Posted on: May 5th, 2010 REVIEW: Iron Man 2

If the lead up to Iron Man 2 taught us anything, it’s that the first film was even more successful than we thought – the anticipation for the sequel has been palpable. People are losing their shit for Iron Man 2, and it hasn’t even come out yet. It’s as if the film is immune from the critical eye and will automatically circumvent the weary territory of bad-sequelville. Iron Man 2 can’t possibly be anything less than bad-ass. Could it?

I was lucky enough to attend a pre-screening of the film tonight, and I can fall in line with all of the above sentiments – this is an awesome sequel.

The film picks up six months after the events of the first film, in which Tony Stark declares “I am Iron Man” in front of the whole world. The government wants Stark to hand over the “Iron Man weapon”, which he won’t do, and former business rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) wants to fill the weapons manufacturing void that Tony created. Naturally, he wants the Iron Man armour as well. Meanwhile in Moscow, vengeance-bent physicist Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) creates some dangerous tech for himself and begins his mission to take Tony down and ruin his legacy; a mission that unearths some interesting revelations from Tony’s past. Throw in Rhodey suiting up as War Machine, the debut of Black Widow, and a returning Sam Jackson as SHIELD Col. Nick Fury, and you’ve got a film that is filled to the brim with action, laughs and copious amounts of fanboy nudges.

New to the sequel is writer Justin Theroux (he previously wrote Tropic Thunder and has appeared as an actor in American Psycho and Charlies Angels: Full Throttle), who brings a very familiar tone and feel to the film while amping up the action and comedy and simultaneously planting the seeds for future Marvel films Captain America, Thor and The Avengers. Where the film excels, even beyond Theroux’s writing, is just how loose the film feels. It’s well-known that director Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. improvised much of the first film, and the sequel feels just as organic. This could be one of the tightest ensemble casts in recent years, each performance flows naturally and believably.

While we never doubted the franchise was Robert Downey’s, IM2 is undoubtedly Tony Stark’s, as opposed to Iron Man’s. Some major action-junkies, those not invested in the story or characters, may find the film’s pacing a little dragging and may take issue with a lack of iron suit-wearing, but not this cat; the film never betrayed my interest and added new levels of character to everyone on-screen. This makes for a successful sequel, a rarity in the comic book movie biz. Our characters have new challenges to overcome that are actually interesting and centered with that person – it’s not just a matter of finding that vulnerable spot and shooting a missile.

You can tell the film was a larger playground for Jon Favreau, who did everything bigger. The film boasts more action scenes and larger, intricate set pieces. A large part of that is the evolution of Rhodes into the fan-favorite comic book character, War Machine, basically an Iron Man suit mounted with an absurd amount of bullet-based weaponry and two massive shoulder-mounted gatling guns. You will notice though, that actor Terrence Howard is out and Don Cheadle is in. To Cheadle’s credit, the often jarring transition of a new actor into a continuing role was minimal in the film, and not even an afterthought. Not to slight Howard’s performance, but Cheadle looked great in the suit and captured the same brotherhood between himself and Tony that was seen in the first film. Get those two together in armor, and you’ve got one of the most badass scenes in the whole film. Equally as subtle a performance was from Scarlett Johansson as SHIELD agent Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow. While she doesn’t do much in the film, Johansson is adequate as the red-headed Russian spy and has one killer fight scene. The Avengers could benefit from giving more depth to her character, as there’s definitely something there, even if we didn’t see it in this film.

Sam Rockwell as weapons manufacturer and Tony Stark rival, Justin Hammer

It’s become formulaic to add multiple villains in a comic book sequel, and often this is detrimental to the film. Not so much in Iron Man 2, as villains Justin Hammer and Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash, come from two different vantage points while converging on their mutual target, Tony Stark, and working together, stealing neither one’s thunder. Next to Robert Downey, Sam Rockwell gets the performance of the film award. His smarmy, slightly hyper-active industrialist Hammer begs to be watched over and over. He is simply magnetic; another role that convinces the audience that Rockwell is one of the best actors working today. Mickey Rourke also brings another come-back worthy performance, though far less dynamic and layered as Hammer. Rourke is all business and bad-guy as Whiplash, and proves those wrong who scoffed at the villain early on in production. When Rourke starts working those electric whips, you know the shit is about to start, and it’s legitimately a threat to Iron Man. Bad-ass.

Earlier reviews from the film tended to be a mixed bag, with some critics citing the films slower pacing as a drain. Personally, I think that’s hogwash – Favreau and co. don’t water it down assuming we’re dumb. Tony Stark is a person. Pepper Potts is a person. Even the ridiculous-in-context looking Nick Fury is a person. It’s that grounded approach that makes the film entirely enjoyable while building up hype for the future Marvel films. Iron Man 2 weaves in plenty of subtle references to what we are yet to see in the next two years, leading up to the The Avengers. And just like with the first film, stay after the credits, kids. You’re gonna like what you see.

IM2 will no doubt make a ridiculous amount of bank at the box office this weekend, and for subsequent weekends. That’s just par for the course with these big-budget superhero actioners. Though Iron Man 2, just like the first, will be worthy of that blockbuster status.

3 Responses to “REVIEW: Iron Man 2”

1. REVIEW: The Super Ensemble of IRON MAN 2 « Giant Killer Squid - Film, Comics, News, Reviews and more Says:
   May 7th, 2010 at 5:08 pm

   [...] living under a rock. If you’ve really been living under a rock, you smell, wash up. Then read Mr. Ferrier’s review of the film, where he gives a detailed plot . Then come back here and read what I have to say. Go ahead, I’ll [...]

2. Metallicat79 Says:
   May 9th, 2010 at 3:23 pm

   Saw IM:2 Friday and after soemtime to ull over what i had seen, the conclusion i have come to was simply that IM:2 delivers what was promised, buut was definetly overhyped.
   It was enjoyable, and had lots more action than the forst film had. And continued on a with some great writing.
   However, there were some issues I did have, namely Black Widow, while Scarlett Johansen looks and acts very much like Widow, i can’t negate the lack of Russian accent, a trademark of Widow. I was very dissapointed with no accent, I was hoping that maybe her cover at Stark would have been compromised had the Russian accent surafced, BUT after all that, still no accent.
   And While I immensly enjoyed Roarke as Whiplash, I felt that there was little change from the character he had played in The Wrestler, all they did was add a vendetta, and a russian accent.
   Thise were my only complaints i had with IM:2, everything else was fantastic.

3. Ryan Ferrier Says:
   May 9th, 2010 at 9:57 pm

   I think it’s entirely reasonable to have Natasha speak with a perfect American accent; she is, after all, a SHIELD master of espionage. She needs to blend in perfectly with her surroundings and her story. I imagine that if she was dropping the Russian accent it would’ve played a bit silly. Who would buy that, that’s not discrete at all.

   I’m also afraid I don’t see the correlation of Whiplash to Randy the Ram at all, save for the fact that it’s Mickey Rourke’s face/body. Granted, he is one distinct looking cat…

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