Iron Time

I found myself watching Iron Man 2 recently. I guess I'm slowly working my way back through the MCU's heyday now that Disney micromanagement daily seems to drive nails into its coffin. Iron Man 2 was once considered one of the weaker MCU films but it sure looks good now.

The villain-of-the-week quality to Mickey Rourke's character feels a bit like a standard pre-MCU superhero film but I still dig Rourke's understated performance. In a genre in which villains typically deliver histrionics (sometimes entertainingly) it was cool watching him just let silence settle to have a menacing effect.

Scarlett Johansson's pretty great in her first appearance as Black Widow, too. She's at her best in this movie and in Winter Soldier, in those days when she was still allowed to be sexy and playful. Even so, she always felt like a different person in every movie.

I love the lingering shot on Robert Downey Jr. when he's looking at her and drinking from his water bottle. The energy between the two challenges the viewer to wonder what they're seeing; "Is it funny? Is it sexy? Is he ridiculous or attractive to her? Is he put off balance by her beauty or is this a pose?" Stark's cockiness always had this nice ambiguity. You were never really sure how irresponsible he was or how irresponsible he was pretending to be. Downey Jr.'s performance kept that ambiguity anchored and natural instead of confusing and sloppy.

Iron Man 2 is available on Disney+.

Twitter Sonnet #1690

To mind the hare a watch was broken first.
A pirate plan was bootless placed abroad.
The foiled throat was choked by sand to thirst.
A wagging tongue was dragged beneath the sod.
Resurfaced saucer sacks the absinthe cube.
A single set asserts the ancient ship.
A bulb was broken down a Jefferies tube.
The wire necklace took a lightning dip.
But here's a fire like to wire sparks.
Above the balding heads it runs for life.
It burns the tender feet of careless larks.
It swaps the hornet's sting with Bowie knife.
Belief in ghosts resides within a watch.
Informed, the gears absorb a glass of Scotch.