Iron Man 2

Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, Paul Bettany (voice), Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, John Slattery, Garry Shandling, Leslie Bibb, Jon Favreau
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
2010

Times Seen:
Tim: 3

Summary: Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) faces new battles as he fights against the United States government to maintain control of his Iron Man suit, and combats a new threat from a rival industrialist (Sam Rockwell) and a Russian scientist (Mickey Rourke) building his own suit.

Review:

Tim: I was a huge, huge fan of the original Iron Man movie, so I was excited about this sequel. I can say that this movie delivers exceptional amounts of action, adventure, character development, and more. This is an entertaining, thrilling comic book movie. That being said, it doesn't quite live up to its predecessor. This is still a great movie, even though it doesn't live up to the expectations placed on it.

The biggest problem with this movie is actually part of a larger problem. So much of this movie contains scenes that are designed to build up to Marvel's 2012 movie, The Avengers. I am not exactly opposed to this, because The Avengers will probably be one of the most ambitious movies ever made. However, this film sacrifices some of its own storytelling for that greater purpose. That is fine for the larger Marvel universe, but it detracts from this film. The sequel isn't as tight or effective as the original. There oftentimes feels like there is so much going on, that I wouldn't be surprised that people less familiar with Iron Man might be a bit confused.

On the other hand, there's so much I love about this movie. I actually really liked the film's villains. So many sequels feel like they have to up the ante too much, which works to detract from the film. This movie had two villains instead of one (which often happens in comic book sequels), but it handled it far better than the majority of other films. We have rival industrialist Justin Hammer, and Ivan Vanko, a Russian scientist who transforms himself into Whiplash. The strength is that these two villains team up early on, and compliment each other quite well. That helps the movie immensely. I will mention that Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke do terrific jobs. Rockwell goes all out, and really makes you dislike Justin Hammer. While he pushes the boundaries here, he never strays into going over-the-top. I thought Hammer was a perfect foil to Tony Stark, and that comes from Rockwell's performance. Rourke buries himself in the role, going to impressive lengths to make Vanko come to life. He looks the part, and his accent was terrific. Rourke really brings a great deal to the film.

Robert Downey, Jr. is once again excellent as Tony Stark. There's really nothing else to say- he is perfect for the role, and deserves a great deal of credit for this film's success. He is such an enjoyable, charismatic actor. I like that this film touched on some of the darker aspects of Tony Stark- he was an alcoholic and fought his own personal demon, and I like that this film touched on those aspects of this complicated character.

Gwyneth Paltrow is quite good as Pepper Popps. I felt like there were too many moments where she was called to act scared or angry, and these were less effective. However, she brings class to the film, and that I liked. Most people know that I hate when roles get recast. I thought Terrence Howard did a very good job as Rhodey in the first film, so I was disappointed he was replaced. However, Don Cheadle is about the perfect person to fill his shoes, and I thought he did that well. Scarlett Johansson is very good as Natasha Romanoff. Her battle scene near the end was one of the coolest moments of the entire film. Her acting isn't always great, but she did a good enough job to add to the movie. It was nice to see Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury have a bit more to do in this film. I also really liked the smaller role of Garry Shandling- he was very funny.

I really like that this film upped the action sequences. There are a number of very good moments- the battle on the race track is pretty terrific. The big battle at the Stark Expo is pretty exciting. I mostly liked the final battle of Iron Man and War Machine verses Whiplash, but I thought it ended far too quickly. There was an opportunity to make this an epic battle scene, but it was rushed to conclusion.

Iron Man 2 is missing a bit of that focus that made the original such a terrific film. However, this is still a great action movie, and features some memorable and excellent moments. I wish this film had been a bit better, but this is still a very solid, entertaining movie. I actually thought the movie got better on repeat viewings, which does speak to its quality.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man