Tony Stark leads strong in entertaining follow up

Rating: 7/10 (18 November 2010)

I picked up an old copy of Total Film magazine (issue 160) the other day which was promoting the future 100 and Jon Favreau, Iron man 1 and 2 director said "The big challenge is how do you not have it be two guys in suits hitting each other? I've done that. I don't want to do more of it." I read this after watching the 2010 smash on DVD and was rather surprised as there was plenty of guys in suits hitting each other, particularly at Iron man's own home which begs the question, how different is this to the first one? The first Iron man shook up the superhero summer two years ago which was overshadowed by the Dark Knight but it was still a great blockbuster and a great story, being funny, light hearted and 100% action packed. And although this release is fun entertainment, it falls quite short of the bar the first one raised.
Opening with star of the moment Mickey Rourke being a recluse and formulating a plan to attack Iron Man the story is laid ahead for us and soon we are with superhero Tony Stark, a legendry comic book character and thanks to Robert Downey Jr, an icon of masculine bravado and cocky swagger that you cannot hate him for. He has created a genius and if there was ever a reason to go see a film for the best comic book real world character, here it is.
Rourke as Whiplash has been praised by many, certainly his evilness and swagger is excellent but in relation to the story his motivation to go after Stark seemed rather strange.
Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L Jackson set up the upcoming Avengers film nicely with carefully reserved performances giving us all something to look forward to.
The story of Iron man 2 sees Stark living with himself as a now global superstar and the difficulties he conceals behind the scenes with his health, well being and fame.
There are a few lapses in action sequences which are all rather flashy rather than substantial in the moment fights. The Monaco grand prix is impressive and as mentioned the big suit fight in the house is rather good.
The great quality of this action film is it has a deeper meaning to a popcorn film. It feels more than a warm relaxing entertainer than a franchise maker. Sure Iron Man is glorified to the heavens in occasional conventional action battles and 'emotional' confrontations with friends and fans but this all feels genuinely authentic and exciting, the icing on the cake if you will and where you may read reviews with 3 out of 5 stars this deserves an extra one for being pure guilty and entertaining indulgence.
And yes, it is by no means a match for the 2008 release but for a laugh, for entertainment and for something containing one of the best comic book creations in Tony Stark, this is certainly worth catching