Hollywood and fans alike love a successful comic book franchise. There are many comic book movies, but rarely do all amount to a successful franchise, or at very least, get a good follow-up movie. There are numerous examples of these kinds of films that have accomplished this, with Superman II, Batman Returns, X2, Spiderman II, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight, all of which maintained the quality of their previous movie and in many ways improve and expand (less can be said about The Fantastic Four II, however it did improve on an already horrible first film). So, with the release of sequel to 2008’s Iron Man, does Iron Man II live up to the great followups of the past? The answer is YES!
Jon Favreau’s original film was a surprise hit in 2008, coming out of nowhere to take box office by storm (*cough* behind The Dark Knight *cough*). With an all star cast headed by a career reguvernated Robert Downey Jr as the title character Tony Stark/Iron Man, the film was action packed, well written, acted and was just all out fun. Fast forward to 2010, the stakes are higher in almost every aspect to match the original movie’s success. This time, legions of fans awaited for the sequel to arrive and therefore, with the help of an inflated budget, Jon Favreau had to maintain quality, give the audience a more expansive, explosive, and satisfying experience, as all good sequels should do, and here he delivers exactly that.
The film picks up six months after the events of the original film, the world knows that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is Iron Man and is enjoying his fame and fortune, as well as keeping the world safe singlehandedly. This joy is also fleeting, with discovery his chest piece is slowly poisoning and killing him. To make matters worse, the government constantly hassles him to hand over his suit, his corporate rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) becomes a threat as he attempts to outdo Stark Industries with the help of Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who is primarily driven by vengence against the Stark family because of his father, a former business partner of Stark’s father who was exiled to live in poverty in Russia, therefore constucts his own weapon suit to become Whiplash.
This is not all the plot, but as you can see, there is alot happening, and with a great increase in scope and characters, with the addition of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson) and the return of love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Lt. Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), there is alot of ground to cover and characters to flesh effectively. Justin Theroux (star of American Psycho and Mulholland Dr. and writer of Tropic Thunder) handles the whole canvas well, managing to script a well paced, ever-entertaining screenplay, that could very well fallen under the woes of Spiderman 3, too many characters and story for its own good. Here Theroux manages to just avoid this, and with Favreau directing again, he makes sure to make the film an awesome ride rather than an awesome mess.
Robert Downey Jr shines yet again at Tony Stark. So much, that it wouldn’t be a bold statement to say that his casting as Stark is as perfect as Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or (dare i even compare) Christopher Reeve as Superman. He maintains the charm and humour from the first film, he IS Iron Man. His wit and charm knows no bount, from addressing Garry Shandling’s senator as “dear”, ooging Scarlett Johansson in front of Pepper as well attempting to stop an spinning desk decoration obstructing the viewer’s view. He is not all joker though, he handles the dramatics well, putting his soul into what is now synonymous with him. Credit to Favreau and Theroux for letting Downey Jr have significant screentime and not to be totally lost within his iron creation, and also at the same time not loose sight of the fact the film is named after the suit and not Tony Stark.
Gwyneth Paltrow shines again as Pepper Potts, bouncing amazing chemestry off Downey Jr, playing an excellent straight counterweight to Stark’s larger than life personality. She is the kind of girl you want at your side, or in terms of the movie, run your entire corperation. She is a dream to look at, with a sharp intellect and charming dignity.
Don Cheadle fills the empty shoes of Lt. Colonel James Rhodes left behind by Terence Howard from the first movie, and makes the role his own. His first line perfectly sums up what our attitudes should be upon first seeing him in the role - “I’m here, deal with it, let’s move on” - and so from this point on Rhodey is his, and he fills the role with great straight-edgeness and also humour, especially his interactions with a drunk Iron Man, becoming War Machine. He makes for a perfect third wheel to Stark and Potts.
Mickey Rourke, with a reguvinated career thanks to his Oscar nominated performance in The Wrestler, plays the film main antagonist Ivan Vanko quite effectively on the most part. Rourke immerses himself in Vanko and his Russianness, covering himself with tattoos, golden teeth, strange hair, the man is an imposing precence and for that along warrents positive points. He holds his accent well too, and while we may not understand most of what he is saying, it becomes part of the charm of the character. You can see in his eyes, especially in the thrilling Monaco sequence, a villian with true intent and reason, pure vengence. It is a shame that he is very much pushed into a background and behind a monitor in the latter end, therefore doesnt allow Vanko to fully flourish. But awesome nonetheless.
Sam Rockwell is a perfect contrasting force on two accounts as Justin Hammer, being a mirror image of Stark and an oppose type of criminal to Vanko. Rockwell is a heavily underrated actor, and here shows yet again how entertaining an actor he truly is. He’s funny, arrogant, and also both great criminal mind and a poor one. His performance is brings back memories of Gene Hackman’s protrayal of Lex Luthor in the Superman movies, a villian who enjoyed what he did, enjoyed creating schemes, enjoyed being number 1 and enjoyed a good laugh, a classic villian on all accounts. The way he converses with Vanko brings back fond memories of Hackman’s Luthor trying to commicate and work with Terence Stamp’s villianous Kryptonian General Zod. Just awesome.
Scarlett Johansson is also a good dash in the Iron recipe in Natalie Rushman, making for great eye candy and psychical agility. Her character could well have been done without, yet here adds a nice element to the scheme of things. Samuel L. Jackson appears again as Nick Fury, merely as a plot device to help rear the Marvel movies in the direction of the eventual Avengers movie. He has his fun as Fury, he’s a badass mo-fo with an eyepatch, what more could one want from him?
Jon Favreau, along with extending his role as the bodyguard Happy Hogan, who is good value, shows that he is a great blockbuster director, showing great comfortability in quality Hollywood Blockbusters. His direction continues to seperate Iron Man from the average comic book movie of today, by way of the traditional superhero film. He avoids going too far into darkness, as so many comic book movies have tread, so much it is a relief to see some old fashion lighter fun.
In terms of sequels, Iron Man II lives up to its original in every way it needed to be. One cannot say which is the superior film, and therefore believes that this is a great position for the series to be in. It effectively continues the story, contains some great sequences, from the funny in the inquiry scenes to the intense thrills of the Monaco race track the explosive finale, in the end should leave audiences satisfied and excited and intrigued to what will come next in Iron Man III and The Avengers.
4/5
