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At The Theater #19: Iron Man 2

Going into Iron Man 2, I was feeling a little worried. People were telling me that it wasn’t as good as the first one, that there were too many characters and that it was all just a long commercial for an eventual Avengers movie. Having now seen it, they were wrong on all three counts. Iron Man 2 is an awesome movie.

It’s full of energy. It starts at 10 and just keeps going.

In one way, Iron Man 2 is better than Iron Man. I’m talking about the decision to replace Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle as James “Rhodey” Rhodes.

I really don’t understand why Terrence Howard would not do everything in his power to come back for this sequel. From what I’ve heard, he was the highest paid actor in Iron Man, more than Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges, all because he was the first actor signed to the film. Going into the sequel, he was scheduled for a major pay cut because when you’re in a cast with Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson, you’re bound to become number three or four on the pay scale.

One early 90s outfit that still looks cool today.

Instead of taking the pay cut and getting in on what may be the biggest movie of 2010 (sorry Twilight fans, I see Iron Man 2 doing better than Eclipse), not to mention getting his own armor in this one, the super-badass War Machine armor, Terrence Howard left to make…Fighting.

I don’t remember this movie either.
I’ve never been a big fan of Terrence Howard, and Don Cheadle is awesome in everything he does, so when I first heard this news, I thought “Upgrade!”

As soon as Rhodey appeared on screen in the fully tricked out War Machine armor, I think I audibly said “Awesome.”
Luckily they didn’t cast their 3rd choice.

Has anyone seen the poster below for Iron Man 2? I’ve been told by multiple people that it’s modeled after a Star Wars poster. Sure, the boot jet looks like a lightsaber, but I can’t think of any Star Wars poster that looks like this. Does anyone know what Star Wars poster this looks like? Or is just a thematic thing?

Star Wars?

Like the first movie, there’s a bonus scene at the end of the credits that you should definitely stick around for. All I can say is that it is definitely a great time to be a comics fan going to the movies these days.

In the credits, Iron Man co-creator Stan Lee is credited as himself, but I swore he was called Larry King in his cameo appearance.

Since we’re on the topic of superhero movies, please go to Netflix and save The Crimson Mask to your queue. My friend Elias Plagianos is the writer and director. It’s played in a bunch of film festivals and won over 30 awards. The Crimson Mask is due out on DVD at the end of this month and Netflix requires a certain number of people to save it to their queue before they’ll order copies of it. If it makes it into Netflix, you’ll see a review of it here. Thanks.