Review 43: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 is not quite the breath of fresh air that the first film and while I was watching it felt too much, but by the time the mist has cleared it will do,

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) has become Iron Man, but the United States government is insisting he hand over the Iron Man tech, meanwhile the palladium core in the arc reactor that keeps Stark alive and powers the armor is slowly poisoning him and Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) a man with a connection to Stark's fathers past has developed the same technology and built weapons of his own, creating new challenges for Stark.

The plot has too many story lines and is too much but its action-filled and has a few good moments of humor and the main plot is descent.
What does make the film and its plot work is how it builds upon the potential established at the end of the first film, now that

Returning director Jon Favreau's directing is sharp, the special effects could almost be better than the first film, the action is still cool, the production design is great, the costume design is excellent, the make up is rich the editing is smart, the cinematography is on top, the music by John Debney is not as good as the first film but is still catchy and I think the main reason the sequel comes along nicely is due to some strong acting,

Robert Downey Jr. gives another great performance, once again exuding charm and charisma as Tony Stark but also doing an even more impressive job of bringing out his inner demons, Tony loves all the attention that being Iron Man has given him, but at the same time he realises that he can't escape himself. No matter how hard he parties or how much he drinks, all his miseries are still there waiting for him. Excellent

Gwyneth Paltrow is fabulous again as Pepper Potts,

Don Cheadle proves himself to be a worthy, if not even better, replacement for Terence Howard as Lt. Col. James Rhodes, who also takes on the mantle of War Machine in this film. Cheadle just captures the commanding, non-nonsense, stern persona thats required to play Rhodes better than Howard did in the first film.

Scarlett Johansson is also terrific and a lot of fun as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, her character is obviously tough, knows how to fight, hack into any computer system. Plus she's really hot. What makes her such a great character is that she's a superhero, but she's also human, she's small but she's also strong. She's dark and has faced death so many times, that she has a deep perspective on the value of life. It's tough not to admire her.

Sam Rockwell is joyful hoot as Justin Hammer, he is almost like a mirror image of Tony Stark in that he's rich and the CEO of a weapons manufacturer, except that he lacks the genius of Tony. He is such a self-centred jerk. He's overconfident, but also utterly incompetent in terms of the quality of his technology.

As Ivan Vanko/Whiplash, Micky Rourke makes for a pretty solid villain. Vanko is a fairly straight-forward and his motivations are easy to understand, he's purely motivated by revenge against Tony and his family because Tony's father wronged his father in the past. The conflict between him and Tony is personal.   his Russian accent is surprisingly kind of soothing yet ultra sinister at the same time.
Unfortunately that conflict is not the central focus of the film

Jon Favreau get a noticeable upgrade from his role in the first film as Happy Hogan. In this film he essentially fills the role of the comic relief

Elsewhere in the cast, Clark Gregg, Paul Bettany and John Slattery. The former two returning as Agent Phil Coulson and J.A.R.V.I.S. respectively round out the cast with terrific performances.

To sum up, I find Iron Man 2 flawed but enjoyable and I thoroughly look forward to Iron Man 3 in 2013, 4/5.

The Anonymous Critic