"Iron Man 2" - REVIEW

Part of the charm of Tony Stark, the hero of the Iron Man series, is his combination of brilliance and snark. Arrogant? Yes. Self-centered? Yeah. Oddly appealing nevertheless? The answer Iron Man (2008) was yes. In the sequel? Eh...not so much. The central problem with Jon Favreau's sequel is that the character traits that helped carry the first film through its origin-story checklist are either toned down or absent altogether. Stark's snarkiness has been replaced with a cockiness that borders on obnoxious, particularly in a scene where he becomes drunk at his own birthday party. This leads to a sluggish fight between Tony and James Rhodes (Don Cheadle, taking over for Terrence Howard) that calls to mind a similar scene from Spiderman 3 *shudder*. Oh, and while this plays out, "Another One Bites the Dust" is playing in the background. Yup. Even worse is that the snappy repartee between Tony and other characters has devolved into irritating Robert Altman-esque convos of people talking rapidly over each other without anything interesting or amusing to say.

That's not to say that Iron Man 2 is a bad film, but it's just so far beneath its predecessor in almost every aspect that the fun is minimized. Picking up where the original left off, the sequel focuses on Stark's out-in-the-open status as Iron Man, and the many foes he acquires ranging from Congress, to a rival arms dealer (Sam Rockwell), to a revenge-bent Russian physicist (Mickey Rourke). Some have made the argument that the film's fault is in trying to pack too much into the story, and they're correct to an extent. The film never feels overwhelmed or chaotic, but it could have benefited from sharper focus; either Rockwell's Justin Hammer or Rourke's Ivan Venko should have been cut as a villain. Rourke could have been an incredibly entertaining villain with his electro-whip weaponry, and Rockwell's overzealous Hammer could have been an intriguing rival, but combining the two somehow drags the film down. Meanwhile, one character who is interesting and fun enough to merit a better-developed subplot (Scarlett Johannson's Natalie Rushman) does little save for one acrobatic action scene that's better than all of the explosions and lasers combined. Elsewhere, Paltrow's Pepper Potts, one of the most enjoyable characters from the first go-round, is reduced to a nagger trying to keep Tony under control.

If there's one area where this sequel does improve on the original, it's the action. While there's still nothing groundbreaking (Favreau shoots the battles in a rather workman-like fashion), they're bigger and more exciting than before, although the final confrontation feels like a whimper following a big bang. As I said before, the best action scene is also one of the shortest, and involves a character who barely got anything to do other than be a means by which to further the subplot to set up the eventual Avengers film. The special effects, which felt so fresh and seamless, now feel totally unspectacular, while the sound mix simply sounds LOUDER without been more effective. Aside from the occasional flippant one-liner, Iron Man 2 is sadly missing the wit and charm of the original, and now feels as robotic as the suit Tony Stark wears.

Grade: B-/C+