[This review may include tiny spoilers]
Coming up with a sequel following a massive success for the first installment for any franchise is never easy. Marvel has had some hit and miss in this regard with Spider-Man 2 being the better of the first two and somewhat failures with Fantastic Four and X-Men sequels. Following last year’s major disappointment with Transformer’s: Revenge of the Fallen, I thought I would have been at least a little apprehensive about Iron Man 2. But fortunately for me, I loved it, even more so than the first movie. And I’ll tell you why.
The one mistake Michael Bay made with the sequel to Transformers was that he gave the audience more than they wanted. We were happy with the amount of CG giant-robot battle scenes in the first one. But in Revenge of the Fallen, it was just overkill. The excessive robot battle scenes were unnecessary and I wish he had focused more on the plot and characters. Something Jon Favreau does very well in Iron Man 2.
In the past couple of days, I’ve been seeing people complain about how Iron Man 2 was not as good as the first one because there were fewer actions scenes and more of what people call ‘talky-scenes’. I completely disagree with them and I think the sequel is the better of the two. I love how in this one, there is more focus on both Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. Robert Downey Jr. gives another outstanding performance, more so than in the first movie. He manages to pull of the charismatic persona without looking too cocky.
Another thing this movie does well is it sets up the S.H.I.E.L.D. story brilliantly. As you probably know, Marvel has this plan for some sort of continuous storyline in every one of their films, also known as the “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. As seen in the trailers, Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) plays a more substantial role in this film which is a bonus. I’m grateful Marvel didn’t hold back too much on the teasers for the upcoming films. I won’t tell you what they are so don’t worry about spoilers. But I will tell you there is a good amount about S.H.I.E.L.D. in the movie.
Another thing I found myself loving was the cameos. Just to list a few, there was Stan Lee (as always), the late Adam ‘DJ AM’ Goldstein, director Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan and not to mention the several superhero hints/teasers/cameos. As for the villain/s, Mickey Rourke is quite convincing from his Russian accent to his evil laugh. However, Sam Rockwell does a great job as the idiotic, rich, bad guy, just like how @techsupremo said.
A couple things I don’t like about the movie: Scarlett Johansson doesn’t ‘act’ enough. She’s capable of good acting. Which is why it’s such a pity she’s being used as a ‘Megan Fox’. Just stand there, look pretty/sexy/hot. OK la, she pulls that off well. I don’t like Don Cheadle as Rhodey, but I like War Machine. I don’t like how Whiplash was defeated so quickly.
All in all, I think Iron Man 2 is a worthy sequel to what is turning out to be an incredible franchise. Now bring on Iron Man 3 and The Avengers!
P.S. Because you read this review all the way to the end, you get to be reminded to stay back AFTER the credits for a little surprise. [HINT] It's got something to do with Marvel's next films, releasing next year.
