Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has now announced to the world that he is Iron man and will continue to protect the US and strive for world peace, however he is under pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share his technology with the military. He is unwilling to let go of his invention. Stark also faces various other issues in his life and on top of that over in Russia, a slightly unhinged man named Ivan (Rourke) is out to kill him. Stark, along with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) must work together to confront and beat the enemies.
Returning from the original Iron Man are Stark’s trusted assistant Pepper Potts and army liaison “Rhodey” Rhodes (Now played by Don Cheadle not Terrence Howard as in the original Iron Man). There are also a host of new characters to get your head around to, the main ones being Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke).
I was a big fan of the first of the Iron man films, it was a bit of a surprise package, slightly different from other ‘super hero’ type films, I also really like Robert Downey Jr. I though he was brilliant as the arrogant, sometimes obnoxious but somehow still very likable Tony Stark, the very dry humor throughout the film was well delivered and the story was both interesting and involving, but that was the first film what about the second, would the inclusion of the new characters help ….
In a word No, not really. Sequels are always very hard, they are always going to be compared to the original so I have a feeling the strong cast of big stars was brought in to try and give it a sporting chance. Overall it’s not a bad film, there are some good action scenes, Downey is again brilliant as Tony Stark and new cast members all stack up well. I was left well entertained after the roughly 2 hour run time and I think if you liked the first one you will enjoy this one, probably not as much, but you should enjoy it.
My problem with this sequel is I was left the with the feeling that there was so much time and plot given to trying to weave these new characters in that you didn’t really get enough time to spend actually looking at Tony Stark, although we followed him for most of the film I just didn’t feel as involved. I can’t really explain why because all the pieces were there, I just think they have been forced together a little.
A good effort overall which has some great moments but as a whole doesn’t quite stack up to the original and feels a little disjointed (not the right word but you’ll know what I mean when you see it!).
7
Ste 4.06.2010
Yip, pretty much agree with you there on all counts. We went to see it the other day and yes it was entertaining, nice action sequences and I liked the inclusion of Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke. I did find that RDJ did grate on me a bit this time though, mainly because it felt like he could happily adlib away quite easily (if it was adblibbed?), but others like Gwyneth Paltrow seemed to struggle with it. I got the feeling that she was acting from a script, and he was just being RDJ, if that makes sense. Overall though a good film. It actually makes me want to watch the first one again, mainly just for the origin of Iron Man bit. I’ll queue it up in Love Film I think