Iron Man 2: A Love Letter to Ronald Reagan?
America just might have found itself its truest superhero. Who needs Superman when there’s Iron Man 2? Tony Stark isn’t just a patriot and a lifesaver. He’s bold, he’s clever, he’s rich, he’s a capitalist individualist defender of property rights. And he likes to give speeches surrounded by dancing girls.
Iron Man was fun but Iron Man 2 is even better, with a script (by Justin Theroux) so laced with wit that it if you took away the fireballs and just had actors reading it on a bare stage like a Noel Coward piece, it would still be an entertaining evening.
The main flaws of the first film — let’s face it, the finale with Jeff Bridges was a bore, and so was Terrence Howard, the blandest buddy since Robin — are gone in the sequel. This one features nifty fireworks — including a nifty Monte Carlo race scene — plus two excellent yet very different villains (Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke), the superb Don Cheadle stepping in for Howard (who reportedly demanded more money than the producers were willing to pay), just enough Nicky Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to make us want more, and a blowout of an ending.
Oh yeah, and the movie is also a virtual love letter to Ronald Reagan.
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., whose performance seems meant to school Christian Bale in the art of playing things loose) finds himself in trouble with a weaselly senator (Garry Shandling). The lawmaker accuses Stark, who has been boasting to the world of his ability to keep the peace, of purposely developing an offensive weapon that he misleadingly calls a defensive weapon.
That this is exactly the argument liberals (and the Soviets) used to excoriate Ronald Reagan and his SDI plan is delicious — but it gets better. As played by Shandling, the senator, who is from Pennsylvania, bears more than a slight resemblance to Arlen Specter, the classic Capitol Hill weasel who called himself a Republican for as long as he found it convenient and is now not only a Democrat but one of the most reliably liberal members of his caucus.
Still better: In front of Congress, which Tony rightly mocks as his intellectual and moral inferiors, he delivers a stout defense of private property when the senator demands that he simply turn over the blueprints to his Iron Man suit. Stark points out that the country is doomed if it has to rely for its defense on the government’s chosen contractor, headed by a corporate tool named Justin Hammer (Rockwell) who thinks he is as smart as Tony but isn’t, quite.
Looking forward to seeing this!
…. *wonders if the Mandarin is going to be hinted at again*
Let the BFGfest begin! Hooah!
Sounds also like more than just a nod to The Fountainhead.
Oh yeah…I want to see this movie! Finally something that’s not leftist propaganda!
Can’t wait to see it. Here’s a funny story, all along I thought the director was hired as Obama’s speechwriter – Jon Favreau – but they are 2 different guys, same exact name. I looked it up and found 2 entirely different people.
You’re not the only one…lol!
Favreau jokes that everybody he meets thinks he’s either Obama’s speechwriter or the guy who plays Ari Gold on ENTOURAGE.
Today’s SF is tomorrow’s Hi-Tech; Useful economic advice for the US. Still:
Iron is good, the Suit is impressive, but it is the Man who does the work.
Apologies to Mark Twain, who would surely be amazed, amused, and approving
of the moving, talking pictures, the flashy plot, and the excellent advice.
I think tbat we are in the midst of a super hero renaissance thanks in large part to Bale and Downey, Jr. The superficial characters of the X-Men trilogy are gone and hopefully we won’t be seeing any new Hulk movies… but as long as Bale and Downey, Jr. are around I think the genre is in good hands.
My understanding is that Mr. Downey took a political turn to the right while he sat in jail, when he had time to sit around, think, and realize that the leftist view of the world he had held all his life was pure BS.
Eric, funny you mention jail. Tony Stark mentions captivity in his speech. Saw it last night, it was a blast! Favorable mention of the Boy Scouts, also. Viewer tip: stay through the final credits. Just like the first one, special preview at the very end.
Great! Iron Man II sounds like the anti-Avatar!
This movie will make “Uncle Gazpacho” out of left-leaning heads everywhere. We never see movies in the theater, but we’ll be seeing this one.
Looks like a very loud summer..
Iron Man 2, A-Team, The Expendables…
Let the Popcorn Start Popping!!!
Ok, so where’s the Reagan part?
Read it again.
One could presume that Tony’s father got some Defense funding in the 80s…..
Hollywood+ Downey+ Iron Man 2 = President Reagan ?
Where’s the Reagan part?
1. Collectivist, Russian menace
2. Property rights
3. Schumpeterian innovation
4. Strong defense
5. Limited government
6. Teamwork instead of coercion (Obamaists – the antithesis of Reaganism – talk about community when what they mean is coercion. Reagan, who was attacked for failing to love people enough in the collectivist sense promoted the kinds of personal values – faith, personal initiative, freedom – that actually lead to strong communities.)
We could probably go on.
I saw Iron Man 2 this morning. Enjoyed the movie. I don’t know how you linked the movie to Reagan and managed to bash liberals at the same time. I don’t think Tony Stark is registered to vote. I doubt if he belongs to either political party. He didn’t make his money from scratch. He inherited it from a Howard Hughs type father.
I saw his behavior in front of the Senate comittee as clowning around to gain attention. Stark likes attention. As a matter of fact, that scene reminded me of Howard Hughs in front of a Senate committee–wasn’t there one about his Spruce Goose? Maybe it was some other contract he had with the military during WWII.
“He didn’t make his money from scratch. He inherited it from a Howard Hughs type father.”True except you left out the part where Tony Stark is the smartest man in his company.He did create the Iron Man suit..from scratch…in a cave…that none of his techies could do in a lab…LMAO!
This review is amazing! I have to see it now!
I saw it yesterday morning. It’s everything this article says and more. As for the senate scene, the beauty of it (brilliance, really) is that Tony is both arrogant, attention generating … and absolutely true. For a moment, we have to wonder if he deserves to prance around a bit, given what he’s done. We’re supposed to cheer him, but also wonder if we’re supposed to cheer him.
Tony is very clearly a conservative. He scolds Pepper on the company’s “liberal agenda,” which he doesn’t care a lick about. He wants to defend his country. The rest is superfluous. Rather than just sit back and *talk* about making the world a better place, he decides to do it. He may have inherited his father’s wealth, but he has multiplied it, putting wealth to the best use he can think of: saving lives and defending freedom. He might be an arrogant prick (the senator was right about that, in the end), but that’s not incompatible with being a hero, which Tony very clearly is. A hero in the true American sense: by choice.
The movie doesn’t hit us over the head with it, really. Tony just is who he is. In that way, the movie does a great job of following the outline of the comics. Tony always had a kind of Randian vibe to him, and the movie only bolsters this more. Tony Stark/Iron Man *is* John Galt. And in another sense, he is also Howard Roark. It’s muscular capitalistic individualism, sans the religious undercurrents of modern conservatism.
I think he would be the Son of Howard Roark or John Galt. He is them with technology.
This movie is by far the most conservative action flick I’ve seen in a long time and Tony Stark (Downey Jr. is a conservative) basically came out and said it in a few words, “I’m tired of the liberal agenda.” And to Pepper Pots, or Gwyneth Paltrow, a blase liberal no less. There were other instances of the movie bashing liberalism (the Iron Man poster was a dead giveaway as well), but even without all of the political references Iron Man 2 was a good movie. Here’s hoping the Avengers will be just as good.
I’m just surprised Justin Theroux would write a tribute to Reagan. He’s always struck me as ultra-liberal. Hmmm.
Hey! You saw the same movie I and my family did! After reading a couple of reviews, I wondered if the reviewers wandered into the wrong movie. Saw the movie last weekend and the theater roared with applause and laughter throughout the movie! What a great flick! Make sure you stay to see the Easter Egg at the end of the credits…
Never mind the conservative agenda of IRON MAN I & II.
I think it’s sad and sick that this John Boot fellow is “a conservative writer operating under deep cover in the liberal media.” Why don’t you grow a pair and just out yourself? The Liberal Media, as you call it, is not the Sea Org. We don’t have guards with machetes and AK-47′s standing around waiting to draw blood at the first question from an outsider. That’s what you NeoCons tend to do.
What an amazing movie!Forget these clowns on net offering it for a watered down free version.The big screen is where its at!Sexy chicks,action galore,and a villian who uses the hero’s own tech against him.Very nice indeed!
I always find these conservative readings hilarious. In this film, military contractors–Reagan’s best friends during his term–are portrayed as mendacious ghouls and the arms race as a transparent attempt to scroung money for new arms technologies. But yeah, they were totally fellating Reagan.