Iron Man generated a good deal of support from lovers of superhero movies when it came out in 2008 because it has some claim to originality and to have suited the unusual (and often annoying) acting talent of Robert Downey Jr. It is therefore not surprising that Iron Man 2 is now upon us.
The sequel shows all the worst symptoms of terminal sequel-itis, making up for an absence of ideas with bigger guns, more exotic locations, deeper cleavages, and faster jump cuts. And did I mention bigger guns, many, many more
of them.
The story picks up with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), now publicly acknowledged as Ironman, enforcing world peace though the use of his amazing metal suit. Everyone wants a piece of this technology, but Stark is not willing to share. He knows only too well what might become of this technology if it gets into the wrong hands; and this includes those of the US military.
The role of world savior weighs heavily on Stark, but he still wants to party. The US military and business rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) want to take things into their own hands. Then there is Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), a Russian physicist who wants revenge on Stark, believing that Stark’s father stole ideals from Vanko’s Russian emigre father before having him deported back to the gulag. There is potential in this conceit, as there is in the privatization of international peacekeeping, but Favreau is too busy coloring in the boxes in a painting-by-numbers action film to fill in these finer details.
Worried that his treatment of these ideas produces a hollow sound, Favreau seems to feel pressed to add plot line over plot line, seemingly in the hope that in the ensuing tangle, the audience will forget that nothing about this movie makes any kind of sense. The introduction of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and the whole SHIELD sup-plot, though part of the Marvel Comics universe, to the uninitiated managed to seem like an afterthought, so poorly was it integrated into the story.
Tony Stark is also facing his own demise as the power source for Ironman gradually poisons his blood. Genius that he is, he works out how to save himself and the Ironman franchise, synthesizing a new element with the help of some air-conditioner ducts and a laser pointer. He succeeds in doing this only seconds after his supercomputer tells him that the task is impossible. Even in the make-believe world of superheroes, where there are no limits and everything is possible, the story loses its purpose and the characters any claim on our sympathies.
Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer is one of the few bright spots, producing a comic villain who counter-balances the self-conscious flippancy that passes for humor with Downey. Gwyneth Paltrow as the demurely dressed Pepper Potts is not sufficient crumpet for the lads who are the film’s main target, so Scarlett Johansson has been brought in to show a bit of stocking. In her dual role of Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanoff, she is in the film to flaunt her curves and dash about in a black bodysuit. Johansson proves herself an utterly inept action star, while Rourke’s all-too-brief return to form in the indie flick The Wrestler is revealed to have been a flash in the pan. As the villain-in-chief, he provides lots of grimacing, but no real sense of menace.
Sure, there’s no need to take superhero movies too seriously, but there is silly entertainment that takes pleasure in pleasing its audience and there is cynical, money-grabbing filmmaking that sees nothing but the box-office take. Ironman 2 falls firmly into the latter category.
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50