The first Iron Man was a rare beast, a critically-acclaimed blockbuster that seemingly arrived from nowhere to become one of the top grossing movies of all time. Two years later, Iron Man 2 is arguably the biggest film release of 2010. Has director Jon Favreau managed to recreate the magic of the original, or has the Iron Man franchise run out of steam before it has even gained momentum?
After revealing his Iron Man persona to the world’s media, billionaire playboy Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is publically revelling in the global attention of his superhero status. However secretly the Iron Man technology is poisoning Stark’s bloodstream and the US military is trying to forcibly extract the technology from Stark for their own dubious purposes. Meanwhile Vanko (Rourke), a Russian physicist with a grievance against Stark has developed his own deadly weapon, and a shady business rival (Rockwell) is trying to enhance his own reputation on the global stage.
That’s an attempt to describe the basic plot. I’ve neglected to include the assistants, double-agents, friends and limo drivers that are also an integral part to the narrative. If the basic plot sounds convoluted, that is because Iron Man 2 is just that. The simplicity of the original has been swapped with self-indulgence, there’s too much going on in Iron Man 2, and Favreau struggles to keep all the balls in the air whilst trying to cement Iron Man 2 as an entertaining slice of superhero fun.
That’s not to say it’s terrible. The first act, which introduces all the characters before Vanko and Stark violently face off at the Monaco Grand Prix is focused, funny and exciting storytelling. After that however, it all starts to fall apart and becomes a tiresome sequence of dull interactions, before gradually tightening up for an action-packed finale.
For a superhero movie, Iron Man 2 is extremely light on action set-pieces. Although the ever-likeable Downey, Rourke and Rockwell are extremely fun to watch, the effortless charm of the central characters can only carry Iron Man 2 for so long. With no abundance of action scenes to compliment the movie, Iron Man 2 is left suffering from a lacklustre script and hyper-active direction.
Iron Man 2 is either your average summer blockbuster or extremely disappointing, depending on how you look upon it. A bloated storyline dwarfs a talented cast in a sequel which is nowhere near as exciting as it should have been. Hopefully, these flaws will be ironed out for an inevitable Iron Man 3.
Jonny Dawson
