It’s been said that sequels are inherently inferior to the original. And in this case, I’d have to agree. Unlike “Transformers 2,” where the film was so bogged down with action that I think the writers forgot to even write a plot, “Iron Man 2” suffers from not enough action. If they spent as much time on any of the fight sequences or explosions as they did coming up with clever one-liners, I might not have drifted off about 30 minutes in.
The Premise: “Iron Man 2” takes up where its predecessor left off. At the end of the first film, Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr. at his snarky best) came out of the proverbial closet by telling the world that he is the armoured superhero Iron Man. With Stark’s reputation as a billionaire playboy and successful industrialist, it was inevitable that the news would be certain to generate backlash from numerous sources with enormous repercussions.
In the six months following this announcement, Stark’s brilliant inventions put him in the foreground as the principal manufacturer in the arms race, while, ironically, the mere existence of his alter-ego, Iron Man, has established a tenuous world peace, thus making them superfluous.
As great as world peace is, Stark has a much more pressing matter to which he must attend. The very device (battery pack, life source) that is keeping him alive is also slowly poisoning his blood. The device runs on the rarest element in the periodic table, and unfortunately for Stark, short of creating or discovering a new element, there’s not much else he can do.
Recognizing the potential danger the suit possesses should it fall into the wrong hands, Senator Stern (Garry Shandling) demands Stark to turn the iron man suit over to the United States government before any foreign enemies are able to duplicate its technology.
And being the egotistical and self-absorbed man he is, Stark flat out refuses. “I am Iron Man.”
Rival armament manufacturer Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) has become bitter and resentful due to all of the years he has spent in Stark’s immense shadow and Ivan Vanko, aka Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), are the villains in the film. Vanko is a Russian physicist with his own personal vendetta against the Starks and plans to use Stark’s technology to create Whiplash, a massive, hulking beast with electrified tentacles. In order to exact his revenge, Hammer becomes Whiplash’s principal financial backer.
These three plotlines converge and the film finally takes off with several fantastic CGI action sequences, all leading up to the final end game.
Both Downey and Rockwell helped to infuse vitality into a rather solid yet lackluster film.
Bottom Line: If you were a fan of “Iron Man,” chances are you’ll enjoy this one. What made the first film such a success is all still here. There is just a little less of it.