Iron Man 2: At the Core of It

A huge improvement all around for one of the weakest MCU movies -- the villains seem more threatening and less comical, and the deleted scenes contribute much needed insight into one of the central conflicts of the film, namely Tony against his own faltering body. In all, the various plot threads (of which there are still, unavoidably, too many) are cleaned up as much as can be. The scenes with Gwenyth Paltrow's Pepper Potts do seem to suffer from some jerky editing, to the point where I had to rewind to be sure my DVD hadn't skipped, as shot continuity and the rhythms of conversation seemed quite off. I'm tempted to point out that less Paltrow is never a bad thing, but in terms of the characters' arcs, it does make a noticeable difference.

Great artwork on the cover, as always, by lapis, who remedies the MCU's habit of generic, interchangeable character mosaics with distinctive, memorable images. In all, a vast improvement with a few flaws to be ironed out (no pun intended).

This is a soft recommend for me...it really depends on your tastes. While there are some improvements over the theatrical cut, there are also parts that have been made worse through choppy cuts and the removal of key dialogue/scenes. This isn't a shelf replacer for me.

To be specific, we get the alternative opening for example, but not all of it. Tony being sick in the bathroom at the start and putting on a brave face and extra sass for Pepper establishes the narrative thrust of the whole film. Here, their conversation is chopped and noticeably weird. In fact, most of the conversations with Pepper are like that, apparently in an effort to make her less argumentative with Tony. This is problematic because 1. she has every reason to criticize him based on what she knows, 2. this is part of their fireball dynamic already established in the first film, and 3. it has the net effect of just making Pepper a trophy to be kissed at the end. She is never let in on the secret or given agency or allowed to display real emotion in this cut. It guts her character and also flows really oddly in many parts.

There is A LOT of Justin Hammer's stuff deleted, and it's a shame because Sam Rockwell is delightful. His quips are perfect, his dancing is marvelous. All gone. The mission here is apparently to make him threatening, but it's a total fail. There are still parts left in like his dud missile (with a farting noise!), his junk robots, his botched armor test... even in this cut it's clear that he's a Tony Stark knock-off. That's. The. Point. He's all flash and no talent. Vanko is the real talent, and yet he says very little, he's all action. Hammer is supposed to be Stark's distraction, and Vanko uses him as such. Many of the cuts to him are, for me, very misguided. And if you were going to make him a real threat, you'd have to cut much more. You'd also have to not add in scenes of people talking about chili dogs while he's being threatening. The tone management just doesn't work here.

Finally, the credits scenes are placed oddly for me. If you're going to have the one little stinger at the end, cool. If you're going to add in a 3 minute short, cool. But don't stop the credits to do the short, then run again for a couple minutes, then stop them again.... just combine the two Coulson scenes into one sequence! Easy solve.

There are a lot of welcome additions here and many edits that flow well. The music is usually matched well, and it's not typically obvious which are the deleted scenes. A few points are overly dark or have an odd tint though. I did appreciate seeing more of Rhodey in the suit and more of Tony doing inventing. But it ends up being "six of one, half a dozen of another". In the end, I think I miss too many things from the theatrical cut to truly love this one. Plus, that one just flows better. As I said, it may come down to personal choice, but this edit isn't really substantially better than the original film for me. However, if you have the specific viewpoints that the editor highlighted in the description, then maybe it'll work for you.

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.