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).

Audio/Video Quality: Excellent quality, I don't notice any degrading visuals or hiccups in the audio at all.
Visual Editing: Almost perfect. Some scenes like Senate hearing, I can notice the deleted scene added in because of the slight difference in color grading and aspect ratio but It's not going to detract you from the movie.
Audio Editing: Flawless.
Narrative: More focused, enjoyable, and cohesive now. Hammer might be a bit to bland in this cut, but It's either that or dweeb hammer which a lot of people find that annoying. I also like Pepper and Tony relationship in this cut, less bickering between the two and more like a couple who just doesn't have the time to talk and understand each other now.
Enjoyment: Overall, it's a superb cut that really tighten up the film and make it less jarring. Takes a film that's like 5/10 to a really solid 7/10. and I think this is the best that it could have been given how bad the script {which lapis molari can't fix] and the source. Thank you for your fantastic work lapis molari.

Some say Iron Man 2 is one of the worst MCU films. To me, the theatrical IM2 isn't as great as the rest of this particular cinematic universe but it isn't as terrible as people complain it to be. Iron Man's sequel did though have its flaws as any other film does whether small nor big. Personally I do agree that IM2 may be one of MCU's least best, but it isn't that horrible in the end. Believe me, there are way worse films that exist. Ishtar anyone???

Now we get to the core of it. (Get the pun? lol)

This edit is much more desirable than it's theatrical counterpart. More focus on the actual story and less corniness. We now care even more for the characters, as they are fleshed out further. Especially Black Widow's first ever appearance in the MCU stands out better than before.

I do not wanna spoil anything for the ones who haven't viewed this edit yet, but the deleted scenes back in and the new end credits are a fantastic touch. I am very pleased with this fan edit.

Thanks for the great work and hopefully more MCU edits to come.

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.