Early Iron Man 2 Reviews Express Disappointment

Posted by on April 27th, 2010   Filed under: Action, Books/Comics, Fandom

earlyironman2reviews

I’m not usually one to make a big deal about early reviews of a movie, particularly those that come from somewhat faceless media outlets, but Iron Man 2 seems to be one of the most anticipated movies of the year and I’m sure a lot of people are dying to read some first impressions of the film. A number of reviews have hit the web over the past 24 hours or so, and what’s most surprising is that the overwhelming sentiment appears to be one of disappointment. Well, from everyone except Harry Knowles, that is.

It’s hard to tell if some of the negative comments are coming from people trying to attract attention by slamming the movie, but a lot of the criticisms do sound valid and plausible. On the other hand, perhaps expectations are just a little too high for this sequel. I still expect a wave of support to rise up from the blogs and fan sites over the next few days to balance things out. Do these early reviews change your expectations for Iron Man 2? Is there a chance this won’t make a gazillion dollars anyway? Check out some choice quotes and links to the reviews after the jump.

  • “Iron Man 2 is a travesty – a mind-numbingly dull, chaotic and often unwatchable muddle. It might even be the ultimate masterclass in how not to make a movie.” — Daily Mirror
  • “Everything fun and terrific about “Iron Man,” a mere two years ago, has vanished with its sequel. In its place, “Iron Man 2″ has substituted noise, confusion, multiple villains, irrelevant stunts and misguided story lines.” — Hollywood Reporter
  • “I don’t think Iron Man 2 is anywhere near as good as the first film, It’s let down by the amount it’s trying to squeeze in to the movie with the Avengers story and all the new additional characters but overall it’s certainly going to please some but will equally bemuse others.” — Heyuguys
  • “There are enough fun moments in Jon Favreau’s playful direction… to satisfy a weekend audience, but one needs a forgiving nature to get past the flabby midsection.” — Variety
  • “I FUCKING LOVE THE ACTION of the film. I love that this is full on Marvel Science Fiction. The entire last act just fucking rocks balls!” — Ain’t It Cool News


  • Ole

    70% on RottenTomatoes right now.

    Not too bad in my opinion.

  • True, but there aren’t enough reviews yet to really judge. Plus even the comments from some of the positive reviews sound pretty damning.

  • Theman

    Could hurt this film in the long run, but the opening of this movie is gonna be huge no matter what.

  • kyriacos

    The first one was.. OK because it was Fun and fresh in some way, Or maybe it was just funny because R.D.Jr was portraying a superhero in a way we haven’t seen before, But it had already too many stars in it. The whole Jeff Bridges-supervillain thing was incoherent and uninspired.. I can see the second one having -more of the same- problems, but not to the point of being unwatchable..

  • Haven’t we learned anything from Transformers 2. The majority of the movie going audience don’t give a shit about critics.

  • I found that the reviews for the first one were underwhelming, despite it being one of my favourites of the year.

    Of what I have read the plot is muddled but apparently Downey Jr and Rourke are still a bomb so I’m sure will be good.

    I reckon mainly bad reviews due to high anticipation and hype.

  • Captain N

    Harry Knowles,before posting his review, made it a point to announce that he was given a chance to watch the film early. It was almost guaranteed for that reason he’d give the film a glowing review where he used the word “fuck” to put emphasis on everything that impressed him.

  • Niklas

    I’ve had a feeling since the first teaser that this movie would be a bit meh.. so my expectations aren’t high to begin with. Looking forward to it though!

    no podcast this week?

  • Nate

    @ Billy Boyd Cape – The first one has a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, aka the critics loved it.

    @ Matt – Transformers 2 should have taught everyone that critics sometimes know exactly what they’re talking about.

    I didn’t have that high of expectations to begin with and these reviews seem to be in line with what I thought. I’ll still be seeing it.

  • @Nate. I don’t think Matt was saying critics don’t know what their talking about. But people will still go see a movie even if critics trash it.

  • Nick Robertson

    Who gives a fuck, we’ll all be there (tomorrow for me) and we can decide for ourselves.

  • Is it just me, or does the Daily Mirror like to be contrarian? Seems I remember them slamming several well-liked movies this year. I take them with a grain of salt, and they cancel out Harry Knowles.

  • Mike

    i’d be lying if i didn’t say that this quells my excitement a bit. I’ll definitely see this movie though, probably opening weekend, but needless to say, my expectations have been lowered.

  • kyriacos

    hi there frothygirl..

  • Pete

    the multiple villan complaint pops up.. AGAIN!! ..

  • Andrews

    The first movie was bad. The plot was a convoluted mess that made little to no sense on any level. Think about it, why did Jeff Bridges try to kill Downey in the first place? Why was everyone so impressed and scared of a missile that shot cluster bombs? At what point does there become a need for an Iron Man past the initial escape? The list of crappy plot points goes on and on. The only redeeming quality was the strong performances by the actors. So the idea that the second movie might suck, seems to me to be an almost certain predetermined outcome.

  • TheAllKnowingGod

    The love for the first film is beyond comprehension. One of the most generic comic book films ever made.

  • I have faith in Tony Stark. Iron Man shall prevail.

  • BigHungry

    When I saw the first movie – I went in with such low expectations. So I was blown away. I hope to bring my expectations down. Hell ya, it always makes a movie better.

  • Caught a sneak tonight.
    Pretty underwhelming experience overall, with the first two third of the movie unexciting enough to sit through.

    Still worth at least a watch. Just go in with expectations in check.

    Oh yah, stay through the end credits.

  • cronenfly

    Well the first Iron Man sucked in my opinion. So it wouldn’t really surprise me if this one wasn’t good either. Also i have no intention of seeing this or any future Iron Man installment ever.

  • Ole

    Just got back.

    First 45 minutes are brilliant. Then a little slow for the next 30. But the last 30 minutes are awesome.
    Rockwell is awesome and scarlett is actually decent.

    Overall a worthy sequel.

  • It isn’t that much worse than the original really. Downey Jr is good value again, and amongst the plethora of cameos, it was the appearance of Mad Men’s Roger Sterling who pops up as Tony Stark’s father was the highlight for me.
    ScarJo is hottttt. But isn’t necessary.

  • Werner

    Harry Knowles – what a wordsmith…..

    I won’t be too disappointet because I expect this to be just a goofy, funny and quite flashy comic book movie. It will bring me joy for a while.

  • Kamen Liew

    Just saw the film last week, gotta agree with the critics.

    Not as good as the first film — and the pacing suffers around the mid-section. The first 45 minutes or so had Dark Knight potential, but the film begins to show lack of ideas after that.

    Had the same problem with Spider-Man 3 — too many intersecting plotlines, though hats off to Favreau for still managing to keep it all focused on Tony Stark. Mickey Rourke severely underused.

    Action scenes are ok, but not anything we’ve seen before.

    ScarJo actually almost stole the show — her fight sequence was better put together than the Iron Man’s ones. And the girl is hot. Seriously HOT. Maybe it’s the red hair.