"Iron Man 2" (2010)

Tony Stark is not so much fighting the Herculean villains his success adversely attracts than he's fighting himself. "Iron Man 2", a sweeping spectacle displaying showboating by its hero of the free-roaming, liberated sort, certainly opens on this note and speaks to such an idea. This time, the eccentric, ingenious billionaire (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) is first seen leading his annual weapons extravaganza, the Stark Expo, in Flushing, New York. While the original's culmination involved Iron Man's identity being nationally revealed, this sequel would have Stark assuming that role with a more than subtle embrace. Stark's magnetic allure feels possessed with live spontaneity, each scene admiring the way he gloats in his achievements. In one statement he professes, "I have successfully privatized world peace". It's a roguish conviction that dumps heaps of superiority complex on both his competition and his skeptics.

Downey, Jr. expands on the vibrant personality that defines Tony Stark as an enigma delivered on a platter to be wholly digested in its silly, over-the-top megalomania. In "Iron Man 2", we follow Stark's endeavor - aided by the distant, clouded memory and salvaged brilliance of his father - that builds toward reconstructing the inner-workings of his experimentally ravaged inner-core (a self-made orb embedded in his chest). His battery is literally running low - and poisoning his blood, as overseen by a "Blood Toxicity Monitor" - causing him to begin to die slowly. Frequently are moments in which the actor seems to be unchaining the assets he brings to this role, allowing them to run blind and rampant as a means of challenging his still prolific, yet out-shined co-stars.

The fact that my review pays exceptionally brief attention to Gwenyth Paltrow in the role of Pepper Potts is maybe a testament to just how little the film's plot pays attention to her, her story line, or her functionality as the love interest of Tony Stark. Potts is a woman who is essentially dismissed. Meditating on her relevance in this supposed "lead" female role brings to mind an old 1950's board game cover of Battleship, which features a father and son playing the game merrily at their leisure, while wife and daughter admire with a smile, washing dishes. In this context, she sits back and watches Tony's skylarking, serving as a personal aid of sorts, then is appointed by Stark as CEO of his company. The film seems to suggest that a position like this might fill her time, and allow her to "go play" while Tony's off handling bigger and better things. She'll still always be there when Tony's ready for her, after a day of fighting crime far more momentous than the company he's apathetically left in her faltering hands.


Subservience epitomized in Pepper Potts. Iron Man 2, 2010.

The great Mickey Rourke's casting in the role of Ivan Vanko is a clever move of casting direction that brims with possibilities. Possibilities of weathered emotion. Of grisly intensity. Of unadulterated villainous prowess. Of real nerve. Yet these possibilities are left unfulfilled, and viewers seeking to engage might want to know why Vanko is so unreachable, so one-dimensional. Rourke showed us his uncanny ability to connect and relate with the sometimes dark, sometimes light and bittersweet corners of the human soul in 2009's "The Wrestler", but here he's caught between a Russian accent, some cutesy one-liners and an ill-explained revenge motive that could sooner be resolved by out-innovating Stark rather than killing him off. He certainly tries, serving as an engineer to the smarmy weapons dealer Justin Hammer, in a fine and funny performance by Sam Rockwell. But this is Iron Man's movie, so naturally, nothing comes of it.

Or is Rourke here simply because his name will fill seats? Oh yeah, that's right, that's what it is. One can imagine a meeting with the film's producers nodding in agreement of casting for exactly this reason.

Back to Iron Man. Shall I applaud Downey, Jr.? Well, I am, respectfully so. My being self-conscious about that applause lies in the fact that much like Stark's weapons expo, "Iron Man"'s sequel is less a film with purpose than an extravagant looking one-man showcase, with Mr. Downey at the helm of its charms. All others on screen seem undeservingly dwarfed. Their roles somehow get lost in the film's narrative, reducing a band of unmistakable talent and stature to life size cardboard cut-outs rather than fully developed characters. Less Comic-Con-esque references and more, you know, supportive acting, might have better served the mythology of attention worthy villains like Whiplash and Black Widow.

"Iron Man 2" shares the same narcissism its leading man totes so flamboyantly, with self-indulgent star studded cameos that wink at the camera as we stroll through its pre-packaged, well polished motions. Isn't that Garry Shandling? Scarlett Johansson is quick, savvy, and sexy as ever. Wow, Mickey Rourke is tattooed from head to toe - and he's doing a Russian accent! Of course there's Samuel L. Jackson, wearing an eyepatch no less, complete with his own entrance played in by soul-funk organs! Even Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein shows up as the bearer of tunes for Tony Stark's drunken company carousal. "Iron Man 2"'s tediously prolific and cast trigger-happiness is an element that works in only partial effect. On one hand it serves in creating a real world to comic book blend of storytelling that assembles an elitist fellowship characteristic of Stark's egocentric lifestyle. On the other it presents a series of Hollywood in-jokes and gags that rest on the shoulders of its big name actors simply being present. Which side of the coin works for you ultimately depends on how much you've decided to delve into the glamour and glitz of Tony's world.

That said world is sufficiently titillating, as any good super-hero action picture would present it, though its tangibility is a point of interest worth questioning.

Mulling over Iron Man's capabilities, I'm sure I must have missed the part in which he learns to freeze time. Stark and Lt. Colonel "Rhodey" Rhodes' (Don Cheadle) breezy conversational exchanges during those crucial split seconds as some highly lethal explosives are thrust in their general direction would certainly prove that feat. In keeping with one of the films repeated mantras - "Everything is achievable through technology" - perhaps "Iron Man 3" will have them brewing some mid-battle coffee inside Stark Enterprises' finest innovations.

In the vast Marvel comic-book universe of routinely disposable excrement, "Iron Man 2" delivers as a perfectly competent, efficient superhero movie. It moves at a swift pace and with deft electricity through its more candid and sometimes improvisational scenes touting its inimitable leading man. Its action sequences are as slick and well executed as one could hope, though they never amount to much more. Essentially, the film's mishandling of the franchise's original rebellious voice and mismanagement of its high-stacked cast make this second installment second-rate.

Rest on your laurels, "Iron Man 2" cynically suggests, on the laurels of your cast and its household names, on the laurels of your director's stylish sensibilities, and on the laurels of an audience's tendency to respond without too much care once summer rolls around. Filmmakers following that suggestion are sure to be successful in entertaining, as "Iron Man 2" surely is. My lingering fear is that they'll lose the ambition to transcend.

View this sequel as a careless diversion, and you'll enjoy it, but try to refrain from focusing on what it could have been. Maybe trying to forget the new testament for superhero films, Christopher Nolan's masterful "The Dark Knight", ever existed - at least for the brief time being - might help you a little in that regard. "Iron Man 2" isn't a bad superhero movie, it fits the bill. But its flaws and shortcomings only trigger a Pavlovian response in anticipation for Nolan's next Batman installment. In the meantime, this will do just fine.

★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5)


Cast & Credits

Tony Stark: Robert Downey, Jr.
Pepper Potts: Gwyneth Paltrow
Lt. Col. "Rhodey" Rhodes: Don Cheadle
Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanoff: Scarlett Johansson
Justin Hammer: Sam Rockwell
Ivan Vanko: Mickey Rourke
Nick Fury: Samuel L. Jackson
Agent Coulson: Clark Gregg
Howard Stark: John Slattery
Senator Stern: Garry Shandling

Paramount presents a film directed by Jon Favreau. Screenplay by Justin Theroux, based on the Marvel comic by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, & Jack Kirby. Running Time: 124 minutes. Rated PG-13 (For intense sci-fi action and violence, and some language).