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 Director
Jon Favreau’s 2008 thrill ride, Iron Man was universally hailed as one
of the most enjoyable comic book to big screen ventures to ever blast a
box office. By virtue of a smart, witty script, cutting edge special
effects and a perfectly cast leading man in Robert Downey, Jr. to bring
it all to life, Iron Man ranked alongside Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and
Bryan Singer’s X-Men, as one of the greatest adaptations of a Marvel
superhero on film. Could moviegoers hope for more of the same or better
from its successor?
Here
we are, picking up not long after we left off in the original film with
zillionaire playboy industrialist Tony Stark’s stunning announcement to
the world that he was indeed the mystery man in the red and yellow metal
costume. That was him flying around saving the world with all sorts of
impossible feats of derring-do. Unlike other superheroes, with the good
sense to employ a secret identity, Stark revels in his fame as Iron Man,
making splashy Vegas-style stunt entrances into his own technology
exposition, signing autographs and basically thumbing his nose at anyone
foolish enough to try to inject a little reason into his
self-indulgence. He’s living like a man who thinks tomorrow might be
his last day on earth. Sadly for Stark, that might be a painfully
accurate assessment.
The technology that replaced the failed heart and
saved the life of the former weapons dealer, is now slowly killing him.
The power sources that keep his glow-in-the-dark ticker thumping are
burning out within hours of installation and Stark’s blood grows more
toxic by the minute. This sends the already impetuous playboy into a
tailspin of high-risk behaviour. From impulsively taking the wheel at
Monaco’s Grand Prix, to drunken, destructive binges and allowing his own
company and the entire Stark legacy to flounder; Tony knows the end is
near and feels no need to share the news. Even friends like military
man “Rhodey” Rhodes and faithful assistant, “Pepper” Potts are at a loss
as Tony’s wild behaviour grows more bizarre and uncontrollable.
While
Stark careens, other stones gather no moss and with great power come a
whole lotta enemies: An undiscovered connection to his father’s past
pops up in the form of Ivan Vanko. The vengeful son of
a disgraced former inventing partner of Stark père, Vanko
is given access to the Iron Man technology his father helped build,
and he uses those secrets to become a character called Whiplash. How
fitting as the guy walks around with two long cable whips, that with a
little help from the Iron Man arc reactor core,
are able to slice through an entire fleet of racing cars and pretty much
anything else in their path.
In his gadget-making brilliance, Tony
Stark has met his match in Vanko. The other competition is Stark’s life
isn’t as gifted, but as determined to bring about Stark’s downfall.
Justin Hammer gets no love; his weapons company simply cannot duplicate
the wonders of the Iron Man suit, which, as manned by Stark, has brought
about an unprecedented period of peace around the world. Even a
Hammer-engineered roasting on Capitol Hill blows up in his face, only
serving to transform Stark into a champion for civil liberties as
factions of the government attempt to get their warmongering claws on
Tony’s red and gold finery. Whiplash’s stunningly public introduction
as the first real challenge to Iron Man’s martial superiority makes him
fast friends with the wealthy weapons man.
While his enemies mount,
unexpected allies also make their way into Stark’s life, including a
deepening tie between himself and the enigmatic Sgt. Nick Fury of the
shadowy military organisation called S.H.I.E.L.D. Having a vested
interest in keeping the billionaire in one piece, another S.H.I.E.L.D.
operative works much closer than Stark is aware. Natalie Rushman,
a
mysterious and freakishly agile redheaded secretary, is like catnip to Tony’s roving attentions, which makes her job tracking the superhero
playboy with a death wish a whole lot easier.
Iron
Man 2 exhibits far more deficiencies than its sire, most notably in the
script. Origin stories usually play better onscreen as they have a more
defined arc; Iron Man 2 suffers from too much going on with too many
characters in an overcrowded screenplay.
Most of the drama centers on
Stark’s failing heart and his crazed, end-of-days acting
out, but otherwise, there’s not much of a story here. While one cares
for the wacky, misunderstood billionaire {- Played brilliantly once
again by Downey, Jr.}, for this film, our attention is pulled in many
different directions, and whether due to the lack of time to develop, or
thin writing, there’s really not anyone amongst the many introduced here
that rings with any depth.
Other characters that weren’t particularly
well-represented in the first film fare even worse this time around.
Pepper Potts {Gwyneth Paltrow} is just a non-starter; given more
face time than in film one, we’re shown irretrievably that there is
absolutely no chemistry between the trusty Gal Friday and her tin can
Superman. After a couple of years of chasing her boss around in
invariably life-threatening situations, I would expect more gumption of
Potts than to see her whimpering in the backseat of a Whiplash-sliced
car, too afraid to simply hand off the portable version of the Iron Man
armour to a waiting Stark.
One might gather from that lacking
description that I would have been fully on the side of the mysterious
Natalie Rushman {a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a Scarlett Johansson}
as a far worthier vessel for Iron Man’s affections. But even with a
very deliberate attempt to establish Natasha as a seductress par
excellence - pin-up worthy camerawork accents her face and curves in
every shot, and later in the classic catsuit, she’s given a fight
sequence that would make Angelina Jolie froth in jealousy - this Black
Widow doesn’t exactly set the world on fire, either.
I admit to total
fandom of the long, cool woman from the comics in the shiny, painted-on
Kevlar, backcombed Russian Red ‘do and the regal, haughty demeanor that
poured off the pages. Alas, despite my faith in Favreau’s success in
replicating these characters for the screen, this Black Widow had none
of her comic book counterpart’s commanding personality, or wry, Russian
sensibilities and depth.
Those qualities must’ve been saved in the
script for Ivan Vanko/Whiplash, with his tragic family legacy and
fatalistic melancholy masking his strategic quest for revenge. Covered
in Russian gang tattoos, Mickey Rourke does his best to turn a
dangerously one-dimensional character into something memorable right
down to Whiplash’s kinship with his fine-feathered friends.
Also way up
on the plus side of things was Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer. Hammer is
a hilarious comic relief with his bumbling attempts to usurp Tony
Stark’s place as the world’s sexiest weapons monger. Rockwell’s
off-the-cuff delivery and willingness to play the fool is a perfect foil
for the pinpoint timing of Robert Downey, Jr.’s acerbic, rapid-fire
improv, and he nearly runs away with the picture.
Don Cheadle dismisses
the audience’s conjecture about his replacement of Terrence Howard as "Rhodey" Rhodes with his opening salvo to Stark, “Look, it’s me. I’m
here. Deal with it.” Not as physically prepossessing as Howard, Cheadle
nonetheless seems more on equal footing with regard to Downey, Jr.’s
sharp, stream-of-consciousness riffing.
Less good plot is bolstered by much bombast and the
action scenes and visual effects are once again ace. The hologram touch
screens are still sweet even when used as frequently as they are here,
so is the array of nauseatingly gorgeous rides decorating Stark’s
garage. The flaming car wrecks on the Monaco race track are thrilling,
as are most of the scenes of rampant destruction.
The new cool thing is
far and away the aforementioned Iron Man travel case, which after being
opened at Stark’s feet, wraps Tony in a crunchy tin coating in a matter
of seconds.
Favreau’s conversion of the skeleton of Flushing Meadows
Park’s 1964 World’s Fair grounds into an electronic
Epcot-meets-Akihabara wonderland for the Stark Expo, made me wish the
Iron Man 2 production team would submit some architecture designs to the
City of New York. One battle takes place inside a Japanese exhibit so
lovely and serene; it was hardly noticeable that most of the petals were
singed in the repulsor ray mayhem.
The fights are bloody good, as well;
the standout for me was the Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em robots battle between
Stark and distrustful friend, Rhodey. Rhodey commandeers an unused Iron
Man suit to become War Machine, and attempts to put his drunken friend in
his place to the tune of a DJ AM mashup of Another One Bites the Dust,
It Takes Two and most appropriately, Robot Rock by Daft Punk. (Woo
Hoo!) The climatic melee at the end doesn’t hold the same interest
despite the variety of armoured drones that Iron Man must avoid and
destroy. Iron Man is at its best when its personality is showing and
there isn’t as much on display in this chapter as there was in the
last.
Even so, top-shelf special effects and Favreau’s popcorn-perfect
timing for action and comedy combined with great work from Downey, Jr.
and Rockwell make up for many of this sequel’s inadequacies. While not
perfect, Iron Man 2 is still a fun, fantastic time at the movies that
is, on occasion, nearly as spectacular as its sire.
~ The Lady Miz Diva
May 6th, 2010
Click here
for our review of 2008's Iron Man
Click here
for our review of 2013's Iron Man 3
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