We're back with our latest MCU film recommendations, which aim to connect the worlds of Marvel and 'real cinema'. Prestige directors are often asked tiresome questions about the MCU these days, fishing for a quote on why the MCU stinks because rage clicks are still clicks, after all. On the other hand, some MCU fans are relentlessly sensitive, unable to hear a single bad word about a cinematic universe wherein every movie ends with two diametrically opposed foes duking it out in a CGI schlock-fest where the bad guys die and the good guys win.
We're trying to help out both sides so we always come out on top. For the cinephiles, this project exists to show that there is a little more depth, nuance, and variety to the MCU than first thought. And for the MCU stans, the idea is to offer some film recommendations that aren't huge blockbuster hits propped up entirely by star-power, FOMO, and VFX. This week, we meet our first sequel in Iron Man 2. And if you like Iron Man 2, you should watch Upgrade.
Iron Man 2 is the odd one out of the Iron Man family. Iron Man launched the MCU, while Iron Man 3, helmed by Shane Black, was the best attempt at 'real cinema' the MCU made prior to Eternals. Iron Man 2 is seen as the scrawny middle child, but perhaps that's a little unfair. It's silly, and it has an Elon Musk cameo which feels even weirder now than it did at the time, but it's still one of the stronger pre-Avengers offerings. With the first movie, I resisted the obvious RoboCop comparison and instead went for some thematic links via Logan's Run. This time around, I'm side-stepping RoboCop again, in favour of Upgrade, which is basically RoboCop But A Horror Film.
Upgrade begins with our hero Grey in a car crash involving a self-driving car - take that Musk. Grey is a mechanic working for the car's inventor, so there's already a heavy theme of the hubris of technological advancement. Iron Man 2, meanwhile, sets up the conflict between Tony Stark, master inventor but egotistical, and Justin Hammer, relatively inept and constantly in Stark's shadow.
Following the accident, Grey is mugged and left paralyzed by his attackers. After this, he agrees to an experimental program which 'upgrades' him. In doing so, Grey becomes less representative of Stark or Hammer, and closer to Iron Man's villain Ivan Vanko. Vanko seeks revenge on Tony Stark (their motivations are wildly different, I'll admit) just as Grey seeks revenge on his attackers. Their methods though are not too dissimilar. Vanko, like Grey, is more of a mechanic than anything else. While Hammer hires Vanko to create an Iron Man suit, Vanko instead creates robotic drones, because he lacks the egotistical desire to be a master of technology that Stark, Hammer, and the self-driving car's inventor possess. Even as Whiplash, it's an exoskeleton with exposed flesh - he is clearly a man wearing robotics, rather than a robotic man. Iron Man 2 walks the line between this idea - how much should man and machine meld, and where do Vanko, Stark, Rhodey (here as War Machine for the first time), and Hammer fall on that line?
It's the same question asked in Upgrade. Grey is a technophobe by nature, preferring the romance of classic piston and gear machinery to electronics, but in order to take his revenge, he must embrace a melding with machines. He is initially given robotic limbs that are voice activated, but resents them. It's only once he 'upgrades' himself via a special chip that his body can become the machine, and he can take his revenge.
Upgrade is a dark comedy with existential body horror and cyberpunk themes - it peers beyond the surface of the questions it asks on a far deeper level than Iron Man 2, or indeed any MCU movie. Even Iron Man 3's exploration of PTSD, depression, and isolation do not come close to what Upgrade throws at its audience. It's not the most typical comparison, but if you like Iron Man 2 and are eager for something meatier (or maybe that should be metallicier), try Upgrade. Join us next week for Thor, my least favourite MCU movie of Phase 1. Don't let that put you off, though.