Iron Man was an important film in the history of comic book movies. It elevated Robert Downey Jr. to the A-list where he belongs. It gave director Jon Favreau a chance to prove himself as a filmmaker that was able to direct more than kids movies, Elf and Zathura, and the "Swingers"-lite movie Made. At that moment comic book movies were becoming darker and darker, most to great success, but Iron Man required a lighter touch and it provided it in spades. Faverau was able to juggle both character and story without letting either overshadow the other. Downey as Tony Stark was a revelation, an amazing choice that I'm amazed no one had thought of earlier. The ideal combination of director and actor still encountered some stumbling blocks in the form of a poorly written villain and pretty flat action scenes. Jeff Bridges did an admirable job as the villain but the role just didn't have enough meat to it. The movie was obviously enough of a success that when the inevitable sequel came along it was a chance for Jon Favreau and team to fix all those small problems that, when added up, kept Iron Man from being a great movie. And I must say that with Iron Man 2, Faverau stepped up and fixed those problems, But what makes it suffer is a script that was rushed in order to make the release date.
Iron Man 2 picks up immediately after the first one. Tony Stark has just revealed to the world during a press conference that he is indeed Iron Man. Watching this press conference is Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), a man with a personal vendetta towards Tony Stark and his family's legacy. Meanwhile, Stark is getting lots of flack from the government who want the Iron Man technology to be handed over to them so they can use it as a weapon. Stark refuses and states that his reasoning is that it's not a weapon but a deterrent and that so far it's been working. On the other side of the argument is fellow billionaire and arms manufactuer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), who has been working on building his own version of the Iron Man armor but with disasterous yet funny results. Tony's friend Rhodes (Don Cheadle) is even brought in to reluctantly testify against him. None of this really bothers Tony because he knows he holds all the cards.
Stark is incredibly cocky like he always tends to be, but that cockiness hides a secret. He is slowly being killed by the same technology that is keeping him alive. The Arc reactor that powers his suit is slowly poisoning his blood and unless he can find a new power source then he'll die. It's a secret that he even keeps from his assistant/occasional girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). A woman he used to confide everything in but now he keeps secrets from. The story is an interesting tale of revenge and the difficulties of being a hero when everyone wants a piece of you and everyone knows you're a superhero. Stark seems happy on the outside but he is breaking under the pressure of both the government, Vanko's vendetta and his own health problems. The Tony Stark we see in this movie is a darker version of the one we saw in the first film. Robert Downey Jr. is able to portray him in a way where we see he's in a bad place but never does he fall too much into the "poor me" phase. But all is not doom and gloom for Tony. He meets and promptly hires as his new assistant, Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson), who is secretly a SHIELD agent named Black Widow. And he is also brought into SHIELD by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and given the opportunity to perhaps save himself and Iron Man.
This is one of those rare superhero movies where they hired actual actors instead of stars. Everyone in the movie comes to their roles with lots of talent behind them. Paltrow gives another good performance as Pepper, one of the few roles that I actually like her in. Rourke gives Vanko a very dangerous and scary vibe and does an admirable job with the stuff given him but while Vanko is in the movie from beginning to end, he isn't really active in the middle part. Cheadle steps into the role that Terrence Howard originated in the first movie. Rhodes has to be both Stark's best friend but also the voice of reason. A voice that sometimes has to kick Tony's ass once in a while to get him to stop acting like a spoiled brat. Cheadle was able to establish an easy chemistry with Downey and at no point do we question why they're such good friends. Johansson shows off a natural talent for action when her character is required to kick some ass. But the person who steals the show this time out and almost steals the entire movie away from Downey is Sam Rockwell. His performance as Justin Hammer is both hilarious, pathetic yet also scary at the same time. He's a man who is desperate to be the new Tony Stark but lacks the vision and intelligence needed to do it. Hammer is the type of guy who attempts at every possible moment to be cool only to fail to miserably. What makes him a dangerous villain is that he those billions of dollars at his disposal and no moral compass. He is so desperate to dethrone Stark that he makes a deal with Vanko to help him develop his own armor suits. A quite none too subtle deal with the devil.
Jon Favreau approaches the action scenes this time with the gained knowledge of what made the action in the first one somewhat stiff and lifeless. In this one he is able to give us action scenes that are thrilling and well-choreographed. Action beats that also allow there to be room for character moments. The Monaco fight scene is a good balance of actual danger and some comedic moments. There is a friendly fight scene shortly after that between Rhodes in the silver Iron Man armor and Tony in his armor. A fight that is basically to knock some sense into Tony because he is drunk and acting like a douche. It's a fun scene that really pulls no punches. Walls are torn down. Floors are blown through and windows shattered. They basically destroy Tony's house. Then we are treated to an amazing final action scene for which the reasons for have me approaching spoiler territory so I'll stop. I'll just say that it's a lot of fun but the actual final battle is needlessly short.
Now, you may have noticed that I didn't mention any other action scenes. The reason for that is that there are no more. The entire middle of the movie is lacking in any action at all. It's all plot and character scenes. I didn't really mind it because the acting and the banter between characters is so good but we did really need at least one action scene in the middle. I understand why they went with that in the script. Tony needs to get to a moment of catharsis in order to save himself and Iron Man and Vanko and Hammer need to set everything in place for the final act but I can't see a reason they couldn't have thrown in a quick action beat. It follows the "Open big. End big" philosophy of some films but the real meat in the movie is in the middle. It's there that the audience starts to look at their watches.
That is pretty much the only complaint I have about Iron Man 2. It is a superior sequel to an already good film. Jon Favreau and company fixed all the problems that the first one had, they got better villains and ramped up the action all without sacrificing character and story. The movie keeps you entertained throughout and you're never really bored but it's one weakness is that in pursuit of character they forgot to beef up the middle. It's an Iron Man movie with just not enough Iron Man in it.
8.5/10
