Rust never sleeps

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2012)

Another flash-bang-wallop of a Marvel feature in the now continuing saga of Tony Stark a.k.a. Iron Man, this is equally as exhilarating as its predecessor. The suit is still the star for me, my main objection being that old metal-head's screen-time is reduced greatly by the increasing focus on the troubled Tony Stark, who besides a worsening poisoned-blood situation (caused by his palladium-based artificial heart) which threatens to kill him, suffers rock-star excess, over-drinking, the approbation of colleagues and lovers, the chiding of S.H.I.E.L.D recruiting officer Nick Fury, disputes with a confrontational congressman, continuing rivalry with smooth operating megalomaniac Justin Hammer, oh and daddy didn't love him either - all of that before Mickey Rourke's Whiplash enters the scene.
So, quite a lot going on then, which with so much character development, gives the likes of Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Sam Rockwell (the latter, the real show-stealer here) the chance to act and interact, although Don Cheadle seems very ill at ease as pressed-into-action hero-or-villain War Machine and Rourke gets to mumble and mutter a lot in a heavy Russian accent. Scarlett Johanssen, provides energy and sexiness as martial arts expert Black Widow, obviously laying down a marker for the Avengers movie to come.
The action sequences are a little hit and miss for me, the first fight between Iron Man and Whiplash being the most memorable, but the later flight / fight with Whiplash's drones is all just lights in the sky and the final reckoning with Whiplash over and done with too quickly.
Punctuated by a mainly heavy-metal (geddit?) soundtrack, this is one film you won't be easily able to ignore. How long it actually lives in the memory is a different matter entirely, sort of like reading a comic-book I guess.