“Iron Man 2” Review
Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark carries “Iron Man 2” as Tony tries to overcome personal obstacles including super villains, the government and his own mortality.
After the massive success of “Iron Man” and the so-so response to “The Incredible Hulk,” it seemed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe could blossom into something more than two films. Thus, in 2010, “Iron Man 2” came out and was even more financially lucrative than the first. But its reception among both critics and fans was mixed to positive. All these years later, it’s obvious that “Iron Man 2” is the weakest of the three films centered on Tony Stark but there is still enough good in it to make it a worthwhile experience.
Six months after the first film, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has been using the Iron Man suit to preserve peace while fighting off the advances of the U.S. Government who want the suit to be under their jurisdiction. But this is the least of Tony’s problems as one of the elements (palladium) of the power source that is keeping him alive is slowly poisoning him.
On top of that, an inventor named Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) with a grudge against Stark creates a similar power source that allows him to make a suit with deadly whips. And on top of that, a rival of Tony’s, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), notices Vanko’s work and teams up with him to create suits of armor to take on Iron Man. And also some stuff with the legacy of Tony’s father (John Slattery). Also, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson) are in the film too.
So, based on that dense plot description, it’s easy to see that the biggest problem of “Iron Man 2” is how many plot elements are thrown together. There’s just so many pieces of information to digest and they’re all put together in a passable way. I never found the plot confusing, but there’s just too much going on to allow meaningful development. I didn’t even bring up that Tony’s best friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle) gets a version of the Iron Man suit and becomes the War Machine or Virginia “Pepper” Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) being appointed CEO of Stark Industries.
With that said, the actors really make this film entertaining, especially Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. His entire persona is just so damn awesome because, in many ways, he’s an asshole but he’s also growing as a person. In this film, we get to see Tony and Pepper’s relationship grow and there’s a level of function buried deep beneath the dysfunctionality of it all.
Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) may have started out as a supporting character, but quickly became an icon starring in several MCU films including her own 2021 solo venture.
Unfortunately, the main villain of the film, Justin Hammer, sidelines Ivan Vanko who is a much more interesting villain with a personal grudge against Stark. Hammer only wants to go after Stark because he’s a business rival and we already had that kind of character in the first film. Hammer is kind of fun in his own way, being played as kind of a cocky moron by Sam Rockwell, but he just doesn’t have that incredible screen presence and intimidation as Vanko.
Jon Favreau’s direction is, once again, stellar when it comes to the action. While I don’t love all of Favreau’s work, like the remakes of “The Jungle Book” and “The Lion King,” I always feel a huge passion bursting from all of his films like “Elf,” “Chef” and the “Iron Man” films.
The action sequences are especially well handled with the fight between Iron Man and Vanko, also called Whiplash, at a racetrack in Monaco or the climax that sees Iron Man and War Machine team up to fight Whiplash and his army of Hammer’s drones. These fights never seem like a big CGI mess and I can easily tell what’s going on.
While “Iron Man” and “The Incredible Hulk” are very self-contained, “Iron Man 2” slowly opens up the world of the MCU more by subtly setting up organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D. and introducing characters like Nick Fury and Black Widow who would become one of my favorite MCU characters. While Black Widow is a lot of fun and has some incredible stunt work, she’s not given much to do until the last third. It wouldn’t be until “The Avengers” that she felt more defined. But, as is, she’s one of my favorite elements of the film.
I think that “Iron Man 2” tried to juggle so many things in an okay manner while the first film kept it simple. Future Marvel films would become more complicated, but they also took their time whereas “Iron Man 2” was only the third film in this franchise. But, after rewatching it, I think I’ve been too hard on it. The characters and the action are wonderful and the story is passable so it’s an overall meaningful film in the MCU. If you’re looking for a standard action film with all the charisma of a superstar like Robert Downey Jr., this is a fine film to check out.
