Monthly Archives: March 2021

Bored now

On the other hand, I’m sorry to say that Iron Man 2 was kind of boring (I literally fell asleep at one point)

The problem I had, I think, was the casting of Guy from Galaxy Quest as this movie’s Big Bad, which meant that I kept hearing Alan Rickman’s voice in my head saying “Well what does it want? What’s it’s motivation?” Honey, nobody in this film had any motivation. Causality, rationality, psychology? Nah – throw a car at it. Blow it up. Wouldn’t it be cute if…

I mean, why did the bad guy (the OTHER bad guy, Mickey Rourke) have electric whip thingies that could cut a car in half one minute, electrocute someone the next, but then… try to whip Iron Man and he’ll grab the whip and pull you down with it. Special effects fine, continuity, dodgy.

Next!

…the next thing

It’s my birthday on Sunday, and my family have kindly gifted me with a Disney+ subscription, so what am I doing now? Re-watching the entire Marvel film universe from the beginning, because I’m not sure whether I missed anything along the way and, much as I want to watch Wandaverse and the Falcon & Winter Soldier series I’d like to make sure I’m caught up first. Yes, I can be a completist.

So I started with Phase One and Ironman. Yes, I have seen it before, and actually it stands up rather well. Tony Stark’s revolting sexual politics aren’t intended to be admired but are a character point underscoring his initial loathsomeness. The “bad guys living in a cave” are bad but the main bad guy is the corporate suit who arms and controls them.

I quite like the idea Jeff Bridges’ character’s idea that, if you’re going to build a prosthetic suit, why not build a

R E A L L Y B I G

prosthetic suit.

I mean, it’s daffy (those of us whose hobby is shouting “throw a car at him!” during fight scenes have plenty to enjoy) but I don’t feel I’ve wasted my time, yet.