IRON MAN 2 (Mild Spoilers)

Dir. Jon Favreau USA 2010

"I...have successfully privatized world peace."

The build-up to this film has been like a weird flashback to 2008. Summer movie season about to start, kicked off by an Iron Man movie. I was excited then, and I was excited two weeks ago. When the first film came out two years ago, it took everyone by surprise. Most people who weren't comic book nerds were more familiar with Iron Man the song than Iron Man the superhero. But with a combination of awesome casting, killer action and effects, and a general sense of fun that was slowly draining out of superhero films, Iron Man managed to make some serious bank and (re)launch Robert Downey Jr. back into the realm of superstardom where he so belongs. I was a little worried when the reviews for this film came back mixed, but ultimately, my fears were unfounded.

One of the common criticisms I heard about this film was that it didn't have enough plot, which I can understand, but didn't find to be much of a problem. The film basically covers a few weeks in the life of Tony Stark during which everything turns to shit in a hurry. He must deal with a) the fact that the arc reactor in his chest keeping his heart going is slowly poisoning him, b) the government trying to get its hands on the Iron Man armor and c) a vengeful Russian inventor (Mickey Rourke) with a grudge against Stark wielding his own suit of armor. These are just the three major plotlines; you also have Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) trying to recruit Stark for the Avengers, Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, the Steve Jobs to Stark's Bill Gates, as well as Stark's relationships with his best friend (Don Cheadle as Jim Rhodes) and his girl Friday (Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts). The movie transitions pretty effectively between all these plot lines and they all come together nicely in the final scenes. The movie also maintains a pretty breezy pace, helped in part by the constant movement between story lines.

Marvel has had a weirdly consistant track record when it comes to their trilogies. The first film is always decent and provides the setup, the second film knocks it out of the park, and then they completely drop the ball with the third. Blade, Spider-man and X-Men all follow this model pretty closely (Fantastic Four is the exception; those just sucked). Given that the first Iron Man film was damn near flawless, it's understandable that the huge expectations for this one were going to be tough to meet. The somewhat lukewarm reaction it received is, I think, more a product of those expectations rather than any flaws on the part of the film itself. In fact, this film manages to dodge many of the problems that often plague superhero sequels. Perhaps the most obvious is the inclusion of multiple villains, the downfall of many a comic book franchise. The film introduces the aforementioned Ivan Vanko (an effective blend of the Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash characters from the comic, although he is never referred to by either name in the movie) and Justin Hammer, who act as skewed mirrors of Tony at opposite ends of the spectrum. Whiplash represents Tony's ruthless efficiency and his desire to win at any cost. Hammer is Tony's playboy persona taken to a hilarious, somewhat pathetic extreme. Although the banter between Tony and Pepper was just as amusing as it was in the first film, the scenes between Tony and Hammer were definitely the highlights of this one. The plot not only gives both villains good reason to exist within the same story, but it allows them to work together in a way that does not seem forced or silly.

Superhero sequels are also expected to up the ante as far as action and effects as well. The action sequences in the film had a nice bit of variety to them; the racetrack scene features Tony fighting sans armor, the Rhodey/drunk Tony fight balances character development with things getting smashed and the big finale delivers aerial and ground combat, all of which is rendered and shot with the sense of energy and fun that I remembered from the first film. Surprisingly, the action scene I found the most enjoyable featured no super-powered armor, but just Scarlett Johansson kicking ass. I read somewhere that she trained for months to physically prepare herself for this part. She only has one fight scene, but goddamn, is it a doozy. Incidentally, I was concerned when Scarlett Johansson (one of the hottest women I've ever seen, but who I can take or leave as far as acting ability) was cast in the role and was not featured speaking in any of the trailers. Black Widow (although her character is not referred to by this name in the film) is Russian in the comics and I was worried that Johansson had butchered the accent and they didn't want anyone finding out until their ass was in the theatre seat. Thankfully, the character was adapted to be more in line with her Ultimate persona, so no worries there.

I'm surprised at how little I have to say about this film (especially given how long it took me to pound out this review), but I think it stems from the fact that this movie was just what I wanted it to be, no more, no less. I continue to have high hopes for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (yes, that's apparently what we're calling it), with Thor being the next big hurdle toward the Avengers film.

P.S. Stick around after the credits. Bad. Ass.