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A couple of years ago, Iron Man came as a pleasant surprise. The screenplay nor the direction were as great as Watchmen or The Dark Knight, but the movie could boast off the presence of Robert Downey Jr. whose electrifying performance was enough shift things up several gears, along with some cool action sequences, fun banter, Jeff Bridges and a straight-forward, but honest plot. After having seen the first one, my immediate thoughts were: "I wanna see the next one!", which does not actually happen very often with these superhero franchises. Now that the second volume has effectively reached theatres near me, my enthusiasm has tempered some.
Iron Man 2 continues where the first installation left off: Tony Stark has outed himself as Iron Man and spends his days safeguarding world peace. The people love him, but the American army is getting impatient and demand he hands over the Iron Man technology. Competing arms manufacturer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) attempts to imitate Stark's technology, without the expected success. This success finally comes his way when he lands a deal with the disturbed Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke). Vanko has his own agenda though, and a rather violent one mind you: he wants to eliminate our hero Tony Stark. In the meanwhile, Stark has to deal with health issues (the battery that keeps him alive is slowly poisoning his body), relationship problems (Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is her whiny self) and -who woulda thought- trouble keeping his hormones under control (courtesy of Scarlet Jo). Help comes from his buddy Rhodey (Don Cheadle) and the illustrious Nick Fury, who has some rather surprising news about Stark's father. Still with me?
Iron Man 2 is like a marathon runner that gets out of breath because he started off too energetic. The scene on the race track in the beginning of the movie is the best one. You start mouth watering and can't help but think: "gimme more!". Unfortunately, we don't get much more to satisfy our appetite. An obnoxious and unnecessary fight between Stark and Rhodey and the grand finale. That's it folks! The remainder of the movie is loaded with long dialogue scenes that are mostly boring - bar the drunken birthday party. As a result, the 2 hour long Iron Man 2 feels like it's dragging itself towards the finish line.
As the plot unravels, one begins to ask himself why they signed all these big names to this movie if they do not give them proper supporting roles. At the end of the movie, Samuel L. introduces the Avengers project, a bland and openly commercial showing which adds nothing to Iron Man 2. Sam Rockwell does ok, but has a part with no meat at all on it. Scarlet Johansson on the other hand, is – as she is in all her movies – looking ravishing as a red-headed supercop. But it is Mickey Rourke’s Ivan Vanko that steals the show. He looks impressive with his dirty hair, golden teeth, nasty scars and bulging muscles. The problem is that he doesn’t do a lot of interesting, exciting things. For the most part, he is no more than a glorified mechanic, which is a damn shame as he showed lots of potential.
But it is not all bad news. Just like Stark has to save America, Downey Jr. attempts to save Iron Man 2 from disaster. Whereas Stark succeeds in fiction, Downey Jr. falls short in real life, but only just. His ironic, flamboyant, rascal-like portrayal of Tony Stark still does the trick. And the movie does offer some fun scenes: a drunk Iron Man and Mickey Rourke’s giant suit (!). However, this does not suffice to make up for Iron Man 2’s shortcomings. It’s all a bit too little, too late. One can’t help but wonder what this movie would have been like with a more stripped down plot and a smaller cast (meaning more Scarlet Jo and Mickey Rourke).
If you don’t expect much out of a movie and are looking for entertainment for which you do not need your grey cells at all, then Iron Man 2 is your cup of tea (or coffee, as some MoFo’s seem to cherish it). Know that this could have been much more than a copy of Spider-Man 3 though.
Iron Man 2 continues where the first installation left off: Tony Stark has outed himself as Iron Man and spends his days safeguarding world peace. The people love him, but the American army is getting impatient and demand he hands over the Iron Man technology. Competing arms manufacturer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) attempts to imitate Stark's technology, without the expected success. This success finally comes his way when he lands a deal with the disturbed Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke). Vanko has his own agenda though, and a rather violent one mind you: he wants to eliminate our hero Tony Stark. In the meanwhile, Stark has to deal with health issues (the battery that keeps him alive is slowly poisoning his body), relationship problems (Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is her whiny self) and -who woulda thought- trouble keeping his hormones under control (courtesy of Scarlet Jo). Help comes from his buddy Rhodey (Don Cheadle) and the illustrious Nick Fury, who has some rather surprising news about Stark's father. Still with me?
Iron Man 2 is like a marathon runner that gets out of breath because he started off too energetic. The scene on the race track in the beginning of the movie is the best one. You start mouth watering and can't help but think: "gimme more!". Unfortunately, we don't get much more to satisfy our appetite. An obnoxious and unnecessary fight between Stark and Rhodey and the grand finale. That's it folks! The remainder of the movie is loaded with long dialogue scenes that are mostly boring - bar the drunken birthday party. As a result, the 2 hour long Iron Man 2 feels like it's dragging itself towards the finish line.
As the plot unravels, one begins to ask himself why they signed all these big names to this movie if they do not give them proper supporting roles. At the end of the movie, Samuel L. introduces the Avengers project, a bland and openly commercial showing which adds nothing to Iron Man 2. Sam Rockwell does ok, but has a part with no meat at all on it. Scarlet Johansson on the other hand, is – as she is in all her movies – looking ravishing as a red-headed supercop. But it is Mickey Rourke’s Ivan Vanko that steals the show. He looks impressive with his dirty hair, golden teeth, nasty scars and bulging muscles. The problem is that he doesn’t do a lot of interesting, exciting things. For the most part, he is no more than a glorified mechanic, which is a damn shame as he showed lots of potential.
But it is not all bad news. Just like Stark has to save America, Downey Jr. attempts to save Iron Man 2 from disaster. Whereas Stark succeeds in fiction, Downey Jr. falls short in real life, but only just. His ironic, flamboyant, rascal-like portrayal of Tony Stark still does the trick. And the movie does offer some fun scenes: a drunk Iron Man and Mickey Rourke’s giant suit (!). However, this does not suffice to make up for Iron Man 2’s shortcomings. It’s all a bit too little, too late. One can’t help but wonder what this movie would have been like with a more stripped down plot and a smaller cast (meaning more Scarlet Jo and Mickey Rourke).
If you don’t expect much out of a movie and are looking for entertainment for which you do not need your grey cells at all, then Iron Man 2 is your cup of tea (or coffee, as some MoFo’s seem to cherish it). Know that this could have been much more than a copy of Spider-Man 3 though.
