The Jane Genie

Post-Screaming Iron Man 2 Trailer Analysis

Upon the announcement of Iron Man 2, a lot of people seemed despondent, and worried that it wasn’t possible for Jon Favreau to recreate the same mix of action and comedy that he’d done last summer. Iron Man was one of the most successful comic book movies in recent years and it was always going to be difficult to emulate that success.

However, the long-awaited trailer for Iron Man 2 has silenced those fears, and has set off the far too long 140 plus day countdown for what is surely going to be one of the highest grossing movies of 2010.

Right from the off, we are reminded of the perfect, hilarious and laid-back approach that Tony Stark has to the world – “We’re safe. America is secure. You want my property? You can’t have it! But I did you a big favour; I have successfully privatised world peace.” – followed by the rock star style peace signs that prove to us all that Tony Stark is still the playboy billionaire that we fell in love with in the first film.

Fans of the Tony and Pepper will they/won’t they rapport (myself included) are thrilled to see that Favs seems to have explored their relationship further, playing with the humorous dynamic that we know Robert Downey Jr can do so damn well. “Okay, give me a smooch for good luck, I might not make it back” suggests that the two of them have moved beyond the boss/personal assistant trap and are now open for possibilities. This is proved seconds later by Pepper’s kiss of the helmet, and Tony’s comical “You complete me!” as he leaps from the plane, echoing the “I don’t have anyone, but you” conversations in Iron Man.

I can’t explain how much I love the character of Tony Stark. I mean, the guy arrives to his own Stark Expo in his Iron Man suit, only to step out of it, on stage, and be wearing a tuxedo underneath it – “Oh, it’s good to be back!” – Indeed it is, Mr Stark, indeed it is. And my God, did I miss you.

Of course, we can’t have 2 and a bit hours of Tony flying around and charming every woman he finds, as much as we’d like that. Up to the plate steps Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. Rumour has it that Rourke visited Russian prisons and talked to inmates in order to gain an understanding of his character. “There will be blood in the water, and the sharks will come.” – and soon enough, Whiplash has arrived on the scene, well, actually it’s the Monaco Grand Prix race course, and wreaks havoc with his deadly whips, powered by his own miniaturized arc reactor.

And then we get what we all go and see these movies for: the explosions. Stark’s F1 car with the nose smashed off (thank you, Mr Whiplash), flipping through the air, rows and rows of cars being blown up under an onslaught of gunfire, I mean, seriously cool looking stuff.

As if it couldn’t get any better, the trailer ends with what many fans have been waiting for – the teaming up of Iron Man (Tony Stark) and War Machine (Rhodey). As if they knew that the shot of their helmets closing in canon was going to make us giddy, Favs decides to give us a sneaky peak at their combined power, War Machine with his many, many guns and Iron Man with his own bad-ass weaponry, ripping the crap out of what looks like an army of chunky Iron Man suit clones.

And there you have it. The trailer that we’ve all been waiting for. Or I have, anyway. A cast of big names, lead of course by the ever gorgeous and brilliant Robert Downey Jr, with the returning Gwyneth Paltrow on top form as Pepper. The new names; Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard as Rhodey, Mickey Rourke as the aforementioned Whiplash, Scarlett Johansson as the devious Black Widow, Sam Rockwell as Tony Stark’s industrial rival Justin Hammer, and Samuel L. Jackson as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D, Nick Fury.

May 7th people, clear the date in your diaries. I know I am.