05/07/10 - Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 (2010, 124 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1228705/

The much anticipated sequel to Iron Man is, naturally, Iron Man 2. I was really excited for this midnight showing, especially after finishing Iron Man about an hour before the start of this one.

The film takes place a bit after the events of Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark as does Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. Don Cheadle comes in for this film as Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes who later becomes War Machine. Scarlett Johansson is a smaller role as Natalie Rushman (or Natasha Romanoff) while Samuel L. Jackson's cameo as Nick Fury in Iron Man is expanded this time as is (director) Jon Favreau's role as Happy Hogan. Serving as the bad guys are: Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer and Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko.

The easiest way to describe Iron Man 2 is this: a bigger Iron Man. Everything about this film cranks up Iron Man to another notch. Keep in mind this doesn't mean that it's better or anything. In fact, Iron Man 2 has a more convoluted plot (which is thus weaker, but more on this below) but the action turns out to be a lot better on the whole.

First, the plot of the movie. Looking back on it, it's pretty complicated to do a detailed retelling of how everything works together. But, like in the first movie, it's paced really well so that it's never overwhelming. I thought a lot of parts were pretty corny (such as when Stark discovers the new element) but they were corny in a way that was perfectly acceptable for a comic book movie. I mean, here we have a guy that just flies around in a suit so we're not really grounded in reality at all. So you somewhat scoff at some of these parts as they play out but then you just kind of chuckle when you remember this is a comic book movie with different rules. Or at least that's my approach. Anyway, the plot is, as I said above, pretty convoluted but it works. Unlike in Iron Man, a lot happens here. Unfortunately, I think it hurts the overall product to an extent. It's still solid on the whole so that's good but I can easily say the plot of this movie is worse than the plot of the first one.

Next, the action. The movie sometimes seems to string itself together by going from action scene to action scene, especially for the first thirty minutes or so. Some of them are over-the-top (much more so than in Iron Man) but they work. Sadly, I think the trailers ruined a lot of the action so that wasn't that good. But these scenes get people in to the theaters so I guess they have to put them in the trailer. Anyway, the finale here is a whole lot better than the finale of Iron Man. We get a longer battle between Tony Stark as Iron Man and some other groups. Sure, it hurts that the enemies are so similar in design to Iron Man but it's still fun action. The worst part though is that the final battle with Ivan Vanko is really really short. The guy deserved more screen time as was so I think they could've done some more here.

Building on the above point I thought some of the characters were poorly balanced. Vanko should have had much more screen time as should have Romanoff. On the other hand, the balances between Potts and Stark as well as between Rhodey and Stark were well handled. Finally, Happy Hogan's bigger role was a nice addition as it was easy to tell that Favreau had a lot of fun with it.

Finally I'll throw out some miscellaneous notes. Iron Man 2 is hilarious quite a lot of times. For example, the drunken Tony Stark scenes are really done well and are really witty. I read one review that said the dialogue in this film was more biting than smart or funny but I disagreed. Downey Jr. is quick and smart just like in the first film. In fact, his acting is just as good as before and this is just as crucial for this film. Similarly, Cheadle fills in well for the gone Howard as Rhodey. However, the hidden surprise on the acting front is Rockwell as Hammer. The guy is absolutely hysterical here. It seems like they wrote dialogue for Stark and then told Rockwell "Now, pretend you are Stark when you deliver these lines but then just fail miserably." This ends up working perfectly for his character as he serves as an excellent foil. Hopefully more people pick up on how over-the-top his performance is here and don't say he was "trying too hard" or something like that.

Overall, I gave this film a 7/10. It's the same rating as Iron Man but for completely different reasons. Here we get a much funnier movie as well as a much more action packed movie. The plot is weaker but still well paced on the whole.