IRON MAN 2 sticks to its winning formula...and succeeds

Rating: (Good)

There were a lot of rumors floating around that Iron Man 2 would suffer from Spider-Man 3 syndrome. Many feared director Jon Favreau and writer Justin Theroux would try to cram too much action, too many characters, and too many subplots into a two hour movie. The rumors were bogus. Iron Man 2 keeps it simple, sticking to the winning formula that helped its predecessor secure $585 million in global box office receipts.

During our last adventure, billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) was taken captive by terrorists, had his heart hooked up to a car battery, and ordered to create a weapon. Instead, he invented a portable palladium-powered superbattery for his heart. (It has that popular blue glow you see on electronics these days.) Oh, and he also created a gun-filled Iron Man suit for himself and used it to blast away the terrorists and escape his sandy prison. A lot of metallic shenanigans followed, ending with Stark beating the bad guys and outing himself as Iron Man during a public press conference. This is where we pick up.

It ain't easy being the world's most powerful superweapon. Stark is routinely brought before the U.S. government where congressmen like Senator Stern (Gary Shandling) demand he turn over the "Iron Man weapon" to the American people. Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), whose HAMMER corporation sells weapons to the U.S. military, is especially interested in the technology behind Iron Man. Hammer, and countries like North Korea, have been trying to replicate the technology, but Stark estimates that all his competitors are at least 5-10 years away from a working suit (or are they?). Iron Man's value, it seems, is only as good as his technology. A problem Bruce Wayne can relate to, I imagine.

Like Christopher Nolan's Batman series, Iron Man 2 succeeds, in large part, because of its acting. Robert Downey Jr. again plays the genius, self-involved Tony Stark, head of Stark Industries. Gwyneth Paltrow is Pepper Potts, who routinely cleans up his messes. The bantering chemistry between Downey Jr. and Paltrow is a highlight of the film. The two continually spar as Stark acts out, even getting drunk in his suit, and Potts tries to tame him. Many scenes feel almost ad-libbed.

Stark isn't acting out just because he's a narcissist. He's also dying. While the palladium generator in his chest is keeping him alive...it's also poisoning him. Every time he's alone we see his poison level rise. We quickly realize he's going to have to invent his way out of this dilemma.

The cast is solid. Don Cheadle leads the new additions as Lt. Col. Rhodes, replacing Terrence Howard. Cheadle is a better fit for the role, though he seems too nice a guy to retalliate the way he does here. Scarlett Johannson joins the cast as Natalie Rushman, Stark's new assistant. Her role is to look good and up the sexual tension of every scene she's in (she's very good at it). Mickey Rourke plays villain, vowing to destroy Tony Stark to avenge his father, who worked with Howard Stark (Tony's father, played by Mad Men cast member John Slattery) back in the 1950s and 60s. Rourke is always a decent villain, but his role is hardly memorable.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film and plan to see it again. Like its predecessor, Iron Man 2 succeeds by holding back and having a quirky sense of humor. There are only a few major battles in the film. Most of the time we get to watch Downey Jr. play his strange self. We see Tony Stark overindulge and slowly fall apart; we watch him obsess; we stare as he plays around in his lab, inventing new things. The only sad part about the film is that while it matches its predecessor, it never once steps beyond its shadow. Unfortunately, this is no Dark Knight, but it's a fun and worthy sequel nonetheless.