Movie Trailer Special: Iron Man 2

Okay, so it hasn't been that long since our last batch of Movie Trailer Reviews, but we're going to go right back to the well for a special occasion: the release of the Iron Man 2 trailer.

Yes, after months of speculation, hype and nervous anticipation, the trailer for next May's highly anticipated sequel to Iron Man has finally hit the internet. So how does it look? Well, let's take a peek and then we'll dissect the footage on the other side (p.s., don't be surprised if there's a bit of a load time, since everyone on the internet is trying to download this right now):




Okay. Whew. One sec, need to towel off.

Alright. So, this is a pretty sweet trailer for a few reasons, the most important one being that it teases the film without giving away the whole plotline. Now, if you've also seen the footage screen at Comic Con over the summer, you can probably piece together most of the story, but that's part of what makes this trailer so nice: it functions perfectly well without needing to reference or spoil every single twist or dramatic turnabout. It succeeds by reminding fans of the original why it was successful (the tone, set by Robert Downey, Jr.) and revealing the big supervillain (Mickey Rourke's version of Whiplash) and... that's it. It doesn't need to shoot the whole wad right in the trailer.

It does tease a few other elements for comic fans and sharp-eyed viewers, like Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury (last seen in the after-the-credits tease at the end of the first film, and here appearing in the first of his nine contractually stipulated Marvel films) and Scarlett's Johansson's take on Black Widow, the mere existence of which is about enough to make our head explode.

Not shown in the trailer or even hinted at is the Sam Rockwell's portrayal of Stark's number one rival, Justin Hammer. And that's a good thing, because it means that fans hooked by this preview will still get some surprises when the film comes out (though we're guessing Rockwell will eventually be featured in one trailer or another).

It's not perfect, of course; while Rourke was certainly impressive in Sin City, we're still worried that he's going to ham it up a little too much; the scenes shown here, while not too over the top, don't exactly put that fear to bed either. And on a smaller note, we're not really a fan of the recent trailer technique of putting a clip of crazy mayhem after the rest of the trailer has ended. yes, it can be an effective little visceral hook to end on, but as cool as the scene in this trailer is, it still feels like a bit of a cheesy editing ploy. We're guessing nobody share this feeling, though, so you can probably ignore it as just curmudgeonly grumbling.

Grades: Those little minuses are just personal preference; in terms of effectiveness and composition, we have to give this trailer a solid A. Now, if only someone would release a trailer for Jonah Hex already. We're starting to get a little worried about that one.