Iron Man says - "all-your-base-are-belong-to-us"

Rating: 9/10 (22 May 2010)

The thing with Iron Man 2 is that people inevitably tend to compare it to the first movie. And there's a minor problem with that. Iron Man - in most regions - released at just the right time. People were downright disappointed with the superhero genre and it appeared to be on the brink of demise after Spider-Man 3 and the X-Men films. Batman Begins seemed to have made a mark, but it was too fleeting and insignificant to be etched in people's memories. Then came Iron Man - it was the first decent superhero movie in ages. People loved it, it spread to engulf the Box Office earnings and bingo - there was a new, awesome superhero in town. Of course, after Iron Man, there was this little film you may have heard of - it was titled "The Dark Knight." THAT took the box office by storm.
Iron Man, fortunately enough for the franchise, got bunched together with the Dark Knight and came to be fondly remembered as an audience favourite. Unfortunately, the audience has a very short memory span and tends to prize fond memories on some untouchable pedestal in their minds - high above the rest of the ordinary movies that plague our cinemas today. Even if the details of the memory itself are scrubbed out. We still prize that blurred memory and cherish it.
Iron Man was not a masterpiece. It was the first brilliant superhero movie in ages, but it was by no means a masterpiece a la The Dark Knight. It built up Tony Stark's character arc brilliantly but it got fairly anemic towards the middle and the action was all limited to the last ten minutes of the movie. Also, apart from Robert Downey Jr, little else stood out in the background. However, comparisons with the Dark Knight are not quite fair. The Dark Knight was a dark, brooding work of art that plants itself firmly in the noir superhero genre. Iron Man, however, is a light- hearted fun superhero movie - literally at the opposite end of the comic-book spectrum. So I shall compare it against the masterpiece (IMO) from the lighter side of the superhero niche - Spider-Man 2.
Iron Man 2, ultimately, shares the same fate as its predecessor. It's a solid movie, surpassing the original movie and at times has flashes of greatness, but falls short of the spark that made Spider-Man 2 so great - conflict. Be it Peter Parker's frustration with having to maintain the secrecy of his superhero identity or his sorrow at the loss of Mary Jane Watson, the conflict was what made the story interesting. On the other hand, in Iron Man 2, Tony Stark seems to breeze through his problems by virtue of his sheer awesomeness. Best friend stole my armour? No problem. I'm still awesome enough. I can beat him... eventually. Some maniac managed to recreate my armour, re-programmed all of the US Army's Droid Army? Oh well, looks like I'll have to destroy them with my awesome, awesome armour-driving skills.
Don't get me wrong here. Robert Downey Jr is still the most... well... awesome pick to play Iron Man. The fact is Robert Downey Jr IS the main strength of the entire film - his interaction with other characters is what lifts the film and gives it wings. His chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow is fantastic. His kinsmanship with Don Cheadle is sufficient enough to pass muster - they look like two friends who've recently exchanged some harsh words, which is as it should be. In short, Robert Downey Jr seems to have made the role his own. He is Iron Man. The suit and him are truly one.
The supporting cast is top-notch as well. Samuel L Jackson just raised Nick Fury's bar on my Marvel meter of awesomeness. Scarlett Johanssen seems to have fit into the Black Widow role like a glove. She looks quite fetching in latex and her stunt scenes are very well choreographed. Her physicality is realistic, especially where she punches through an entire goon squad in a corridoor in front of Tony Stark's flustered bodyguard. Comic book fans might be a bit disappointed with her American accent, but then again, Natasha Romanov IS a super-spy fluent in several different languages - it makes sense that she's a bit more discreet in the movie. Mickey Rourke is believable as Ivan Vanko (Whiplash) and seems menacing at the best of times. Jon Favreau is delightful as Happy, Tony Stark's happy-go-lucky bodyguard.
But the actor who truly challenged Iron Man in his own movie was unquestionably Sam Rockwell. He was a revelation in Moon, and is a delight to watch here too - his flustered evil corporate honcho act is a stellar performance and seems to be more of a villain than Whiplash himself.
The Iron Man armour(s) look amazing and the CGI is brilliant too. In short, the second movie delivers as much as the first... and more.
PS: Watch out for the Easter Egg at the end of the movie credits. There's only one word that can describe the awesomeness of that scene, at least for a Marvel comics fan - Mjolnir.