Iron Man 2 (MOVIE / 2010)Iron Man 2 is a movie that knows who its audience is and aims to please. For better or worse it achieves what it was aiming for, a fun and action filled Summer romp. Robert Downey Jr and the original cast is back with the substitution of Don Cheadle in to play James Rhodes (Terrance Howard was not invited back for whatever reason) with Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke as Tony Starks antagonists . As in the first the cast works really well together and while the movie is still Downey's the other characters hold the film together while he is off screen.
The action sequences in the sequel are handled with much more care than the original, although they are equally as hard to find in both. A lot of the drama comes from the fact that Tony is apparently being killed from the very thing meant to keep him alive, and the film delves into Tony's past and father issues to help resolve the issue. Fortunately this is not as bad as what other superhero films seem to go through in their second outing as Tony never questions his role as a super hero, but you feel that the rest of the movie just happens around him and he shows up at the end to conveniently save the day.
Another plot line sees Tony falling further into his narcissistic ways and drinking only to have Rhodes step in to one of his other suits to try and stop him. This happens so fast as to pass believability as Rhodes just steps into the suit and fights on par with Tony, leading one to believe any one could step into the suit at any moment and go to town. I know that this film is a fantasy, but you could make an entire movie dealing simply with this subject and here it is simply inserted for no apparent reason other than they got a bigger actor that needs more to do on screen.
One of the most endearing parts of the original film was the interactions between Stark and his assistant Pepper Potts (again played incredibly well by Gwyneth Paltrow). Here we see the same relationship but it quickly turns south as he makes her CEO and she quickly becomes jaded towards him. At the end we are treated with a very quick make up scene that seems a little forced with everything else happening around it.
It may seem like I have a lot of gripes with this movie, but I really enjoyed it. Sam Rockwell owned the screen while he was on it and Scarlet Johansson played her dual identity to a wonderful end. If you enjoyed the first movie it was because of Downey's performance and here it is as strong (if not stronger) than the first.
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