Iron Man 2: At the Core of It

Iron Man 2 is a strange beast. It was important for setting up the MCU, but not particularly well-remembered. It meandered too much and never really got around to having a point. While there are still plenty of problems with the film, beyond the scope of what editing can fix, this is the version I recommend watching. The villains aren't just jokes, the story is trimmed down a bit, and overall it just feels more focused. I think the Senate scene for me was the best overall, and it was greatly improved by the edits in this cut. Also, as a comic nerd, I appreciate the DVD art made for this edit which absolutely must be checked out.

This is a valiant effort. There are structural flaws to Iron Man 2 that no editing can fix, but what CAN be done is to smooth out all the weird crap and make what IS there enjoyable. Lapis has done this.

*** SPOILERS ***
Problems that can't be solved:
-Rhodey just flying away with a suit, to say nothing of getting in and out of it later. O_O
-The recipe for a new element -coincidentally, the one Tony needs for his chest battery- hidden in the miniature layout for a science expo from decades ago? What? I mean, really. WHAT?!! And that's what resolves the MAIN problem of this film. Deus Ex Dopey.

Also, I was about to complain about Tony's drunk party and how it reminded me of Raimi's Spiderman 3, but I think in this case it's appropriate. He did believe he was dying, AND is canonically an alcoholic. ;)

The good news is that what Lapis has done with his edit here is take the emotional story of Tony's attempt to find a solution to his Palladium Problem, set against The Revenge of Whip Guy™ and make it very watchable. He focused on those themes and removed any superfluous nonsense that would have distracted from them, and has made a much stronger film by doing so.

Iron Man 2 is a bit of a mess with several plots that don’t really share much real connective tissue at times (Tony’s health issues… Whiplash’s revenge… Hammer’s plot). However, this edit streamlines the film and by focusing more on Hammer as the main villain it feels stronger. Also gone in service to this are some of the cornier moments and anything that would make the villains seem like jokes.

Overall, while Iron Man 2 will never be the strongest MCU entry, this edit improves on it to a great degree

The fanedit succeeds at being what it sets out to be: a more agreeable, less grating version of Iron Man 2. 'Nuff said, right? Well, there's a few gripes I had with the edit, as well as some particular praises:

- Lapis said that "Vanko is a determined but minor villain who never rises to Stark's level," so it feels a little weird to keep the entirety of Vanko's introduction. The primary threat of the movie is Tony's heart condition, but the Vanko stuff overshadows it, seeing as it's much longer than the Stark scene. Maybe cut to Stark after Vanko pulls out the blueprints that say "Howard Stark - Anton Vanko," so both the internal and external threats feel equal.

- Nitpick: it feels weird for Tony to be asking Happy if Kate Mara "comes with the car" if he's supposed to be more dedicated to Pepper in this edit. Ditto for when Tony is oogling "Natalie," feels a little gratuitous, imo.

- At the Senate Hearing, Justin Hammer saying that Howard Stark was "Really a father to the millitary - industrial age" sounds spliced together from two different lines.

- Love the deleted scenes (Coulson at the Senate Hearing, the Nanoball, Tony letting the lady fly in the Iron Man hands) but they need color correction (I can live with the unfinished CGI in the Nanoball scene).

- Tony is cut off when he tells Senator Stern that "America is secure." Wish the rest of the "you can't have it" line was kept, it's Tony's "sometimes, shit happens, and who ya gonna call?" moment and cutting it feels unnatural.

- I agree hard with masirimso17, it's very disappointing that "If you can make God bleed" was cut. It's a big trailer moment, just like Pepper kissing the Iron Man helmet before throwing it out the jet (which was a great inclusion, btw).

- Tony and Pepper in the Jet back to the states works very well, though that may be it's its own scene rather than an add-on to an existing scene with different lighting, lol. Nevertheless, well done!

- Thanks for cutting out the "Iron Man pees in the suit" gag. Upon reflection, it did not age well.

- I can't remember if the music was so dire when blowing up drinking glasses with repulsor blasts, but it was a great choice. Made me believe that someone would've been killed if Rhodey didn't step in.

- When Tony and Rhodey are fighting, there's a weird editing choice. It goes "Tony gets knocked up into his bedroom -- Tony falls on the bedroom floor -- Tony and Rhodey fall AGAIN immediately into the house lobby?" I'd either cut less, or cut it so that it's "Tony gets knocked into the bedroom, then right befor he lands on the floor, cut to him and Rhodey landing in the hallway."

- Nitpick: I miss Howard saying "I'm Howard Stark, and I'd like to show you...my ass." I thought it was funny, as a bit of in-universe corpsing.

- Really appreciate that Hamer got Vanko HIS "burd," as well as cutting out the used car salesman pitch to Rhodey and the millitary.

- It's weird that we cut from Tony inventing his new element, to an establishing shot of his house (where we already know that's where he's been), then cut to...a few moments later, with Tony cleaing up and in a robe? It feels that, after Coulson leaves, we see Tony inventing the new element, then cut to Hammer with the millitary and Vanko, then cut to Tony in his robe, since it flows from "Vanko being watched by Hammer's men" to "Vanko immediately killed Hammer's men" quite smoothly.

- Nitpick: I know it's personal preference, and the edits are really seamless and good, but it's wrong to not see Justin Hammer dancing on stage, as well as him naming which division of the millitary each drone is in ("Army! Navy! Marines!").

- I'm a broken record at this point, but it feels wrong we don't see Pepper learns that Tony almost died of radiation poisoning, since the rest of the edit has been building up to Tony telling her so. I know it's full of the grating improv, but it makes sense for her to be grating and angry, since she's still mad at him for what he pulled at his birthday party.

- Everyone else has said this, but Tony and Pepper on the rooftop goes WAY too fast. Plus I miss Rhodey's comments about how them kissing looks like "two gorillas fighting over a grapefruit," or whatever the line was.

- "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to Thor's Hammer" as a mid-credit scene? Nice!!!

All in all, this was a great edit, with room for improvement. Excellent for MCU completionists. I'm holding out for a version 2! :-)

So, this movie was, in my opinion, a great example of great concepts, poor execution. This edit jettisons the crap and retains the jewels. That said, with a revamp on this level, there were a few scenes that were too chopped up to really flow. The office scene ALMOST works (where he brings Pepper the strawberries) but the rooftop scene at the end was just an unbelievable mess. Pepper stops in mid sentence and then the next time we see her she is in a different place and the conversation is on a different topic and in a different tone, and then they kiss out of nowhere. It just didn't work. I have to watch the original scene again, but my recollection of it is that it would have worked better with fewer cuts. That being said, however, it is still better than the original in almost every way, and those two scenes were the only places that were really jarring.