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Iron Man 2 picks up six months after Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) revealed to the world that he is Iron Man. He claims to have “privatised world peace” (his words, not mine), however the US government feel that his technology would be better off in the hands of the military.
Downey Jr. steals the show once again as the charming Tony Stark. He and Gwyneth Paltrow have got fantastic onscreen chemistry that make their scenes together a delight to watch. The villain of the piece is Ivan Vanko (a.k.a. Whiplash), played by Mickey Rourke. Rourke gives an admirable performance despite the fact his poorly written character is rather one-dimensional. Vanko allies with Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), one of Stark’s competitors in the business world. Oh, and director Jon Favreau gets an extended cameo (as Happy Hogan) - complete with his own fight scene!
As you can probably tell, there are a lot of new faces in this film. Thankfully, the addition of new characters is actually handled rather well. It doesn’t feel like overkill or too forced, which were the issues Spiderman 3 faced with its influx of new roles. Don Cheadle takes over from Terrence Howard as James Rhodes, and I loved how his first line broke the fourth wall: "Look, it’s me, I'm here, deal with it. Let’s move on."
I guess you’ll be wondering what the action is like? There’s some very cool special effects and some great fight scenes. It’s refreshing to see an action film that isn’t relying on 3D for its spectacle. All of the CGI bits are really well done - who knew that making a briefcase turn into an Iron Man suit could look so amazing? And the final few fight sequences are really quality stuff, where the underused Scarlett Johansson finally gets her chance to shine with an awesome martial arts display.
At the end of the day this is unashamedly a comic-book adaptation. And as would be expected, there are some ridiculous aspects to the plot. Stark creates a new element within an unrealistically short space of time; Vanko manages to build an iron man suit from just a couple of blueprints and apparently a Bentley can dodge F1 cars while they’re racing! Do these things really matter? No. Not to me anyway.
Evidently a lot of effort has been put into getting ready for the upcoming Avengers film. Samuel L Jackson’s second appearance as S.H.I.E.L.D agent Nick Fury (last year, he signed a deal to be in nine further films) comes amongst a lot of obvious set up for The Avengers. Along with Scarlett Johansson’s character Black Widow, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to Captain America, and a much more obvious nod towards Thor (if you stay ‘til after the credits).
All in all, Iron Man 2 is a very well put-together sequel. It doesn’t outclass its predecessor but it certainly doesn’t harm it. It doesn’t take itself too seriously; it’s got its humorous moments, its spectacular combat sequences and some top notch acting to go with it all. So, if you like a good superhero action film, you shouldn’t be disappointed.
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