Iron Man 2: At the Core of It

I've always struggled with Iron Man 2 as it always felt overly bloated, long and a slog to get through. Thanks to this edit, the pacing is improved significantly and is alot more enjoyable and overall fun. The increased focus on Tony's condition gives the film a little more heart and motivation to keep watching, but I'll argue that I'm against the exclusion of so many iconic Justin Hammer lines, but this is a nitpick as I have a soft spot for the absurdity of that character. Also, Pepper does receive less of a spotlight which makes the kiss at the end have less impact. The only bit of editing I had issue with was with Stark and Pepper on the rooftop as the cut dialogue came across as janky and jumpy, making their eventual kiss feel a little rushed. I understand the intentions though. Overall, a superior edition of a very flawed film.

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).

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

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.