Oh man, this looks like it's going to be SO good! (fingers crossed) I still would have preferred to see Terrence Howard in the role of War Machine, since his character was in the first film, but Don Cheadle is a talented man, so I'm sure it will turn out fine in the end. I'm pretty sure that Iron Man 2 will see the very first Don Cheadle action figure to be released. I almost forgot that this movie will see the debut of Black Widow, Scarlet Johansson and of course Nick Fury (Samual Jackson) will be making an appearance. The list of characters is pretty long for this film, I hope we don't see the kind of thing that has happened way too often in superhero flicks: too many characters with not enough screen time or character development. Just look at this list from IMDB:
 | Scarlett Johansson | ... | Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow |
 | Robert Downey Jr. | ... | Tony Stark / Iron Man |
 | Kate Mara | ... | Unknown |
 | Sam Rockwell | ... | Justin Hammer |
 | Mickey Rourke | ... | Ivan Vanko / Whiplash |
 | Samuel L. Jackson | ... | Nick Fury |
 | Jon Favreau | ... | Hogan |
 | Gwyneth Paltrow | ... | Pepper Potts |
 | Paul Bettany | ... | Jarvis (voice) |
 | Leslie Bibb | ... | Christine Everhart |
 | Don Cheadle | ... | Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes / War Machine |
 | Olivia Munn | ... | Melina Vostokoff / Iron Maiden |
 | Clark Gregg | ... | Agent Coulson |
 | John Slattery | ... | Howard Stark |
 | Stan Lee | ... | Larry King |
 | Helena Mattsson | ... | Rebecca |
 | Garry Shandling | ... | Senator Stern |
 | Tim Guinee | ... | Major Allen |
 | Natalina Maggio | ... | Model |
 | Anya Monzikova | ... | Rebekah |
 | Davin Ransom | ... | Young Tony Stark |
 | Jennifer D. Johnson | ... | Ironette Dancer |
 | Keith Middlebrook | ... | Dr. Jason Miller |
| Jack White | ... | Jack! |
That's a lot of people crammed into one movie! And can someone tell me is Jack White the same Jack White of White Stripes fame? If it is, that's pretty cool, if not, than I don't care. And what's with Paul Bettany just being the "voice" of Jarvis? I don't get it. Do we only hear him over an intercom or something? I want to SEE Paul Bettany damn it! Speaking of Bettany, wouldn't he have made a KILLER John Constantine, instead of Keanu Reeves? And hey Gary Shandling always rocks! Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Pots still makes my stomach churn, but hopefully like last time, we won't have to see or hear her too much. (I just checked into it, and I'll be damned Bettany was the voice of Jarvis in the first movie too, I guess I'll have to go back and rewatch it just for that.)
So who's excited about this sure to be HUGE summer blockbuster of 2010? I sure am! I've told everyone this before, but damn I never thought I would give a crap about an Iron Man ANYTHING! That first movie was so very entertaining, mostly due to Robert Downey Jr. He's the perfect Tony Stark.
I really liked Terrance Howard in the first movie, but I think I read on Newsarama that he was the highest paid actor of the first film and when they his agent to bring his price in line with the other actors they balked. Oh well. I don't mind Paltrow too much but she really doesn't satisfy as Pepper. I hated the Idea of making Jarvis a computer too, but I guess they didn't want to make him another Alfred. Still, I would much rather see Bettany in the roll instead of a Hal 9000 Jarvis. And I agree, Robert Downey JR. totally makes the movie for me. Lets hope they don't replace him with Val Kilmer any time soon.
ReplyDeletePaul Bettany would have made an excellent Constantine! Good call.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I think Don Cheadle will play off of Robert Downey Jr. much better, and he's a more talented actor than Terrence Howard so I consider this an upgrade I can tolerate, casting change notwithstanding.
ReplyDeleteAs for Gwyneth Paltrow, her Pepper Potts was actually one of the things I really liked about the first movie. I was very down on Paltrow for the longest time and I couldn't stand her. When me and my friends would ask 'the Fight Club' question to one another ('Who would you fight?'), my answer would always be 'Gwyneth Paltrow.' But once I saw her as Pepper Potts in iron Man, I had no problems with her in the role or with her as an actress. The important thing here is that she plays the role ON THE SCREEN very well. Downey Jr. is the kind of actor that can totally dominate a scene and I prefer to see actors interacting with one another on an equal plane. That is why I'm pleased with Paltrow as Potts: she shares the screen with Downey Jr. very well.
As for the large cast of characters, my only concern is that the movie will get overloaded by the inclusion of so much extra material. They need to be careful not to make the same mistakes that Spider-man 3 did with one subplot too many.
The first movie was very good so Favreau and company totally deserve the benefit of the doubt.
And I agree, Lori: Paul Bettany is fucking GOD. Everything he's in...he's arguably the best thing about it. And the reason we don't see him in either movie is because Jarvis is a computer, not a real person.