It was Iron Man 2 day in my little corner of the world. It was celebrated like an important holiday. Everyone had to wear Iron Man shirts and if you were small enough, shoes, masks and other related gear. My nephew didn't let anyone forget. He called every number he knew and he knows a lot. "Guess what Friday is? Iron Man 2 Day!" His older cousins were all as excited as he was. So, with Bill's prodding, the siblings and I decided that the perfect thing to do for mother's day was take Mom (and the rest of us) to see the much anticipated movie. Just to point out how terrible we are as children, Mom's invitation was an afterthought, but she was thrilled to go. Not that she'd ever admit it, but she's as big a sci-fi dork as we are.
So the 13 of us, pile into our local theater, separating all the nephews with adults, settle in with drinks and popcorn, expecting the equal to Iron Man. Um, we're still waiting.
There were enough explosions to keep the restlessness to a minimum, but OMG I felt like I was stuck watching Titanic again (Which will never, ever happen. James Cameron should have stopped making movies after T2). Were our expectations too high? Had we built up them up for so long that no matter what was on the screen it just wouldn't be enough? This movie was heavily marketed to kids. The toys, the kids meals, the toys... how did it fare with those critics?
Okay. Which without the toys and the toys it would be a kiss of death.
Iron Man was okay. Whiplash was okay.
The things that confused my nephew were the little things that I thought added to the story. They're also the things that are hard to explain to a kid. "Why did they hurt the bird? Is he the bad guy, cause he likes the bird and the other bad guys hurt the bird. They're not bad guys together?"
"Um, no those bad guys are trying to be more bad than the really, really bad guy but they're just not that bad," I whispered without taking my eyes from the screen.
"They shouldn't hurt his bird. I like birds." The couple behind us giggled.
There was the same confusion with the fight between the Tony and Rhodey. Good guys and bad guys have very specific functions in the mind of a 5 year old.
Non-stop action was what I was expecting, but this movie was heavy on 'relationships.' And while a little on the long, slow, Twilight-y, brooding side it did add dimension to Tony's character's growth.
But the part that will forever stay in my mind was the scene where we actually see Black Widow in black leather. My nephew nearly jumped out of his seat at her first leap into the fray. "Did you see that! She jumped high! I can't do that! Wow!" It was the most exciting part of the entire movie. After the movie he said, "She killed like one hundred bad guys! All by herself! HaHa! He got one, too." The he being Happy and that was cute.
But I do feel for my other brother, who now has 3 sons totally in love with a red-headed bad ass. Hell, I want to be a red-headed bad ass now, too. When Scarlett Johansson was cast as Black Widow, I had serious reservations. She played the character with an icy fire that was pitch perfect.
And one last thing: Rock-on AC/DC! My nephew is gonna get kicked out of kindergarten when he wants to sing "Highway to Hell" while playing Iron Man with his clueless classmates.
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