnight showing of Marvel’s The Avengers.  I’ll have a full on review for that up as soon as I get home on Friday.

9 out of 10 Star Spangled Men.