The first Iron Man sits easily alongside the Dark Knight and X-Men 2 as one of the freshest and most enjoyable comic book movie adaptations to date. Heralding the revival of the brilliant Robert Downey Jr, as well as a superb supporting cast, and some inspired action sequences, Iron Man became an instant hit, leaving the sequel with the unenviable challenge of equalling or bettering its performance.
Just to add pressure, Iron Man 2 is the film which really begins the Marvel master plan of a franchise of superhero movies building to the Avengers film scheduled for 2012. With the Thor and Captain America films already underway, Iron Man 2 begins the process of SHIELD assembling the Avengers unit, with Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson, signing an unprecedented 9 film deal with Marvel) taking an active role in developments, having been introduced in a teaser at the end of the first Iron Man film. This is perhaps the best context within which to view Iron Man 2 – as the beginning of a bigger story. The prospect of at least nine films of inter-connected superhero stories, culminating in a grand superhero mash-up, is certainly tantalising to even the most reluctant geek.
Inevitably, this means that there needs to be a certain amount of scene setting, and some nods and winks to the coming franchise (of which there are plenty here). It also means that Iron Man 2 does lack the pace and flair of its predecessor. Having said this, the opening twenty minutes is a complete pleasure, with some superb performances – in particular, the film’s second come-back kid Mickey Rourke as Russian protagonist Ivan Vanko – and a beautifully worked car crash sequence on the Monacco circuit.
It is, however, the middle section where the script loses it’s pace. Despite the best of work from the cast, there is simply too much talking. This wouldn’t be too bad, other than much of it feels insignificant. While the tone of the film is light and fun, this means that when trying to deal with some of the darker issues such as Stark’s drinking, sickness and isolation, they lack the emotional tug required to keep the momentum. Even the usually brilliant Sam Rockwell, here as Stark’s main business rival who is attempting to build his own army of iron men, begins to get quite irritating.
Once these issues are dealt with, and characters inevitably get back on track, the last stage sizzling with action packed sequences. Don Cheadle takes over the role of Col. James Rhodes from Terrence Howard (who backed out due to “creative differences” – isn’t it always!), and adds more metal to the mix with the introduction of War Machine, essentially doubling the firepower and explosions to full entertaining effect. The only gripe being that the final battle seems to be over before it really begins, a flaw common in numberous Marvel finales.
While not equalling the success and flair of the previous outing, Iron Man 2 does a solid job of setting the stage for a world we are going to become very familiar with over the next few years. It is perhaps inevitably weighed down by it’s responsibility to a franchise and the expectation to give significance to proceedings. Nevertheless, Iron Man 2 manages to avoid the dud-sequel curse and just about manages to keep the attention, largely due to the charisma of an outstanding cast.
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