Iron Man 2 (***)
Directed by: Jon Favreau Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Garry Shandling, Clark Gregg
Seen: May 1st 2010
*** Out of ****
Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is an international hero in Iron Man 2 as in the six months after the first movie, he has procured world peace – claiming he has successfully privatised it at a senate hearing tasked with getting him to turn the Iron Man suit over to the government. He has other ideas though, and refuses to comply, even more so when his friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Cheadle) comes forward as a state witness and gets his words taken out of context by Senator Stern (Shandling), hell-bent on undermining Stark. Stark Industries is in trouble, and in a moment of either insanity or clarity, Stark appoints Pepper Potts (Paltrow) as CEO. The instability in Stark’s attitude and decision making is because the arc reactor in his chest, the very thing keeping him alive, is slowly killing him – producing a patchwork spider web across his chest, creeping up the side of his neck. The reactor eats the palladium core within at an alarming rate, poisoning Stark.
The hero has two major enemies to contend with, Justin Hammer (Rockwell) for Stark, and Whiplash, or Ivan Vanko (Rourke) for Iron Man. Hammer is a business contender – his company direct competition for Stark Industries, but they have enormous difficulty with the technology required building something like the Iron Man suit. It is strange though how extremely orange his hands are, with absolutely no explanation. Ivan Vanko is the son of physicist Anton Vanko who worked with Stark’s father until the two picked up a certain animosity, for which Vanko was deported to Russia. Ivan Vanko is similarly talented with physics, his electrical whips giving Iron Man quite the challenge, and his suit reminds strongly of Iron Monger’s suit in the first movie, only meaner still.
Iron Man has issues giving weight to concerns that he alone can’t be responsible for the peace he keeps, and Whiplash does not make it at all easy for Stark to remain the god-like figure he has become, as Vanko says; if you make God bleed, people will not believe in Him anymore.
While the movie is fun, the substance seems much diluted from the first movie. Action sequences are brilliantly realised, but also loud and blaring, with fights reminiscent of fights in the second Transformers movie, sans the extreme close-ups and shaky-cam filming. The fights are exciting, but end rather quickly, without too many big fight-backs or recoveries to overcome setbacks. The awkward will-they-won’t-they romance between Stark and Pepper Potts is something of the past, they might as well be a couple without public displays of affection, but with Stark still openly talking of “wanting one” when introduced to their notary, Natalie Rushman (Johansson), who turns out to be more than just an office assistant.
Elements from the comic book universe show, and while not all of it necessarily aligns with the comic books, the true fans might catch up on some small things, like the name Vanko initially chooses to get into the US, Boris Turgenev, who in the comic books happened to be Natasha Romanoff’s (one of Natalie Rushman’s aliases) partner. Captain America’s shield makes a cameo appearance as a prop to help Stark get an experimental setup ready.
While the movie does not measure up to the first Iron Man, it is still immensely entertaining with action sequences and special effects to make you drool. It seems that forced plot advancement to reach battle scenes is more important than how it actually happens, which is a bit disappointing. While Iron Man 2 may lack the heart of the first Iron Man movie, the lingering and imbued heart in the characters manages to pull this one through; I just don’t hope they expect it to work similarly with the next sequel. Iron Man 2 is cool, big, and shiny, exactly what you can expect from a big blockbuster.
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