Movie Review: Iron Man 2

Don’t see myself writing too much about Iron Man 2.  It was disappointing to say the least. Besides a few standout moments by Mickey Rourke, some great effects/CGI and one potentially awesome Iron Man ‘finish them’ move at the end… I found myself getting more annoyed than wowed by it. Not even Scarlett Johansson’s butt shots could save this movie and that is saying something.

In Pic: Scarlett Johansson

Now Robert Downey Jr. is pure talent, there is no doubt about that… but when the script is as infuriatingly written as it is in Iron Man 2, Downey Jr. comes out of this as a bumbling buffoon.  Whenever Tony Stark kept checking his toxicity levels and would go on a tirade with one of his incomprehensible rants, I kept thinking, is good old Bob back on the sauce again? Given the near death circumstances the character is in, there was absolutely no intensity or struggle in this role. More importantly, the charming sarcasm that Downey Jr exuded for Tony Stark in the first installation for this classic Marvel hero quite clearly disappeared.  Barring a few humorous moments, I couldn’t careless if Tony Stark died or not.

For whatever reason they replaced Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle as Iron Man’s sidekick Rhodey, I guess it worked.  Terrence was a bit flat, Cheadle did this role some justice.  Scarlett made for great eye candy and you gotta love the ‘chemistry’ she had with the movie’s director Jon Favreau. I also like Samuel L. Jackson's cameo in it, it's done tastefully and works for a nice prelude for future Marvel projects.  The biggest pet peeve I had with this movie was Gwyneth Paltrow.  Holy shit was she bad.  Every time she and Robert Downey Jr were on screen, I felt like throwing my entire box of popcorn on her face.  The dialogue, the on screen chemistry, the comedic timing was preposterously bad.  My thoughts were perfectly summed up when I stated on a friend’s facebook status, “Every single time Downey Jr and Paltrow conversed with each other in this movie, I felt like shooting myself in the head.” 

The only saving grace for this movie were the villains.  Sam Rockwell played the sniveling shady Justin Hammer really well… he’s such a great actor.  You must watch Moon directed by David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, if you’re a Sam Rockwell fan.  This was also the first time I was seeing Mickey Rourke since watching The Wrestler, and yes, the man delivered in a big way.  Again, I’m harping on about how crap the script was but he should have had some more face time, some more dialogue and more than anything else, Ivan Vanko/Whiplash deserved to have a much bigger battle scene at the end.  Having said that, his introduction during the Monaco GP scene was good stuff, they needed to capitalize on the tension built from that scene and sadly they just didn’t.  It’ll be nice to see Rourke doing a proper role again, this big budget studio driven super hero movie doesn’t do an actor of his caliber any justice and the irony is he nailed the role of Ivan Vanko.

In Pic: Mickey Rourke

We needed more Whiplash vs Iron Man, less Pepper 'Notts' nagging Tony Stark.  We also needed more of the suit, more of the cool little things it could do.  The crowd in the cinema went beserk when Iron Man pulled off that red beam move to decapitate multiple cyborgs… was that a spoiler? Sorry! But hells yes, more Iron Man suit, less incomprehensible Downey Jr.  Peeps were talking about this movie being bigger than The Dark Knight.  That’s laughable.  Let’s see if Marvel gathers up the balls to make Iron Man big (again) for part 3, and not ruin it like they did with Spiderman.

PSST - If you haven't watched this already, there's a cute little teaser right at the end, once you go through all the credits... fanboys should stick it out.  Ohh, we also got there early and saw the trailer for Ridley Scott's Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, thinking it's going to be epic.

Sorry guys, this was a suckfest. 5/10.  I really do want to say 6, but I don’t see myself watching this movie ever again.  I’ve watched the first part at least three times.

Check out Iron Man 2's details on IMDB: Click here
Check out the official Iron Man 2 website: Click here