Appetite for Deconstruction

We received an inquiry re Iron Man 2 and decided to hand it off to Comic Book Aficionado and The Action Room host Tony Wolf. Tony?

“I just saw the Iron Man 2 trailer. A LOT going on. Do you think too many villains/too many characters will spoil it? After all, look at Spider Man 3… that thing was all over the place.”

This is the famous concern of thoughtful movie fans: too many characters/too many villains.

I know it well.

To this I say, we need to think BEYOND that. This is my new soapbox. Very often, a classic problem in films can be solved with simply brilliant execution. Isn’t it possible that a film with an “A” villain and a “B” villain can work? (I mean in terms of A plot and B plot, not in terms of status). Maybe it’s not “too many villains/characters” that is the REAL problem, but a poor EXECUTION of same.

I maintain that Spider-Man 3’s problem was not too many villains. It was a shitty script that was embarrassingly bad. I guarantee that if you took the basic skeletal plot of SM 3 and gave it to the best Hollywood screenwriters to rewrite, and deleted the “Peter Parker punches Mary Jane and then plays jazz piano like Will Ferrell plays dazzling jazz flute in the ANCHORMAN scene, you’d have a MUCH better movie.

The problem with SM3 is that every scene that was supposed to be emotional and moving played like cheap, bad soap opera, and when Peter Parker started crying, you weren’t moved. I maintain that Harry Osborn/James Franco’s character arc could have been moving if every line of his dialogue wasn’t sucky. Spider-Man 2 is terrific and moving – and yet Spider-Man 3 sucks. Poor writing, poor direction and poor composition are the culprits. NOT too many villains, intrinsically.

I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but most fans don’t seem to be able to stretch their mind past the “too many villains/characters = train wreck” point. I know WHY they feel that way, and to a large degree their concerns are justified. Look at so many examples of superhero movies in the past that have fallen prey to this trap. But BATMAN RETURNS works pretty well despite having two villains (at least reasonably well).

I’m Batman…

Hmm…. doesn’t BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT fit into this category? Think about it: there are several villains, and yet the film still works BEAUTIFULLY! Everyone freaking LOVES IT!! And yet it’s chock-full of characters and villains. It works. IT WORKS! Why? Well, let’s examine it:

• Primary Villain: Joker
• Primary Villian: Two Face
• Secondary Villain: Crime Boss played By Eric Roberts, who shows up in maybe 3 scenes
• Another Secondary Villain: The Scarecrow, who shows up in 2 scenes
• C-level villain: Crooked cop who is on the Joker’s payroll who becomes a key plot point towards the end

Yet another major subplot: romance with attorney Rachel Dawes.

Well, it seemed clear to me upon viewing THE DARK KNIGHT opening night that it’s simply due to masterful interweaving of all the various plots and characters and villains. It’s like Nolan was a great chess player, making all his moves at just the right time. Or a great orchestral conductor, knowing when to bring in this character and usher in that villain to take center stage for a few moments.

Think about: didn’t Dark Knight have a shitload of characters and villains and story beats? I argue: yes it did. And * no one noticed * how truly jam-packed it was because it was WELL EXECUTED.

Iron Man 2

I believe (Jon) Favreau has the directorial and writing skill and acumen to pull a DARK KNIGHT here. And he will show us that “too many villains/characters” isn’t a valid complaint IF IT’S DONE RIGHT. Favreau will rock the shit as follows:

• Primary villain: Whiplash
• Secondary villain: Sam Rockwell as evil, rival corporate titan to Stark
• Secondardy main heroic character: Don Cheadle as War Machine
• Secondary anti-hero/villain/femme fatale/romantic interest (as in Batman Returns): Scarlett as Black Widow (possibly funded by Rockwell as well… corporate espionage?
• Secondary romantic tension plot: Gwenyth as Pepper
• Secondary conflict/plot: The government wants control of the Iron Man weapon
• Third conflict/plot: Tony Stark finds out that revealing his secret ID to the world is more complicated than he expected

I feel very passionate about this, as you can tell. *lol*

Well, that’s my take. I am open-minded to any counter-arguments… however, I really feel I’m right here.
[Tony Wolf does it all - actor, voiceover specialist, artist and host of The Action Room, self-professed online "Geek Radio," where he and his colleagues espouse on all things entertainment. This is his first contribution to A4D, but we hope he'll be back for more...]