Iron Man 2

With this review of Iron Man 2, I have seen the film twice in theaters.

The sequel is following in the steps of recent blockbuster sequels in that it has so many storylines to follow. (even though the director mentioned they wanted to keep things simple)

While not as complex as Batman Begins, Iron Man 2 is full of new characters and actions scenes. The additional action scenes are a warm welcome to the lack from the first film while some of the new characters were a painful need.

Robert Downey Jr returns as Tony Stark/Iron Man. With fame all around, Stark must deal with his mortality as the power source in his chest is slowly poisoning him to death.

Don Cheadle fills in as Col. Rhodes. I like this actor switch. Cheadle brings a weight that "that other guy" missed. In this film, we get to see War Machine in his full glory: guns blazing and heavy duty explosions.

Scarlett Johansson star as Black Widow even though they never use this name in the film. She is part of SHIELD and is tasked with keeping an eye on Stark. She has a dizzying fight scene near the end of the film.

In fact, if the entire movie had the thrill of the last few minutes, this movie would be truly epic.

Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts and is given the job as Stark Industry CEO. The quick banter between Potts and Stark returns but their chemistry is on the short side (once again victim of too many new characters)

Sam Rockwell plays Tony Stark's main business rival. I suppose you could call him a villain but he just wanted to be the country's main source of weapons. I think there was too much Rockwell in this movie...too much not-funny Rockwell.

Mickey Rourke is the main villain in Iron Man 2. He's on a vengeance kick against Stark because of some bad family blood with their respected fathers. I still don't get why this guy is seen as such a good actor.

Samuel L Jackson returns as Nick Fury. At this point every character is Jackson regardless of the character's name. Supposedly Jackson got the studio to contract him into 9 films in order to be in this film. Ego much?

Iron Man 2 doesn't quick live up to the hype but it was some big hype. The final battle scenes make the entire movie. It seems as if Jon Favreau took the criticism from the first movie (poor final battle) and upped the octane.


I will be adding this film to the DVD collection.