Student review of Iron Man 2

Iron Man, released in May of 2008, was a wonderful film full of unique action sequences, nerdy technology fanservice, witty, biting humor and a cast of characters with personality rarely seen in any action flick. Nonetheless, it was a summer blockbuster. It quickly made it to the top of my list, so I naively did not bother questioning my choice to see the midnight premiere of Iron Man 2, released last Friday.

The story does not seem to know when to be there and when to sidetrack for humor or a geek-out. As a basic superhero bad-guy revenge plot, it falters with all of the other goals of the movie.

Although the first one was able to weave a flowing story-line that was always relevant, the second one struggles. There is quite a bit  of jumping back and forth between the good guys and the bad guys, causing the character interaction to be more like 5-minute skits than a cohesive story.

The interaction between the characters suffered as the characters suffered. Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts is quickly shifted into the insignificant shadows while Scarlett Johansson’s character takes center-stage as the lust interest. This new female does little to add to the movie, being attractive when called upon and turning into a femme fatale on command.

She, along with Samuel L. Jackson, make their little side-plot a sad scratch into the story. The change in Rhodes (from Terrence Howard to Don Cheadle) is jarring, and convinces the audience that there was never a friendship with Stark at all. The business rival is abysmal and incompetent as any professional in general.

The protagonist, Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., fails miserably as a character. The greatest part of the first movie was watching the billionaire play-boy recognize the error of his ways and transform into the awesome superhero role model that we all look up to.

The second movie pretends like none of that ever happened. Sure he’s got a personal problem he has to “deal with,” but the selflessness that he worked so hard to gain in the first movie is thrown down the tube and Stark continues on a path that must only have been caused by massive amnesia.

The most dimensional character is the Russian antagonist Ivan Vanko (convincingly played by Mickey Roarke) with a grudge. The demeanor of the character is a tad “cardboard cut-out,” but nothing compared to the rest of the cast.

His genius is portrayed well, more of the normal misunderstood recluse than a popular party animal. You can tell that his motive is more about the mental challenge of the whole debacle than the given reason. All in all, he is well done and his only flaw is not his fault.
Basically, Iron Man needs more villains. More specifically, more villains that are not Iron Man suits gone bad. It was done in the first movie, and it was done better.

The effects of the movie are well done for the most part, (disregarding an abnormally horrible explosion scene I was surprised to see) taking full advantage of what worked well for the first movie. Stark’s big scene in the basement is a wonderful set-up that gives the same feeling as the first movie with a literal light of hope.

The gadgetry is cooler in the sequel, taking the futuristic designs and running with them. The suit made surprisingly few appearances in the movie, and we only see him suit and de-suit once, which is missed. The flying scenes were a little less intense, which is difficult to do given the chase scenes and the fighting can get a little muddled at times. The effects are done well, but do not get to a shining point the way the original did.

Recap: Story-okay. Same-old same-old but that is a part of the superhero genre.

Characters-poor. I felt like I did not know them despite loving them the first time around. First-time characters were a hit or miss. Effects-good. Nothing wonderful, but it is difficult to be a unique action film.

All-in-all: If you want to see an action movie, this one has a lot of money behind it, so go ahead and catch a matinee.

If you want to see more Iron Man, pop in the DVD of the first one and will definitely be better.