Iron Man 2 (2010)

Needed some ironing out

With the world now aware of his dual life as the armored superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) faces pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share his technology with the military. Unwilling to let go of his invention, Stark, along with Pepper Potts (Gwyenth Paltrow), and James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, must forge new alliances - and confront powerful enemies.


Nobody expected much from Iron Man, a character who had little presence to the general public, and then after he wowed audiences in 2008 with his debut film, expectations were high for the sequel. Sadly, the film couldn't match expectations.

The script is problematic, with the dialogue feeling too ad-libbed. It doesn't help how Tony retreats into his largely unlikable playboy mode to deal with the fact that he's dying, or that the tone has dropped from regularly jokey like the first film to one that is regularly sarcastic. By the time Nick Fury and SHIELD drop in, the film feels less like another Iron Man story to an overlong commercial for The Avengers.

"C'mon, say the line for me"
"No, I know you speak English"

The thing with this is that it has good ideas for both the plot and the villainous characters, but the execution of it proves to be mediocre. Justin Hammer sounds good on paper, someone who vies to be Tony Stark, but fails when trying with the jokes and with the ladies, but he lacks any threat or menace that a villain should have, while Ivan Vanko remains uninteresting and poorly developed.

The cast all continue to give good work, while Don Cheadle proves to be a better Rhodey than his bland predecessor, sharing some great chemistry with Robert Downey Jr, and new additions Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke do the best with what they're given.

Jon Favreau fails to capture lightning in a bottle twice, as the sarcastic tone, heavy handed Avengers hints and mediocre execution of good ideas hinders the good performances and the thrilling action. And let's not even mention how the titular character's signature Unibeam was wasted on a watermelon.