Marvel Comics' "Man of Steel," um, "Iron," is back

Rating: 9/10 (15 May 2010)

One of the many great pleasures of watching 2008's "Iron Man" was that it allowed to some degree for star Robert Downey, Jr., playing billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, who moonlighted and eventually revealed to the world his secret identity as the armored superhero Iron Man, to exorcise the many demons from his lonely, drug-fueled days in the annals of Hollywood Hell. Stark, of course, has in the past dealt with debilitating bouts of alcoholism, so this role would have allowed Robert Downey, Jr. to face any remaining demons from his past. It is this deep personal struggle that has made Tony Stark/Iron Man one of the more fascinatingly introspective characters in the Marvel Comics Universe of superheroes.
But whatever meditations these movies could have had in dealing with the harrowing perils of drug addiction gets lost in the bang-bang pacing, action and special effects of the latest Hollywood superhero blockbuster to boast spectacular visuals and top-notch performances but lacking any real depth or content. Actor/director Jon Favreau is quickly becoming a favorite in Hollywood, especially with the way he's handling his work on the "Iron Man" movies, and he proves his mettle, regardless of the lack of thematic complexity or depth that they could have had, with this sequel "Iron Man 2." And while I would have personally much more enjoyed the subject of Stark's internal struggles with alcoholism rather than his external struggles with the U.S. government, I guess what we get here will have to do for now.
While less skillful and entertaining than its 2008 predecessor, I personally feel that I somehow enjoyed this one a lot more, perhaps because it features a more-fleshed-out supporting role from Stark's best friend Lt. Col. Jim Rhodes (Don Cheadle, having fully replaced Terrence Howard from the previous film), who of course later dawns a powered armor suit of his own to become the awesomely bad-ass War Machine. And the movie has a killer soundtrack by those Aussie bad boys AC/DC.
This time out, Stark has really let his arrogance get to his head, and this is something that Downey, Jr. really pushes past its limits to become cinematic gold. He has effectively saved the world from certain doom so many times in the past that he has also effectively "privatized world peace," and the government wants a piece of his technology because he has so quickly and so suddenly made them look incompetent.
All that's about to change when the villainous Russian physicist Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) shows up on Tony's home turf one day and challenges him to a duel. Vanko is especially miffed at Stark because he believes that Stark's father stole the technology that he developed with Vanko's father and had him deported back to Russia to cover his tracks. So Ivan, possessing blueprints for Stark's technology to exact his revenge, develops some nifty little weapons of his own to become the whip-wielding super-villain Whiplash.
On the home front, meanwhile, Stark's ticker is deathly ill and feels that his time is running out, and he hands over control of Stark Industries to his would-be love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). And just as he does this, another character is introduced, Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johannson), who also hides a few secrets of her own since she is also the lethal spy/secret agent Black Widow.
A lot of stuff goes on in "Iron Man 2" and there's the main problem (other than that other issue I mentioned earlier about Stark's battles with alcoholism getting the shaft here): a lot goes on and the movie kind of feels crammed as a result. Rourke is a fascinating presence whenever he's on the screen, which unfortunately is not very much, but I enjoyed his scenes the most, especially since he comes under the yoke of Stark's rival weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell). Johannson's Black Widow also gets shafted as well, since she doesn't really become a big player in all this superhero stuff until the film's action-packed, 20-minute climax. And at least Cheadle's War Machine is made useful in the film before (note that I said "before") he and Iron Man have to go to work as a team to defeat a newly powered-up Whiplash (which is a little anti-climatic and a bit short, to say the least).
Am I nit-picking some things? Probably. But the reason we keep coming back is because of the action, special effects, and Robert Downey, Jr. as Marvel Comics' Man of Steel... Iron. He's utterly perfect for this role: he's arrogant, greedy, narcissistic, and drops more biting one-liners here than Arnold Schwarzenegger ever did in his prime (not knocking the great Schwarzenegger here, but you get my point). But he's a hero, and that all that matters in "Iron Man 2."
9/10