Movie Of The Year !

Rating: Null/10 (9 May 2010)

Iron Man 2 is everything a summer movie should be, and much, much more. There's a serious subtext to the story and it leaps out of the very first moments of the film. The playboy, hard-drinking, fast-talking, now public superhero (and all the pitfalls of such fame) thrills from opening scene until the last.
The movie gets everything right but maybe its number one strength is the casting. Downey again brings a winning personality to play as Stark; he finds his pathos, too. Don Cheadle certainly has the acting chops to hang with Downey as does Mickey Rourke. Rourke's Whiplash is the perfect foil and perfect villain because he's no one dimensional character. His Whiplash is on a par with Heath Ledger's Joker (but with less screen time). Sam Rockwell is also perfect in his role. Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson add more sex appeal than any summer film in memory (what outfits for Scarlett) but they also deliver real performances. Pepper Potts is every bit the wise yet sexy match for Stark. The interaction and the relationships all work well and is one of the highlights of the entire movie. All the dialogue is superb. You would expect nothing less from a Jon Favreau film. (Who's also great as Happy Hogan, that fight scene raiding Hammer HQ is priceless!) A lot of superhero comic book movies seem to share a problem in tone. Most films try to cope with wild concepts by emphasizing darkness, even over-emphasizing it. IM2 is darker than the first but keeps in line with the wonderful tone it already established for this character and universe. Again, Iron Man's creators mix everything so well. It leans towards dark but touches on every other tone and emotion. Maybe it's the character or maybe it's because they had Downey's talents to play with but Downey's performance leads to more clever banter and genuinely fun dialogue than most other movies have ever delivered, regardless of genre. So much of the humor works because of this and all the dramatic beats really click. Downey's Stark is glib and even obnoxious at times but he never loses his likability and grows in to something more, drinking problems, fear of dying and all. That's true character establishment and development in a summer film!!!! What's also rare for any popcorn movie is that most every plot turn carries some emotional weight. This is what you get when you mix great acting talent with outstanding material. They make it shine and give you a remarkable summer movie. Oh yeah and Iron Man kicks butt again both with and against War Machine! The CG is perfect and the action is intense and very well done. That's no shocker. What was a pleasant surprise was that Iron Man 2 is now officially in the running for best movie of the year, again regardless of genre.