Iron Man 2

Anyone worth their salt when it comes to comic books and the films inspired by them will tell you that Iron Man was one of the great runaway successes of the genre. Whilst no less iconic in design or conception, the character of Iron Man isn't weighted down by the continuity or expectations that accompanies other more well-known superheroes such as Superman, Batman or Spiderman. With a perfect opportunity to tell a story very much in tune with our modern times, director Jon Favreau and lead star (and writing collaborator) Robert Downey Jr told a genuinely exciting and un-cartoonish superhero origin story without resorting to angst or cliched grittiness. Iron Man 2 seeks to continue this trend whilst building up the mythos with the introduction of several more significant characters... the end result is an entertaining superhero film that remains faithful to the traditional elements of the genre but falls short of the intelligence that made the first film so great.

We open on Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), the prison-baked son of a disgraced Russian physicist. Vanko watches his father die and swears revenge on Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) for the wrongs the Stark corporation visited upon his family. Meanwhile, Stark is loving the spotlight as an out-of-the-closet superhero, but finds himself struggling to retain his intellectual property (the Iron Man suit) when both the government (represented by Senator Stern, played by Gary Shandling) and his competitor (Justin Hammer - played by Sam Rockwell) come calling. Stark's main defence is his assertion that the rest of the world is a decade or two away from having the same technology as him (quote, "I've successfully privatised world peace"), but when Vanko makes a violent appearance in Monaco brandishing similar technology things start going a little less well for our hero, and it also doesn't help that Stark's own power source is starting to kill him.

There's a lot going on in this film on a superficial level - we have the introduction of the supervillain Vanko, the government and military wanting to co-opt the Iron Man technology, Sam Rockwell oiling up the screen as Justin Hammer, Tony Stark's ongoing problems with being a team player and his private struggles with mortality, the development of the character of Rhodey (Don Cheadle) into the sidekick/rival War Machine, the subplot involving Stark's love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), the introduction of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and the continuing development of the Avengers storyline that is currently running through just about every Marvel film (represented in the film by Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson). It's a lot to juggle, and I gotta say that Jon Favreau does a stellar job in keeping the film relatively balanced and un-messy, but at the same time it's just too much. Not enough time is spent focusing on the aspects that would serve the film the best... Johanssen's presence is unnecessary and she doesn't seem at ease with her role at all, and the attempt to integrate the Avengers stuff into the storyline left the film feeling a bit more like a stepping stone rather than the event-blockbuster it should've been.

Iron Man 2 starts off well enough, Vanko (a shrewd combination of two seperate villains from the Iron Man comics) is a great concept for a villain, and Rourke puts a lot of restraint and subtlety into the character. It's just a shame that not nearly enough time in the film is spent focusing on him (the final battle between Vanko, Iron Man and War Machine isn't nearly long enough... instead we get about twenty minutes of dramatically-bereft drones flying around). Also, Stark starts out the film as a spotlight-mad superstar whose hubris is just begging for him to be brought down... thematically-speaking this could've dovetailed quite nicely with Vanko, someone who felt that they're entire family had been victimised by Stark, but it's a missed opportunity. Rockwell is also quite good as Justin Hammer, he's like a morally bankrupt Stark-wannabe, but the similarities between Hammer and Stark aren't really explored enough. Instead the film gets waylaid by Marvel's plans for the film version of The Avengers.

It also doesn't help that the central driving force for Downey's characterisation becomes all this stuff about his power source slowly killing him... it's a nice idea, but hardly fertile ground for interesting and thought-provoking character dynamics. The first Iron Man film brilliantly brought it's superhero into a post-9/11 landscape and managed to do it in a way that didn't politicise the film too heavily in favour of America's somewhat dodgy foreign policy, and it also took it's key plot mechanics (Stark's betrayal at the hands of his mentor Obadiah) from the thematically-rich territory of corporate dealbreaking and backstabbing. It's frustrating because in Iron Man 2 you can see a genuine extension of these strands fighting to get out from underneath all the franchise tie-in junk that Marvel has insisted on shoehorning into the film. We might've had a sequel that looked at the idea of Stark as a privatised vigilante who refuses to sell out to the American government while battling a very real threat in the form of Vanko - a man who not only threatens Stark's life but also his reputation. There's even still room in there for Justin Hammer as a trickster figure waiting to assume to Stark's place as a faux-heroic industrialist.

Don't get me wrong, it's still an entertaining film with lots of spectacle and fun dialogue. Fanboys will probably like it because of the Avengers stuff, but I prefer a really strong stand-alone film any day of the week. I would've liked to see Favreau and Downey continue what they started in Iron Man, but I guess we've at least got them to thank in regards to this film managing to be entertaining at all in light of the ridiculous amount of subplots and characters. Also, what's with Gary Shandling's weird bubblegum lips?

TRIVIA: Stan Lee cameos as Larry King.

Rhodey was originally played by Terrence Howard in the first Iron Man film but he had a falling out with Marvel productions and was replaced by Don Cheadle.

DIRECTOR: Jon Favreau
WRITER/SOURCE: Justin Theroux, based on the Iron Man comics (in particular the series Demon in a Bottle).
KEY ACTORS: Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johanssen, Sam Rockwell, Gary Shandling, Samuel L. Jackson, Jon Favreau, Paul Bettany, Clark Gregg.

RELATED TEXTS
- The Iron Man comics.
- Obviously, this is also a sequel to the film Iron Man.
- It also serves as a prequel for The Avengers, and has links with The Incredible Hulk, Thor and Captain America.