Iron Man 2
Favs knows how to make a damn good movie. If “Iron Man 2” doesn’t convince you of that, go back and look at Jon Favreau’s “Made,” “Elf,” “Swingers” (which he wrote), and of course, the first “Iron Man.”
Look, I’m not gonna pretend that it’s as good as his first marvel for Marvel Studios- it’s a step below the superior superhero sequels like “X2,” “Spider-Man 2,” and “The Dark Knight”- but anyone who tells you it isn’t entertaining is, well, something I’d rather not say. Yes, it’s darker. Yes, it’s bigger. But it’s also high on the “Holy S*#! this is fun” meter. That doesn’t always happen.
Of course, it helps when you have Robert Downey Jr. back as Tony Stark, the weapons genius who doesn’t need to be a superhero to have a super-sized ego, something that just comes naturally to him. Unfortunately, trouble is a-brewing. The government wants him to give up the suit. Rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) is gunning for his place at the top. And Ivan Vanco (Mickey Rourke), the son of one of his father’s collaborators on the Arc Reactor, is looking to exact revenge for past sins.
The Arc Reactor, if you’ll recall, is the energy source keeping Stark alive after his run-in with a terrorist group in the first film, albeit in smaller form that the original. Unfortunately, the biggest obstacle in Tony’s way is that the reactor is poisoning his blood, and slowly killing him. Does it go without saying that this is the type of news that makes someone of Stark’s personality do stupid things?
In a way, Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux (“Tropic Thunder”) have fashioned a better story than was told in the first “Iron Man”- it’s more personal a journey than your usual superhero movie. This is tricky to do on a film this epic in scope (just ask Sam Raimi, who tried something similar with the much-maligned “Spider-Man 3”), and Favreau trips up and short-shrifts storylines in the process. Gwyneth Paltrow still scores as Stark’s sassy assistant Pepper Potts, but is left in the dark about her boss’ condition (leaving her sometimes too much on sidelines), and Don Cheadle does a great job replacing Terrence Howard as “Rhodey,” who dons the suit to stand up to his friend Tony when he gets too out of control, but some of his actions seem out of character.
The new additions to the cast help bring it home though, starting with Rockwell’s sly and superb mirroring of Downey’s Stark as the less-genius Hammer. Rourke brings that element of tough-guy ambiguity to Vanco that worked similarly in “Sin City,” only is more sinister for Vanco and his alter-ego Whiplash, especially after he takes down Stark in a race in Monaco. And Scarlett Johansson is all smarts and sex appeal as a mysterious new assistant to Tony who turns out to be Black Widow, an operative working for S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, cool and collected even when he’s a bad-ass) to keep an eye on Tony.
But in the end, it comes down to Downey, and his Stark has us every step of the way. His end fight, with Rhodey by his side as War Machine, is worth the price of admission alone, and one of the best such fights in any movie of this kind (on par with “The Incredible Hulk’s” standard-bearer). Of course, as we’re reminded of at the end, it’s really all prologue to Marvel’s mega-movie “The Avengers” in 2012 (with Favreau as executive producer, and hopefully, “Buffy” mastermind Joss Whedon in the director’s chair), but until then, I hope we get to see more of Downey’s Stark, as he struggles with his own faults, and gears up for those words fanboys can’t wait to hear on the big-screen…Avengers assemble.
