I have to tell you that this next piece of news, which has many other people excited, doesn’t move me so much. First the news and then my Eeyore-like raining on the parade:
Jon Favreau has revealed to Quint at Aint It Cool that he is working with Genndy Tartakovsky on storyboarding action scenes in Iron Man 2. Genndy, for those not in the know, is the guy behind the cartoons Samurai Jack and the original Clone Wars. He’s known for a very dynamic, storytelling-oriented action style.
So why don’t I care? First of all, I don’t think the lack of good action in Iron Man hurt the movie all that much. I think the end battle of Iron Man was anticlimactic, but that was more about the yapfest at the end than the serviceable battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger. Frankly, what I liked about Iron Man was all the non-action stuff, and that’s what I care about being in Iron Man 2.
Secondly, you’re probably not going to walk out of the theater and be able to name the Genndy influences in Iron Man 2 fight scenes. I think you can see the influence of visual artists when they’re brought in to create design elements, but frankly I have a hard time seeing Genndy’s style translating to the universe Favreau has created (something Favreau himself acknowledges in the interview).
Thirdly, I think Favreau gets the action better now than he did when he started Iron Man. Talking to him a couple of months ago when he was stumping for the DVD, he mentioned that the scene where Iron Man faces a bunch of Afghan dudes who had hostages was one of the very last things he did, coming in reshoots. And that scene works as an action scene, and shows that Favreau’s learning curve ended at a good place. It’s always helpful to have more input when designing your action scenes, but I think that Favreau’s at a place where he can make it work.
Of course there’s a fourth thing here – I’m so fucking burnt out on superhero movies and news about them (and specifically Batman and Iron Man sequels). I’d like to just let these things lay low for a little while instead of having them beat into the ground. I would love for Marvel to go into a total media blackout at this point on Iron Man 2. Unless I get a scoop out of it, in which case I will suddenly regain my enthusiasm.