Okay I know this review is late. Uni assignments and acting has been really crazy these few days so, whaddya gonna do right? So anyway, this movie kicked asssssss!
Okay so this is the sequel to Iron Man but now..... we got two of em! It's about Tony Stark who has become a global icon after revealing himself as Iron man and is just basking in fame and glory and shit. We get two villains in this, one being Ivan Vanko played by Mickey Rourke who feels that his family has been wronged by Stark family and seeks revenge by going after Tony with his Whiplash suit. And then we have Tony Stark's business rival, Justin Hammer played by Sam Rockwell who's just kinda pissed off that Tony's getting all the limelight and joins forces with Whiplash to create better versions of Tony's Iron Man.
I'm going to critique this movie mostly in it's 3 acts. The first 45 minutes of this film is awesome. It goes back to every inch the witty comic Robert Downey Jr. performance we loved in the first movie. We get a whole lot more development on Tony Stark and James Rhodes character. Btw, why the hell did they replace Terrence Howard for Don Cheadle? Not that don't like Don Cheadle, it's just that I like Terrence Howard better. But anyway, Iron Man 2 starts off great with a hell load of fun and great introduction to Whiplash's character.
It's only at the second act of this film where my ratings begin to dip low. We go into this whole thing about Tony Stark slowly being killed by palladium poisoning from the Iron Man suit, Tony's inner battle with himself and the whole thing about Nick Fury and SHIELD. I'll get more into that later.
In the second act, the film tries to focus more on Tony Stark as a character and less on the superhero, bringing out his alcoholism and unresolved issues with his dad, which I get is in the comics but is really poorly done here. It drags out these story elements way too long and it almost became boring after awhile. And while I do understand that all this is vital to character development, I really didn't like this side of Iron Man trying to take itself way to seriously because it just isn't that kind of movie.
Scarlett Johansson, honey.. as much as I think you are smoking hot and beautiful and stuff, you really weren't needed in this movie. I bet with you 100% that at some point during the filming of this movie, Scarlett Johansson thought to herself, "Would anyone really miss me if I weren't here?" Because she was only in this for that ass shot of her in the diner scene and to add an Avengers character in the film. That's all.
And while I also get that Nick Fury and SHIELD being in this movie to tie in the film more and add more buildup for The Avengers in 2011, it really wasn't necessary in terms of Iron Man 2's story alone. To be honest, it kinda hurt the film's momentum cause Iron Man 2 has a lot of multiple storylines already going on. Adding Nick Fury and The Avengers in was just a little too much. And I really didn't like it that they were kinda hitting me over the head with Avenger promotions. I get it! The AVengers are happening! Stop telling me it already!
They could have taken out all these elements and free up some time to develop the one character I really thought got thrown under the bus here and that was Whiplash. Mickey Rourke was absolutely amazing in this film but he was only in it for like 15 minutes. And lack of development on his character made the climatic battle between him, Iron Man and War Machine less interesting because the audience aren't in anyway intimidated nor attached to his character.
I was getting worried for this movie because the second act was so slow. I was literally dropping my ratings by the second. Until all of a sudden, Jon Favreau goes, "Oh yeah! This is a fuckin Iron Man movie." And the whole film switches back into 5th gear. The last 30 minutes of this movie ROCKS! 5 words. Lots.Of.Things.Go.BOOM!
So while Iron Man 2 isn't as good as the first one. It's still a pretty enjoyable film. And to be honest, I'm really really really getting excited for The Avengers. The after credits scene had me in a geekgasm.
