Iron Man 2

The Summer movie season officially got under way with a bang this past weekend with Iron Man 2 as the superhero sequel flew into theatres.  Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow reprise their roles as millionaire playboy Tony Stark AKA Iron Man, and his fiery assistant, Pepper Pots.  Samuel L. Jackson also appears again as Nick Fury.  Stan Lee makes his usual cameo - watch for it!  Not returning is Terrence Howard as Tony's friend in the Marines, James Rhodes.  He is replaced by Don Cheadle for this sequel that features his character much more prominently.

Not much has happened since the end of the first film.  Tony Stark is still the center of, well, everything.  He's "privatized world peace," and the military wants their hands on his technology as does everyone else.  Hammer Industries, led by Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) wants to turn the suit into a very lucrative weapon, but have failed miserably.  Tony's body has turned against him, being slowly killed by the device that's keeping him alive.  Oh the irony.  The official villain of the film, though, is Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who becomes the revenge-seeking Whiplash, but don't forget the mysterious and seductive Natalie Rushman AKA Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).

If it sounds like there's a little too much going on, that's because there is.  Thankfully it is mostly important things that are going on and hopefully things are not going to drift into Spiderman 3 territory in the next movie.  Given some certain scenes, however, it seems like Favreau may be setting things up for a Demon in the Bottle adaptation, which would be a good thing.

The pacing is a little wobbly here and there.  Sometimes it is a bit rushed, while other times it's a little sluggish.  It's not really that bad, but the first one came off so smoothly that I must be extra critical here.  It is painfully obvious that they are setting the stage for the Avengers movie, which may have hampered the creativity a bit.  The thing that really drags this movie down below a five star endeavor, though, is the final battle.  Favreau just doesn't seem to get boss battles.  The final fight in the first movie is a bit anticlimactic, and this one is even more so.  Scarlett Johansson's action sequence is miles more entertaining to watch and she isn't even in a flying battle suit.

To sum up - Iron Man 2 is a little bloated and lacks the sense of adventure of the first one.  Robert Downey Jr. is still fantastic, bringing Tony Stark to immortal life, and the rest of the cast does a great job as well.  Nobody is a sore thumb here.  Ultimately it is still a cool film that is a lot of fun to watch, but it just doesn't quite reach the bar set by its predecessor.

P.S. Stay after the credits for a quick teaser of things to come.

**** (4/5 stars)