What does a superhero do, after saving the world and ushering in a period of peace and tranquility, when he still needs a sequel? This is the problem – and the ultimate flaw – of Iron Man 2, the follow-up to the wildly popular Iron Man movie.
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), now known as Iron Man, carries the biggest of big sticks. His suit has not been rivaled or duplicated. With its power, he keeps the world at peace. However, the very power that sustains him also is slowly draining his life from him. He needs to find a new formula. His faithful secretary and love interest, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and his straight-arrow friend Rhodey (Don Cheadle) find themselves increasingly exasperated by his flippant and wild ways. Plus, a shadowy organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. keeps their eye on him, aided by the curvy Scarlett Johansson.
To top it off, a disgruntled Russian physicist named Vanko (Mickey Rourke) and a jealous business competitor named Hammer (Sam Rockwell) dearly desire to knock him off his throne by developing a new power suit, complete with cool electric whips that slice through metal like butter.
The problem with Vanko, however, is that he’s an underachiever. Despite his nifty suit and evil genius, he has only one goal in life: to destroy Iron Man. A real villain would want to block out the sun or control the world’s plutonium or enslave humanity. Or at least North America. We’re not picky here.
For his part, Hammer only wants to land a contract to sell weapons to the US Government. A legal contract. He’s hardly Dr. Evil.
Neither one has the foresight to even kidnap Pepper Potts and trade her life for Iron Man. It’s like they never bothered to read a comic book.
This leaves Iron Man in the un-superhero-y position of fighting solely for his own life. There’s no one to save, except perhaps the government from a bum business deal or a few people from being collateral damage. Tony Stark’s interior struggle is against his own hubris and playboy ways. With no one to save beside himself, he doesn’t get the chance to lay these things down and live for something larger.
His moral outrage is directed at the U.S. Government for stealing his invention. Patent infringement is an important issue (and I daresay lawyers could get a lot of enjoyment out of teasing out the legal implications of one civilian owning the most powerful weapon in the world), but it’s hardly superhero fodder.
The action sequences have some good moments, especially when Stark and Rhodey team up. Rourke, when he’s whipping his electric lines around, makes a convincing baddie, but the audience spends a good deal of the movie waiting for the action to start. There should be more explosions and less exposition. Some of the exposition comes from the insertion of a plot line involving S.H.I.E.L.D., which is Marvel’s grand scheme to tie together all its superhero franchises into an Avenger movie. If you know that is what’s going on, it becomes a cool Fanboy-in-the-know part of the movie. If you aren’t clued in, it’s a bit confusing. Be sure to stay past the end of the credits for an extra jolt of Fanboy fabulousness.
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some language, the film has a few double entendres and brief sensual images, but is much milder than many films in the same genre. (I’m calling you out, Transformers!) Despite all the mayhem, no bystander is hurt, injured, or even breaks a fingernail.
Iron Man 2 is loud, bright, and retains some of the irreverent fun of the original. It’s a nice way to pass a few hours, but it will quickly fade from memory.
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