Fun Sequel

Rating: Null/10 (9 October 2010)

Iron Man 2 (2010)
*** (out of 4)
This sequel seems to have come under quite a bit of heat. I'd say I agree with most people in that this isn't nearly as good as the original but I'll step away from those who called this a bad movie because there's plenty of great action and the terrific cast makes it worth sitting through. This time out Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is coming under fire for not sharing his secrets behind Iron Man. While that political turmoil is going on, the Russian Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who believes his father had the original ideas for the Iron Man secrets, plans revenge by coming up with his own armor and killing Stark. Countless reviews have discussed how the story here is rather weak and how the majority of the characters lack any real development. I'd agree with both of those points as it seems the screenplay here was pretty choppy in terms of what it was trying to do or what type of story it was trying to tell. A lot of times it seemed like we were watching an incomplete movie that needed stuff taken out while at the same time needed other things put in. The banter between Stark and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) wasn't nearly as charming here as in the first film and a lot of it seemed very ill-timed including during a terrific sequence at a race track. The turmoil between Stark and Rhodes (Don Cheadle) also didn't play as well and most of the time just seemed like half-baked melodrama. There's so much story build-up that never amounts to anything that I really do understand the complaints from people who dislike the movie but even with all the faults I think the good things are just too good to be overlooked. Once again we get Robert Downey, Jr. delivering a very strong performance. The character's ego is much bigger here and Downey is the perfect actor to be able to play cocky without having the viewer turn against him. That comic timing is right on the mark and once again he makes for a great hero. Another major plus is the performance by Rourke who just chews up each scene that he's in. The terrific accent is just the start of things as Rourke takes the character and just makes him an all around fun bad guy. Cheadle and Paltrow are both decent enough in their roles but the screenplay doesn't do them any favors. Scarlette Johansson doesn't get much of a chance to act but she's good eye candy. Sam Rockwell is terrific in the role as the nerdy Justin Hammer. Samuel L. Jackson is his typical self and Gary Shandling appears to be having some fun as well. The action sequences are all quite impressive but the best one happens at the start of the film when Vanko shows up at the Monaco Grand Prix with is new toys. Some of this sequence was shown in the trailer but seeing it play out in the film was certainly the highlight.