GRIMSHAW'S ATTIC MEDIA

                IRON MAN 2 REVIEW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I'm honest, out of the first two Iron Man movies, I like Iron Man 2 more. I just find it a much more enjoyable and faster pace story than Iron Man was. That said, I can see what the problems with this film are, so I guess we better get into it.

 

Six months after saying "I am Iron Man", Stark is having to deal with a lot of problems. The US government and  his rival Justin Hammer (Played by Sam Rockwell) wanting his tech. Ivan Vanko, the son of a former friend of his father who blames the Stark family for his family's suffering, has emerged to attack Stark. Oh, and an ego worse than the one that he started with back in Iron Man. Only way more drunk. And just a little bit worried about his impending death.

 

As I said earlier, I think that this is a much more enjoyable film than its predecessor. It has a much stronger script this time around, with a much faster pace and a more interesting story. It builds naturally to a very action-packed finale a hell of a lot better than Iron Man did, giving us some enjoyable action bits here and there while dealing with its title character and how his actions affect his world.

 

And that tight focus is its ultimate strength, since Downey continues to steal the show in his role as Stark. That's not to say the other actor in here aren't any good. Paltrow and Favreau are given more to do this time as their characters Pepper and Happy Hogan and I do like Don Cheadle's Rhodey more than Terrence Howard's, though again, that might be because the character is given more to do here.

 

However, I really enjoyed Mickey Rourke's Ivan Vanko and think he's much superior to Jeff Bridges Stane. The character is clearly a cross between Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash if he spend twenty years in a Russian Gulag to turn himself into a badass scientist. Sure, the character is in every sense absolutely ridiculous, but the character is so cool, odd and at times a little bit creepy that you get yourself invested in the character, whereas Stane was nothing more than your standard evil CEO cliché at the end of the day. Much like Hammer, only with more enjoyably awkward charisma.

 

But yes, I can see the problems with this film. At times, it does just repeat beats from the first Iron Man film (Both contain a climax with a film who suits up in a robotic suit of armour to beat up Iron Man after all). And yes, there is a lot of set up for The Avengers here, with the film heavily featuring Scarlet Johansson's Black Widow, as well as a couple of scenes with Stark dealing with Nick Fury and SHIELD. And while that is a good thing in terms of world building, yes I agree that they aren't given that much to do other than show you the very basics of these characters in this universe. They feel nothing more than characters on loan from other films which works in a comic book, but doesn't necessary hugely work well in a film. They're great to have from a fanboy perspective, but if you think they're appearance. is a bit distracting, then yeah, I can see where your coming from.

 

But overall, if you enjoyed Iron Man, I think you'll enjoy Iron Man 2. It's not a bad sequel by any means, and it actually tries to improve upon the problems of the first film with some strong successes. Problems do start to come in with repeated plot beats and trying to tie the film into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it's still a hell of a lot of fun.