On the way to the cinema whilst chatting to my friends it dawned on me that Iron Man 2 may well be the most anticipated CBM ever among comic book fans. I say that because the first Iron Man is frequently cited as the "right" way to make a CBM and this is a sequel to that right way..but its also the first Marvel movie since both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk paved the way for the studio's unprecedented cross pollination of Marvel characters leading up to The Avengers. And since super hero sequels tend to be at least as good, frequently better that their predecessors, Tony Stark's second flight had to deliver..right? The Answer is yes, and no.
We begin right after the end of the last movie, while Stark reveals to the world that he is Iron Man, Ivan Vanko is hard at work on something that will make the billionaire's life very difficult indeed. Vanko is the son of one of Howard Stark's former associates and he blames the Stark family(being Tony) for the ruination of his father(to the moron from the Daily Mirror..THATS WHY:) So he uses a similar tech to Stark's reactor to power his own set of devastating whips and goes to pay Mr Stark a little visit. While this is going on, Stark is summoned to a tribunal to try to force him to turn over "The Iron Man weapon" to the government. Here we are introduced to Stark's rival, Justin hammer and re introduced to Pepper Potts and James "Rhodey" Rhodes(albeit being played by a different actor this time). Stark refuses of course but after Vanko sends him a clear message while Tony is showing off at Monaco, Stark's detractors have more ammo to go after him with, or as Vanko puts it, "When you make God bleed, people stop believing in them". So this sets up our story. Stark, under the dual pressure of the government breathing down his neck and the realization that his suit is slowly poisoning him, starts to lose control and both Pepper and Rhodey decide to step in in different ways..and they aren't the only ones watching. Justin Hammer strikes up an alliance with Vanko and a new "assistant" in the form of the lovely Natalie Rushmore may not be all that she seems.
I think you probably all know the story at this point but I won't go into any more detail there. On to the performances. Rock solid pretty much across the board. Just like last time Robert Downey Jr proves that he is the single greatest casting choice in CBM history. He is charming and just the right side of arrogant to be hilarious. Mickey Rourke is great as Whiplash but he suffers from the pacing(more on that later) as does Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. These 2 actually threaten to run away with the movie when they share scenes and both are quite sympathetic villains..Rockwell in particular plays Hammer as a jealous, slimy prick..but he isn't evil. Don Cheadle is ok as Rhodey(War Machine). He's a great actor but there is just something lacking in his performance here. Gwyneth Paltrow is on form too, as is John Favreau himself, expanding Happy Hogan's role to action territory. Scarjo silences her nay sayers(me included!) with a sexy, kick ass turn as Black Wid..oh excuse, me Natasha Romanov. For some reason she is never refereed to as her codename even though we know it, they know it and they know we know it. Baffling. SAM MOTHER[frick]IN JACKSON has an expanded role here as Nick Fury. He does his job but really doesn't make much of an impression. This is partly because he really doesn't get much to say! As good as the script is, sometimes it just lets certain characters and certain scenes down. For example the quickfire back and forths between Stark and Pepper grate after they hold every conversation they have in the movie that way...but we're not on to the bad stuff yet! The action is as you would expect, [frick]ing awesome. The Monaco scene being the highlight, but a throw-down between Stark and Rhodey while suited up and a scene involving Widow in all her Lucha Libre style glory are close contenders.
Ok, now the bad. One of the major criticisms leveled at this film has been the pacing, and in all honesty I agree. Not nearly to the extent of that "unwatchable" rubbish spouted by that hack from The Mirror(Think he'l thank me for 2 mentions?:) but it is noticeable, particularly after such a strong start and then seeing in the third act scenes that so clearly belong in the second. It might sound like nit picking but for me the flow and tempo of the narrative is as important as anything else. And then, I'm not going to beat around the bush with this, the ending sucks. Not everything about the end, just the very end. After establishing Whiplash as a very real threat to Stark he gets a 20 second skirmish with both Iron Man and Rhodey(thats right, 2 heroes, one villain..isn't it supposed to be the other way around) and then promptly vanishes! Sure they both take out a few drones in spectacular fashion first but cmon! I understand that Fav and his editors have to adhere to a running time, but maybe one less scene of Stark walking around Pepper's office with a box of strawberries while she talks on the phone would have made some more room for your main antagonist!
Some of you may feel that I'm being overly critical but this stuff matters. It matters in every movie be it CBM, Swedish art house, cartoon, documentary. And my annoyances with the faults are amplified here because of how much my expectations were raised. But, that being said, I in no way want to imply that this is a bad movie. Its a great movie, its a great CBM, Hell it really is a great sequel. Its just not AS great a sequel as I was hoping for.
Oh, and as for the easter eggs. Caps shield is, imo, no way the one we will be seeing him wield in his movie. Its a lump of plastic used as a nod to Cap is all. And even if you have seen the after credits Thor nod, its something else on the big screen, I was almost stopping people from leaving as the credits rolled!
Small update, sorry but I totally forgot to talk about the humor. This film is a riot. One thing nobody can ever fault Fav on is his comic timing, of course it helps when you have guys like RDJ and Rockwell on board. I really did get a few proper belly laughs from this, in fact its a funnier film than most comedies tend to be these days. Highlight is by far Justin Hammers little dance as he enters the stage..gold!
