Iron Man 2

Back in 2008, Jon Favreau surprised the world by coming out with his first big budget action movie, Iron Man. An even bigger surprise was that it was really good. Despite a lackluster plot and very few action scenes, Robert Downey Jr. finding the role he was born to play was just too much fun to watch and propelled what would've been a mediocre action flick into blockbuster gold. So, 2 years later and here we are at the inevitable sequel. Does it live up to its predecessor?

Honestly, I don't even know where to begin with this movie since there are several ways to review it. By comparing it to the first film, it is easily an improvement. Yet by comparing it to other superhero movies, it, like the original, falls a little short of being great. YET, at the same time it does so much more than other superhero movies have done and fairly effectively tries to break the mold of what a superhero movie should be.

Let me get the easy part out of the way. Robert Downey Jr. is once again fantastic and embodies Tony Stark in a way few others could. We also get to see more of Stark's darker, more drunken, side which makes Downey's performance all the better. We also get the wonderful Don Cheadle in for Terrence Howard as James Rhodes, and thank goodness for that. Besides the ham-handed obligatory intro for the audience where Downey says something along the lines of "I didn't expect to see you here," and Cheadle responds "Yeah, I get it, I'm a new actor, but I'm here now so deal with it," his Rhodes is much more expressive and likable. We also get the sneering Mickey Rourke as Vanko, whose Russian accent, cool attitude, and pure villainy is a joy to watch. Sam Rockwell appears as the evil businessman Justin Hammer, and boy does he ham it up. Some might say it's to excess, but honestly I think it worked for his character. Gweneth Paltrow is back as Pepper Potts, Stark's no nonsense assistant, with a much bigger role this time around and much more lively banter.

As for Scarlett Johansson...while I know nothing of the Black Widow character (the name of which isn't even said in the movie), Johansson just doesn't seem right for the part. Yes, she's sexy, and she gets a lot of mileage out of that leather suit, but in terms of acting prowess she's just not up to snuff with everyone else. Her character is seemingly supposed to be very stuffy and cold, but it all just seems forced.

In case the lengthy descriptions of the actors didn't tip you off, this is what sets Iron Man 2 apart from other superhero movies. It focuses on character interaction and development more than it does on action and plot progression.

As such, it really should be thankful to those actors. Because while I applaud it for breaking the mold, it unfortunately also makes the action scenes that are there seem underdone and out of place. Also, while this movie thankfully has more than one plot, each one never seems to get enough time to be fully drawn out and invested in, leaving us bouncing from one thing to another. There's Vanko's plot which is miserably underused, Hammer's plot which seems to be there only to provide motivation for the final big battle, the SHIELD/Avengers throw in with far too little of Samuel L. Jackson doing what he does best, Stark's dealing with his reactor poisoning him (with one of the most incomprehensible solutions ever presented in a movie), Rhodes' quick and dirty transformation into War Machine, and then just the plot of Stark being Stark and Iron Man and what that entails. Each one, with just a little more development, could've been great. But crammed into the same movie together with limited time to explore them turned it, in terms of plot, into a little worse than your standard superhero flick and on par with a standard no-thought summer blockbuster.

Overall, Iron Man 2 is an improvement over the original, but still falls short in several areas. Nonetheless, it's still a wonderful actor's showcase wrapped in the packaging of a fun mindless action flick.

Iron Man 2 gets an 8/10.