Iron Man 2
Review
by Anthony Morris
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Iron Man 2
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A good sequel delivers more of the same, only bigger and better. By those standards, Iron Man 2 is a very good sequel indeed.
Everything good from the first Iron Man
film is back, everything dodgy has been improved, and if all this means
that sometimes the plot doesn't so much take a back seat as fall out of
the car entirely, well, who's watching this for the plot anyway?
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is the king of the world inside his Iron Man suit....
Or
he would be, if its power source wasn't killing him. And his erratic
behaviour wasn't starting to worry his friends. And a business rival
(Sam Rockwell) wasn't nipping at his heels. And the US government
wasn't pressuring him to hand over the Iron Man suit. And a mysterious
Russian physicist / thug (Mickey Rourke) wasn't building a weapon to
take down Iron Man in front of the world.
And... well, you get the idea.
The
first third of the film powers along, quickly re‑introducing us to the
cast - and to the idea that it's possible to make hi‑tech battle suits
by dressing up like a blacksmith and pounding hot steel on an anvil.
The
middle gets a little messy as about seven different plots are juggled,
but thankfully director Jon Favreau (who also plays Stark's driver
Happy Hammond) keeps the tone light and the drama just the right side
of silly. This ends up getting everything right, from Scarlett
Johansson as a sexy super‑spy to Rockwell's cheesy antics (why does the
US military buy all its gear from nutcases?) to a final battle that
delivers a real punch without outstaying its welcome.
The
slightly muddled story does mean that a few character notes you'd
expect to be hit hard are largely glossed over; Stark's arrogance at
the start of the film drives the story, but most of the character
development that follows takes place in moments where your attention is
elsewhere.
But it's there if you're watching for it.
If you're not... well, there's a lot to enjoy here whatever you're looking at.
4
out
of 5
Iron Man 2
Australian release: 29th April,
2010
Official
Site: Iron Man 2
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell
Director: Jon Favreau
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