Iron Man 2 Review

All he wants is a high five.

“Iron Man 2” is quite possibly one of the best movies I have seen that’s able to capture the essence and attitude of its source material.

The movie, coming months off of Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr.) admission to the world that he is Iron Man, deals with the aftermath of this admission and how it affects modern peace keeping and warfare.

While I didn’t think it was possible, “Iron Man 2” far surpasses its predecessor in every aspect. The action is better, the writing is better, the acting is better, the characters are better — just about everything with this film is better.

A previous complaint I had with the first film was the lack of action, but it’s not so in this one. The last 30 minutes of the movie where Iron Man and War Machine are fighting against Justin Hammer’s (Sam Rockwell) Iron Man knock-offs is packed with so much action, that it will take you awhile to process what you just saw.

While it’s been widely reported that “Iron Man 2,” like the first one, had many of its scenes improvised, I think Justin Theroux’s (“Zoolander”) characterization of Stark was perfect — although that may have been mostly due to Downey’s excellent portrayal of the character.

Theroux, as well as the movie’s director Jon Favreau, throws in a nice reference to Stark’s problems with alcoholism in the comics with a scene that has Stark drunkenly shooting things with his repulsor blasts.

They also do a good job of setting up plot points for future Marvel movies that will eventually lead to “The Avengers” film. One scene that deals with this unification involves the appearance of one of the most iconic pieces of Marvel history and the way that it’s handled in the movie will just make comic book fans foam at the mouth.

The special effects of the movie are just spectacular. Scenes involving Stark interacting with his virtual computer is a treat to watch and the CG versions of War Machine and the Iron Man armors are even more realistic than their first outing.

Returning to the movie with Downey is Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Favreau, plays Happy Hogan. Not returning, however, is Terrance Howard as Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes. Instead, he’s replaced by Don Cheadle.

Cheadle’s Rhodes is a huge improvement over Howard’s. Whereas Howard’s Rhodes was a bit too quiet and reserved, Cheadle’s is more assertive and humorous.

Joining them is Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff, aka the Black Widow. While the characterization of Romanoff is essentially the same as the comic’s, one deviation is that she seems to be an American spy as opposed to being Russian.

The character that I liked the least was the movie’s main villain, Ivan Vanko, played by Mickey Rourke. While Rourke does an admirable job, I wasn’t that into his one dimensional hatred of Stark.

One of the highlights of the film was Rockwell’s portrayal of Hammer, a character that’s essentially like Stark without the heart and soul. Watching the scenes between Rockwell’s and Downey’s characters, it becomes clear that they worked well off each other and that Rockwell brought the same type of levity Downey has done as Stark.

However, this film is all about Iron Man and Downey brought his A-game. Downey played the egotistical smugness of Stark perfectly and his handling of both the comedic and serious parts of the film is just perfect. His interplay with Paltrow’s character comes off as an old married couple bickering and it’s hilarious to watch.

One of the biggest improvements that the sequel made is the movie’s score. “Iron Man’s” score was done by Ramin Djawadi and it sounded too generic. This time around, the score was composed by John Debney and it brought a much needed weight to the film.

Favreau’s directing in this movie is a far cry from his previous work with the children-oriented “Zathura” and “Elf.” Although many of the action sequences in the film could have suffered from the dreaded “shaky-cam” effect, Favreau mainly stayed away from that and stuck to a more traditional approach.

But I didn’t enjoy everything in the movie. I thought that the pacing was a bit off and that it almost suffered the same problems that plagued “Spider-Man 3” and “X-Men: The Last Stand” by shoving too much into two hours and that some of the scenes was just too silly even for the movie.

These problems weren’t too glaring, and I recommend that everyone go see this film. It’s fun to watch. You’ll get the most bang out of your buck and be sure to stick around after the credits for a scene that leads into the next Marvel movie.

Rating: 4 out of 5
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Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Marvel Studios