Iron Man 2 Movie Review
You know the summer movie season has hit when you want to use words like “BOOM“, “BLAST” or “BANG” when talking about the latest release. Robert Downey jr. blasts (see, there it is) onto screens this weekend in the follow up to his 2008 smash hit with Iron Man 2.
The action picks up six months after the end of the original film and finds Downey’s Tony Stark enjoying a wave of unbridled success after his admission to the world that he is the armored enigma, Iron Man. Unlike say Superman, Batman or Spider-Man, this superhero has no secret identity and in fact revels in the celebrity that being a super-powered being brings. While he gallivants around the globe attending party’s and social events, an unknown nemesis that has old family ties to his own plots against him in northern Russia.
There’s your plot synopsis. If you want any more go and look up the spoilers on any number of the millions of other geek sites out there. I won’t ruin it for you here.
The supporting cast is rife with big-name talent, but not everyone carries their share of the acting weight. Mickey Rourke does little more than act menacing with a gold grill and bad Russian accent and Sam Rockwell hams it up as a dime-store rival of our hero. Don Cheadle does an admirable job stepping into Terrance Howard’s shoes as Rhodey, but his role is very small (even after he dons an “Iron Man” suit of his own). Both Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johannsen aren’t given much screen time, but Gary Shandling and Samuel L. Jackson have expanded cameos that steal every scene they are in.
I liked this movie, I did. I just wish it had more to do than offer more “guys in robot suit fighting” like the first one. If I’m honest, this film really feels more like “Iron Man 1 1/2″ than a true sequel. Just about everything in Iron Man 2′s over two hour run time is dedicated to setting something up for another movie franchise down the line. While the comic nerd in me salivated at the sight of a certain recognizable circular shield, the film critic in me frowned at such blatant pandering to the “glasses” crowd.
Iron Man 2 is an entertaining enough film and is good dumb fun. It is saved mostly by Robert Downey jr’s mastery of this role he was born to play and some fairly cool action sequences (not to mention a rockin’ AC/DC soundtrack). Don’t go into it expecting another “The Dark Knight”, but it’s certainly good enough for a summer afternoon at the local theater.
Jason’s Rating: 3 out of 5 (average)
Tags
iron man 2, iron man movie, robert downey jr.Related posts
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
