Iron Man 2: At the Core of It

This tightens up Iron Man 2, which was plagued by a rambling story, and a not terribly exciting plot i.e. bad guys want to get Stark-tech, failing which they copy it; bad guys wear armoured suits. This edit is a lot tighter, things move faster, and Vanko is less cartoonish.

This is definitely better than the original, although there is only so much that can be done with the bland plot (see earlier), and the inexplicable gaps in the story (doesn't anyone want to talk about how criminal it was for Stark Sr., genius and SHIELD co-founder, to have Vanko Sr., a Soviet political exile, framed and deported back to Stalinist Russia because of a disagreement? How about the US military using armoured suits, and Stark effectively going back into the arms industry by handing over the War Machine suit? Surely it would be interesting to think about how Vanko Jr.'s (clearly valid) claims that Stark Industry was built on lies, theft, and war profiteering complicate the narrative of bad Whiplash vs good Iron Man?) No fanedit can fix these sorts of issues.

So thanks gain for the work, its a better film than it was, and probably the best version that is possible.

Really, all of the previous comments have nailed down any weak points of critiques of what is, unquestionably, a vastly improved version of Iron Man 2.
Yes, some editing issues etc., but this was a much more entertaining and denser film - I was so happy about the improved pace, a result of carefully cutting down the bulk of the film's showboating, and I loved how much extra the re-added deleted scenes gave it, too.

A great example of the real value of a fanedit. Excellent work.

This is a great edit. I watched this edit with my little cousin: I am showing her the MCU before we go to see Endgame. I decided to show her this edit Iron Man 2, and I was not disappointed.

The film becomes much more focused. Lapis molari does his best to restructure and tighten a messy plot, and man does it work better. Deleted scenes are added to emphasize certain things, anything that distracts from the main story is trimmed, and the theme of legacy is allowed to finally shine. I also loved little changes like adding "That was easy" after they beat Vanko.

I do have some issues with it, though. First of all, some deleted scenes don't visually match the normal movie. Color correction was needed here. Maybe there was some made by lapis molari but wasn't enough, but I don't know. Also, the "Nanoball" deleted scene I felt was completely unnecessary and has very bad incomplete CGI. But despite our objection to a certain wipe in the discussion thread, I didn't mind the other wipes in the film at all, save for one at the end where it transitions from Pepper to the SHIELD building.

I also think some cuts are very rough and abrupt, and it really takes you out of the movie. Off the top of my head two examples are: the transition from Tony, Hammer and Christine Everhart to Tony looking at his blood toxicity in front of the mirror. The second one, as I referenced before, was the last scene with Tony and Pepper. Pepper is throwing a temper tantrum but then it cuts to Tony suddenly calming down and saying she deserves better, and Pepper smiling, and suddenly they're kissing... It's clear quite a bit is cut, and it feels extremely rushed and choppy.

Finally, my last issue is a narrative one. It's not a plot-hole or anything, but I really missed the rest of the dialogue between Tony and Ivan in the prison room. "If you can make God bleed, people will cease to believe in him." These lines, and that scene which I firmly believe is the best scene in the movie, are connected to the theme of legacy and explains Ivan Vanko's motivation, adding depth to his revenge plot. Removing it just makes Ivan, who was a Marvel villain with potential to be really great, even lesser in my eyes.

As I side note, I would like to mention that my little cousin thought this film was the weakest of the MCU films because it was slow paced and, in her words, boring, in the first two acts (especially in the slllooow, complicated-for-a-child senate meeting, and overly long dialogue scenes). I agree that the pacing in the first two acts still remains slow, even kind of amplified with the added deleted scenes. However she got much more hooked and excited in the third act, which she thought had great action. Also, she really loved Black Widow!

I apologize that my criticisms are more than my praises, because the edit really triumphs in improving the film and making a focused narrative, something the original film really fell short on. I highly recommend it.

Iron Man 2 has long been one of those films of the MCU(along with The Incredible Hulk) that I desperately wanted to like but simply couldn't because of the overall product.Now thanks to the Tomahawk editon of IH and for IM 2,At the core of it,I can really keep revisiting these films without pulling myself through the theatrical releases themselves.

The narrative here is much more substantial than the one the theatrical release tried to present.We know straight off even before the titles that Tony is suffering from Palladium posioing and that it is the main "villain" of the film,not Hammer and not Whiplash.The 10 mins cut too add a significant feeling of "Lightness" to the film as you don't feel like the film is going on endlessly.The transitions(while apparent at times) are for the most part not abrupt and don't hinder one's viewing experience of the film(except the one that comes immediately after the aftermarth of the battle at stark expo).Justin Hammer also seems more imposing as a threat instead of a silly goofball who you wondered established a weapons industry(I still enjoy his comedic quips that were there in the theatrical release but they take away from the immersion in the movie).Last but not the least,the post-titles scene has got to be the best thing in this edit,I mean when I first saw the deleted scene just as itself it seemed hopeless wanting to see it incorporated into the film as i believed it would take too much time and effort for someone to do it,but lapis molari manges this too and gives us the opening we were looking forward to from the trailers nearly 10 years ago.
Also the movie benefits immensly from the removal several of Tony-Pepper scenes,I believe that was one of the several aspects that ultimately ended up ruining Iron Man 2 for me and I'm glad it's been kept to a minimum here.
The only deleted scene I found not worthy of inclusion(but included here) was the "Nanoball" scene,The CGI is very very apparent(and unfinished) and I am sure that there was no way for it to be masked but completely removing it would have been better,In my opinion of course.

All in all,A great Fanedit(Very Grateful for the subtitles,makes it feel more "Official") and a worthy replacement of my Blu-Ray Disc of my MCU Collection.

P.S:Loved the Inclusion of "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Thor's Hammer",it works perfectly as a mid-credits scene.

I didn't like the theatrical version at all, but I enjoyed this version. The original film is a pretty choppy piece of work. It was pretty noticeable that there wasn't much of a plot, and that the actors were improvising. For years I had thought of editing Iron Man 2 myself. I tried more than once, just couldn't get anywhere with it. But this edit is great. I so wish there was more footage out there, more deleted scenes, so that the dialogue could be tightened up even more. I don't mean that as a diss, just that there didn't seem to be enough coverage in scenes so make it easier to cut around. But this edit streamlines the narrative so much better. Sooo much better. Having the true enemy be the palladium poisoning was brilliant. I didn't even realize how serious a threat it was until things were reoriented to make that the focal point. Mickey Rourke's escape from prison works so well now, very solid cut. I could never understand in the theatrical version why he would blow up his cell to fake his death, then kill a guy in the hallway. Overall, everything is a vast improvement. The characters have motivation, most of the silliness is taken out, and the plot is as tight as it can be given what was available to work with. This is my go-to version for this film, and am grateful somebody cracked it.