Movie Review

Iron Man 2

DIRECTED BY: Jon Favreau
STARRING: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow,
Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell
CERT: 12A

WELL, the summer blockbuster season has come around again ­and to nobody’s great surprise, it’s packed with sequels, rehashes, TV and video game adaptations and various other signs that original thought cannot survive in warm weather.
(Yes, I know what you’re thinking, but as the rain pelts down and your family huddles together for warmth, try to remember that these movies will also see the light of day in countries where the sun is still seen regularly at this time of year. Many of the natives even have real suntans. Shocking.)
But whatever the weather, you can expect to see some very familiar names in the coming months at a (time machine) cinema near you The Karate Kid, Shrek Forever After, Sex And The City 2, Toy Story 3, The A-Team, Predators, A Nightmare On Elm Street, the latest life-sucking Twilight ordeal and the 6,497th screen version of Robin Hood.
Kicking things off and perhaps setting the tone for things to come is Iron Man 2 a disappointing sequel to an entertaining but overrated film from two years back.
This one kicks off several months after Tony Stark (Downey Jr) publicly announced that he was Iron Man and the world’s most charming arms dealer is now globally famous and universally loved. Well, almost.
The US military is not exactly fond of him. They want to get their paws on his technology and try to force him to hand it over through a Senate hearing.
And then the past catches up with him in the very large shape on Ivan Vanko (Rourke), a mad, multi-tattooed Russian ex-con with vengeance on his mind and an alter ego of his own called Whiplash, who wields a fearsome weapon and has very unpleasant plans for Stark.
He has a fondness for pet birds, too.
To make things a tad worse, Vanko hooks up with sleazy arms dealer Justin Hammer (Rockwell), who’ll do anything to get one over on archrival Stark and snatch a multi-billion military contract for himself.
In the middle of all that, the Iron Man suit is starting to cause problems for its owner, who tries to hide his little health issue from his faithful assistant Pepper Potts (Paltrow). All-in-all, things are looking a bit grim.
On the upside, however, there’s the arrival of new girl Natalie (Johansson), a seductive creature who’s got quite a way with martial arts but who may just be hiding a secret or two.
And then there’s Tony’s good buddy Rhodey (Don Cheadle – taking over the role from Terrence Howard), who’s officially promoted to sidekick and resident wingman. Which is great news all round because by the time Stark’s enemies really start kicking, he’s going to need all the help he can get.
And it’s all good stuff, as far as the action is concerned. There are several fine set pieces, most notably the excellent scene at the Monaco grand prix. The closing battle is impressive too though it’s nothing you haven’t seen in any of the tin can fights from Transformers and really, in a movie of this size, it’s nothing more than you’d expect.
What would have set Iron Man 2 apart from the mega-budget action flick pack is some genuine heart. But director Jon Favreau and screenwriter Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) don’t really deliver. They do serve up some decent characters old and new but they make the same mistake Sam Raimi made in Spiderman 3 and overcrowd the picture.
Lead man Downey is a very likeable actor and he’s found deserved adulation as an A-list blockbuster star. Maybe it’s not possible to play the self-loving, larger-than-life Tony Stark without being so insufferably smug and irritating so much of the time – but I really wish he’d try. And it would be nice to see his on-screen relationship with Paltrow developed more because there is real charm and chemistry there.
A truly memorable villain would go a long way too, but though it’s fun to watch Rourke slicing up all round him and see Rockwell pull off another of his grinning, dancing slimeballs, neither comes across like a bona fide menace to world peace and little children. Like the bald Jeff Bridges in the first film, you just don’t buy them as arch villains to a superhero.
Johansson’s character and the late appearance of Samueel L Jackson as Nick Fury will make sense to Marvel fans and those eagerly awaiting the Thor, Captain America and The Avengers movies will pick up on other scattered references.
Elsewhere, Gary Shandling makes an amusing cameo as a senator and director Favreau pops up for laughs as Stark’s chauffeur Happy.
Unfortunately, the sum of all these parts is not the absorbing, thrilling, memorable film it might have been. For the most part, it’s a standard issue summer action film that’s short on real imagination and is far too often frantic just for the sake of it. Sit through the opening verbal exchanges and see if you don’t want to rip your own ears off.
Not the most promising start to the summer.