Iron Man 2 Review

By: Robert Acosta

Cast:
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko/ Whiplash
Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman/ Agent Romanoff
Gywneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts

Plot: After revealing that he is Iron Man, Tony Stark must contend with issues involving the government, his own friends, as well as new enemies due to his superhero alter ego Iron Man.

Review: Off the bat, before I even got to see the movie, I had already read reviews about Iron Man 2. Not to say that they were negative but automatically the movie was and continues to be compared to it's predecessor as not nearly as good. Do I agree? I'll let you know at the end of the review.

The story is pretty basic and I wouldn't be spoiling much of anything by telling you every single that happened. Of course, I won't do that, i'd rather you go see the movie. At the end of Iron Man, Tony Stark reveals he's Iron Man to the world. In the beginning of Iron Man 2, it's clear that he has enemies who want to take him out but that he also has a tremendous amount of fame now. Tony Stark's mission is to hold off his enemies, which include Ivan Vanko, the government and Justin Hammer(played by Sam Rockwell) who is Stark's business enemy.

Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man. I know that sounds ironic and redundant cause we know that. But I mean, he is Iron Man. No one could replace him and do anywhere near as good as he's done. He's arguably the one guy in the comic book movie world that cannot be replaced. Christian Bale as Batman isn't 100% enjoyable to me and I could see someone else doing it, not that I have anyone in mind. Both Iron Man 1 and 2 would have completely failed without Downey Jr. and his funny one liners and nonchalant attitude.

The rest of the cast does a great job of being the supporting cast, Downey Jr. is the clear star. Mickey Rourke didn't do bad as the villian, though I expected more about him but that's not his fault. The stunning Scarlett Johansson was great, kicked ass but mostly irrelevant in scenes where shes not kicking ass. Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer seemed like a better villian to me, even though he never hopped in a suit to physically fight Iron Man. Don Cheadle as Lt. James Rhodes provided a decent sidekick for Iron Man. I'll be honest, War Machine is my favorite character of all time, so it would be hard to fuck the role for me. Just seeing the costume in action, kicking ass was enough for me.

My main complaint or complaints are interconnected. For a movie that was over 2 hours long, the action scenes were few and far apart. I count only 3 fight scenes, 1 was featured in the trailer on the race track, 1 wasn't even a hero vs villian fight scene and the last fight scene was pretty damn bad ass but short. There's a lot of talking during the movie, which is good talk because it's telling a good story and some comedy is involved. At the same time, it's an Iron Man movie. After watching the first movie and watching the trailer for the 2nd part, a good amount of action is expected but in this case, was not delivered.

Lastly, a note for people who go see the movie. Stay for the credits. Those who have kept up with the movie world and know what's going on, there is to be many more Marvel comics movies coming out within the next year or so. Characters and groups like Captain America, Thor, The Avengers and X-men are all getting movies added to their series. So stay for the credits because there is some hints regarding more than 1 of the movies I listed above.

Overall, Iron Man 2 is a great movie on its own. I personally don't like comparing movies in a series, rather just looking at how the movie faired on it's own. Did you have to see Iron Man 1 to see Iron Man 2 and understand what's going on? Yes and no. Iron Man 2 does a good job of catching you up and setting you up for what's going on. To understand certain themes in the movie though, you'd have to had seen Iron Man 1 or some knowledge of the comics. May has started off with a bang!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5