Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2

Jon Favreau, 2010

Disclaimer : I am in love with Rober Downey Jr.

I'll try to be unbiased.

But I adore Sam Rockewll (they even let him dance! Do yourself a favor and watch "Moon"), and Don Cheadle (voice to melt you, body to make you go grrr...) too. Now if Marvel convinces John Cusack and Adrian Brody to support Edward Norton in the next Hulk movie, I will sell my soul to them.

Not Mickey Rourke though, especially not as a Russian. He does the accent pretty well, but he does not look the part. And his hair --- what? Gwenth Paltrow can be fun and snippy as Pepper Potts, but something about her puts me off. I love looking at Scarlett Johansson, but she can't act her way out of a hat box. Also, she has this weird butt-thrust posture that tries being sexy, but just comes off as off balance. Without them, Iron Man 2 would have been perfect, and humanity doesn't stand for that.

So, equalized, we have a sequel. Longer, more effects, new threats blah blah blah. At times the melodrama threatens to subsume the balance, but usually something light and slapstick pulls it down. Like between Tony being kicked out of his old CEO office and finding the key to the universe, he has to carry a 3D city model home in his roadster. On the cusp of the third act, between the darkest point (symbolized here in a self-perpetuating motion paper-weight thing) and the first step to victory, Tony has humor. He's the hero we need in these Empiric days. Even so, Favreau insinuates just enough pan flute that I almost cried when Tony (Downey Jr.) has his emotional climax three minutes later.

The biggest problem is just the looseness of it. Like almost all sequels, it's just not as tight. I'm trying to finger it, but there aren't scenes I'd cut out. Even the big action scenes aren't too long, really. All the drones landing in the final action scene morphs perfectly into a rhythm that is often lacking in action films not starring Zhang Ziyi. The Friend on Friend scene with Rhody steals a suit is only long because of necessary dialogue.

It's probably the over-explanation of everything. Literally every plot development gets explained at least once blatantly by one or another character. I realize that by using words like “ostensibly” (see below) I am in a bracket above the average viewer of comic book films, but come on people. The screen on that diabetes reader machine said “Blood Toxicity: 19%”. If you can't figure out what is going on here, you need read some more Aesop fables. If you can't see that Natalie Rushman is playing a whole different role than that of simple secretary when she lays out Happy Hogan in the boxing ring, you haven't ever seen an action movie or a detective movie before.

Ostensibly, Tony Stark is being poisoned by his own creation, knows he's dying, gives away his company and gets sloppy with his suit while dealing with a suddenly greedy government. He has a new assistant, Natalie Rushman (Johansson) who turns out to follow up on that tantalizing nugget of awesome after Hulk (yes, Marvel turns out to have contemporary genius over DC: planning and management).

So much so that not only does Hulk have a way open, but Iron Man is set for at least 5 movies in this run with Downey Jr. One would almost think his producer wife may have designed the whole thing herself to keep him occupied.

I don't follow Marvel, but the characters are pretty fun, and seem well enough developed. The relationships, while not complex like a Russian novel, are indeed engaging. Tony doesn't follow up on the hot chicks (various) only to sacrifice the hard won trust and affection he has with Pepper Pots (Paltrow). Natalie Rushman, the obvious sex bomb centerpiece, doesn't seek to seduce anyone. And Samuel L. Jackson puts in a cameo as the mysterious ringleader of the Avengers, Nick Fury. He and Tony actually haggle over what the organization is, what Tony and Iron Man's place in it will be, and act generally, uncliche. I didn't know it was possible.

Oh wait. Stan Lee is one of the writers.

Oh wait. I already mentioned the obvious planning going into all this.

Huh.

Usual editing mishaps and stuff. The usual questionable abilities of various things. But overall, damned enjoyable. Just block out some glaring offenses to your average intelligence.