Saturday, May 8, 2010

Iron Man 2: Shell Head Returns With A Bang

I grew up reading Marvel comics. Spider Man, X Men and The Avengers were regularly bought and read by me. From the Avengers (an upcoming movie possibly directed by Joss Whedon) I discovered Iron Man. Tony Stark was a playboy, drunk at times, genius who's suit of armor keep him alive after a shrapnel wound in Vietnam. In the last film, they updated the orgin story to Afghanistan and Robert Downey Jr gave an excellent performance as a more witty version of the comic character.
As always, once the stupid orgin story is eliminated, the second film is almost always better, This one is no different. Downey is back as the drunken playboy, now slowly dying from radiation poisoning forcing him to drink some truly awful green sludge to stave off death. New villain Whiplash is excellently played by Mickey Roarke, a pissed off Russian with a need for vengeance on Stark. The scene as shown in the previews of Roarke on the Monaco Race track during the Grand Prix is as exciting as any super hero movie ever. As Whiplash cuts cars into pieces, you fear for Tony and what will happen even in the Iron Man armor. Nicely shot and well executed. Gweneth Paltrow is her usual beautiful self as new CEO Pepper Pots, Don Cheadle takes over (thankfully) as Rhodey and Scarlett Johansenn is perfect as Black Widow. Samuel Jackson's cameo as Nick Fury is really cool and sets up more for the upcoming Avengers film which should have The Hulk, Thor, Captain America and Iron Man in it. There is still a possibility of Ant Man played by Simon Pegg but the orgin film is still a long way off due to scheduling conflicts with the actor and director.
All in all this is a fun movie. Great music, witty script, quick improv by Downey, Mickey Roarke and the new Rhodey (along with the appearance of War Machine) make
this film a winner. Go see this soon.

4 out 5 stars

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