A tin man with a heartbeat, even if it is mechanical

Iron Man 2 «««
PG-13, 124m., 2010

Cast & Credits: Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark), Don Cheadle (Lt. Col. James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes/War Machine), Scarlett Johansson (Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanoff), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Sam Rockwell (Justin Hammer), Mickey Rourke (Ivan Vanko), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), John Slattery (Howard Stark), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), Paul Bettany (Jarvis – voice), Kate Mara (U.S. Marshal), Leslie Bibb (Christine Everhart), Garry Shandling (Senator Stern). Screenplay by Justin Theroux based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby. Directed by Jon Favreau.

If Iron Man 2 lacked any of the prize-winning ingredients that its 2008 summer blockbuster boasted in terms of serving up visual special effects eye candy and staying faithful to the original Marvel comic book, this latest installment would not only be a surprise to fans but a major letdown.

I doubt die-hard fans will walk away disappointed here. Like the original, there are plenty of action sequences as billionaire weapons inventor, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), dons his red metallic super suit with the gold face and lighted white eyes making appearances at technology expos, entertaining guests at his birthday bash, and fighting off adversaries with longtime beefs at the same time.

Fans of Marvel Comics’ other superhero series will be pleased at how Iron Man 2 briefly ties into other soon-to-be-made movie franchises. Nick “I got my eye on you” Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), the mysterious one-eyed character seen at the end of the first Iron Man film has a somewhat larger role here attempting to see if Stark could be a candidate for his own superhero team called The Avengers. That Marvel series is supposedly planned for 2012. Captain America, also another Marvel adaptation headed to the big screen in 2011, also makes an appearance here, in vague spirit that is. In one scene, Stark uses Captain America’s shield to steady one of his laser inventions.

I have never read, much less even picked up an issue of an Iron Man comic book to know about any of the villains. Mickey Rourke’s muscle-bound tattooed villain Ivan Vanko, who gets the name Whiplash because of his deadly energy whips, however reminded me of Max Cady, the convicted felon Robert De Niro played in the remake Cape Fear (1991). By comparison, Cady’s body also boasted a number of tattoos but with vengeful quotes from The Bible. Perhaps the two were cellmates at one time.

Vanko’s rugged towering appearance alone is menacing enough that it don’t matter if half the time he is speaking with a thick Russian accent, much to the annoyance of flawed military industrialist and Stark rival, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell).

Just as I lack a lot of Iron Man trivial knowledge about the bad guys, I also know nothing about Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), the mysterious redheaded secretary hired by Stark’s newly appointed CEO Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

I can see the ending coming from a mile away. I knew watching Iron Man 2 that eventually Justin Hammer would get his just desserts. I knew Vanko would be defeated, perhaps even live to fight another day. Given I know nothing about the fate of the character in the comics, for all I know he could return in another installment. Just as I knew a metallic army of weapon carrying drones would be no match for Iron Man and his friend, “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle), who when donning his own suit of armor goes by the name, War Machine.

Nor was I not surprised to find out that Johannson’s Romanoff is more than just an attractive high-heeled redhead. Safe to say, Romanoff can take care of herself when going up against Hammer’s security force. Indeed, Stark’s husky bodyguard (Jon Favreau) should have listened when she told him to just keep the car running.

Like the original that won me over thanks to the vulnerable performance by the actor inside that walking technological super weapon, I was happy to see Robert Downey Jr display that same kind of vulnerability again here but on an even darker level. It seems Tony Stark is not so “super” after all outside the suit, health wise that is. While showing a promotional film of his late father (John Slattery) talking about the company he founded, Stark takes a moment behind the curtain to check his blood cell count that’s getting dangerously low due to the mechanical heart which keeps him alive.

He is like a diabetic who is not only required to check their blood sugars daily but must take certain medications to keep them down. The medications, however, are only temporary fixes. The same goes for Stark whose energy supply has to be replenished every few hours. He is a man living on borrowed time. I can’t blame him for not wanting to do everything all at once whether it’s being the life of the party or competing in the Grand Prix. Life is short.

“What’s the point of owning a race car if you can’t drive it,” he says.

With all the toy gizmos Stark owns, one might say unless this poor soul can find a cure soon, he could literally be the person known as “He who dies with most toys wins.”

Were it not for Downey’s emotional, and often times, egotistical (“I have successfully privatized world peace.”) and entertaining roller coaster ride he takes with this character, Iron Man the franchise would be just another visual effects comic book movie where the flying deterrent is just an empty suit, or a computerized remote controlled drone. Of course, the fact Downey is also an admitted fan of the comic book series helps. I’ll be interested to see what life threatening turn the filmmakers take Tony Stark on in the third film. He’s a corporate tin man with a heartbeat, even if it is mechanical.

©5/10/10

Goodnight Freddy and good riddance!

A Nightmare on Elm Street «
R, 95m., 2010

Cast & Credits: Jackie Earle Haley (Freddy Krueger), Kyle Gallner (Quentin O’Grady), Rooney Mara (Nancy Holbrook), Katie Cassidy (Kris Fowles), Thomas Dekker (Jesse Braun), Kellan Lutz (Dean Russell), Clancy Brown (Alan Smith), Connie Britton (Dr. Gwen Holbrook), Lia D. Mortensen (Nora Fowles). Screenplay by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer based on characters by Wes Craven. Directed by Samuel Bayer.

There is only one reason why this most unnecessary remake of Wes Craven’s 1984 horror classic grossed over $32 million opening weekend making it number one at the box office. The answer has to do with Jackie Earle Haley, last seen as the faceless Rorschach in last Spring’s anti-hero epic, Watchmen (2009). Here Haley is practically unrecognizable with his burned, scarred face, the black and red striped sweater, hat, and four bladed metallic hand as a supernatural child serial murderer who haunts the dreams of high school teenagers on Elm Street.

I know in the minds of horror geeks were it not for the desire to see Haley as Freddy Krueger in a macabre role first made famous by Robert Englund back in over a handful of follow-ups the past two decades, there would be no reason to see this retread of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Like so many remakes of twenty plus year old classics Hollywood seems intent on destroying all because they have run out of original ideas, this latest redo begs the question, “Why even bother when the original was practically flawless to begin with?” That depends on who you talk to, that is. I already know the answer. Like last year’s successful box office reboot of Friday the 13th, whose sequel is now officially dead, or the redo of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), the whole purpose of studios bringing these dormant horror franchises back to life is not just to lure a whole new generation of fans of such notorious movie psycho slashers as Jason, Leatherface, and Freddy Krueger, but to show how much better today’s filmmakers stupidly think their versions are when they have a larger budget to play with.

When will horror want-to-be movie makers learn the reason films like Craven’s original Nightmare was so effective in a fun, creepy way, and maybe even suspenseful, was because they were made on very low budgets. The original was by no means a classic but the idea was clever in a grotesque way. It’s been over twenty years since I saw the first one but I remember some of the horrific eye popping visuals. I vaguely recall Johnny Depp, for example, in his first movie role as one of the victims whose innards and blood decorate an entire bedroom. I can’t remember if in the first one when one of the high school teens answers the phone in her dreams if Freddy’s bulging tongue comes out from the receiver to lick her face. I do remember one poor soul though turning into a cockroach but that was in a later installment.

This latest Elm Street reincarnation is literally a nightmare and not the kind where you are scared to go to sleep. It’s the kind where you are so bored watching what’s on screen, you are actually fighting to stay awake. There are no jump out of your seat surprises like in the predecessor as Freddy terrorizes his young victims with that metallic four bladed clawed hand of his wherever and whenever they are sleeping from classrooms and basements to bathrooms and bedrooms. Every shot of that infamous weapon whether it’s making an appearance inside a bathtub while a teenager is dozing off or having a doctor in the emergency room give a sedative that turns out to be a metallic hand instead has been shown in the trailer. In addition to those scenes of victims waking up to find themselves bloodily scared by that infamous metallic claw.

The only unexpected revelation the film offers is how Haley’s child molesting school janitor met his fiery fate at the hands of the parents who took justice into their hands years before upon learning what the guy is doing to their little kids behind closed doors. That was not exactly covered in graphic detail in Craven’s original but was explained by one of the adult characters.

You will note I haven’t mentioned any of the teenage characters here, a couple of whom survive Freddy Krueger’s vengeful wrath close to the end or who meet their grisly fates early on. I see no point in it. The ones who get knocked off early are only on screen for a few moments. The others who manage to last the entire film don’t give us any reason to root for their characters in hopes they can beat Freddy at his own game. That’s not their purpose here anyway. They’re just pawns for Freddy to terrorize and eventually mutilate.

For horror buffs younger than twenty with little or no knowledge that there was an original A Nightmare on Elm Street decades before, they will probably be more than happy to accept Haley as their Freddy Krueger. For us old folks like myself who tire of Hollywood revamping the old stuff, there is only ONE Freddy Kruger and he was the nightmarish ghoul Robert Englund played.

This redo makes me want to say “Goodnight Freddy and good riddance.”

©5/5/10