Iron Man 2
Director: Jon Favreau
Actors: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke

After Tony Stark revealed that he's the man behind the iron mask, the billionaire industrialist took on the job to deliver and maintain world peace. His noble cause unfortunately also works against him. The government demands that he hands over his Iron Man technology. And Stark's competitor Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) uses the Russian engineer Ivan 'Whiplash' Vanko (Mickey Rourke) to work on a powerful upgrade of the Iron Man suit. Hammer's goal is to take over Stark's position, Vanko however, is driven by vengeance.

It's hard, especially for this genre, to make a sequel which is as good as, or even better as the predecessor. Director Jon Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux focused on layering out the main characters. Tony Stark, once again wonderfully performed by Robert Downey Jr., starts an intense, emotional journey, which makes the story quite more interesting. The battles he has to face are perfectly planned, and despite the many supporting roles, the focus stays on Stark. We get to see Don Cheadle, who replaces Terrence Howard, as Rhodey, Samuel L. Jackson is Fury and the delicious Scarlett Johansson kicks ass as the redhead Romanoff. I would love to see them more, but I guess, there wasn't enough time. Luckily, Rockwell and Rourke get enough scenes to play with. Rockwell is fantastic as the sneaky rival, and Rourke…. well, Rourke just rocks as always!

But because they need to focus on Tony Stark's journey, I got the feeling that, at one point, it takes too long before we get to see Iron Man in action. But once he gets into the suit, it's on during the explosive finale, which on the other hand also included a surreal setting during a fight, that bothered me a bit, but that could be personal. Anyway, that said, thanks to the interesting story arc, the fast and sometimes very hilarious dialogs, and of course the superb cast, Iron Man 2 is a great sequel.



Written by Reggy April 28, 2010

© paramount 2010