Before I begin this review, let me come right out and say that I absolutely loved the first Iron Man film. I think that Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is one of the most perfect casting choices ever, and that Director Jon Favreau took what most comic fans considered a second (or maybe even third) string Marvel hero and turned him into an instant A-lister with one of the most well made and entertaining superhero films to date. I'm telling you this, not because I want you to think that my love for the first film instantly biases me towards liking the new film, but in fact the exact opposite.
To love a film as much as I do the first Iron Man, it instantly makes me skeptical that any sequel can live up to the greatness of the first. It almost never happens that a sequel is as good as the original film. As a point of fact, I and most of my fellow comic book loving friends accept that about 90% of comic film sequels tend to suck really badly. It is with this mindset, and this complete expectation of suckitude that I walked into Iron Man 2.
Oh, and expect there to be some BIG SPOILERS from this point on. You've been warned.
Iron Man 2 starts off literally as the first film is ending. Remember that big press conference at the end of the first film where Tony comes out to the world as Iron Man? Well, it turns out that the press conference is being televised across the world, and it's seen by some dying old man in Russia who starts having a conniption fit when Tony makes his announcement. He calls in his son, Mickey Rourke, and talks to him briefly before keeling over on the spot. Mickey Rourke gives the classic head-turned-to-the-sky yell of pain and anger.
Boom . . . . our new super villain is born. Awesome!
This moment to me really sets off what is ultimately the underriding theme of the new Iron Man 2 film, and that is that all of Tony Stark's problems are in some way, shape or form caused by Tony Stark. His arrogance at announcing himself as Iron Man instantly spawns his next biggest enemy. For the next 90 minutes or so of film, we will continue to see Tony be his own worst enemy as he repeatedly makes things worse for himself. Instead of working with Pepper Potts to deal with the after effects of his announcement to his company, he completely ignores the issue and she is left dealing with a company that is falling apart around her on her own. Instead of working with the US government, or at least even treating them in an adult manner, Tony's childish behavior at congressinal hearings only creates more enemies.
It turns out that the Palladium that Tony is using to power the mini-arc reactor in his chest is slowly killing him. Does he turn to those closest to him for help and support? Of course not. He keeps this secret to himself because he can't seem to accept the fact that he can't do something on his own. Instead of seeking help anywhere he can get it, he keeps trying to go it alone, and almost gets himself killed in the process. In fact, his worries about his impending death eventually leads to a complete breakdown about halfway through the film where Tony decides to get totally wasted during a birthday party at his house. While wearing the Iron Man suit, a very drunk Tony Stark proceeds to make an ass of himself in front of everyone. This behavior is what finally leads his most loyal friend Rhody Rhodes to turn on him. Rhody grabs another set of Armor, and then attempts to literally beat some sense into his drunken friend.
The fight ends with Rhody taking the suit and turning it over to the government. Say hello to the birth of War Machine, all thanks to Tony Stark being a complete ass.
It continues on like this for a while. Time and time again, Tony keeps making the wrong choices and his life gets more and more difficult as a result of them. I would actually be fairly accurate to say that Tony Stark is the main villain of this film for the first three quarters of it. Only after Nick Fury shows up and finally gives Tony the boot in the ass that he's needed for so long do things finally start to turn around for him.
To me, as a comic book fan, taking this approach to the sequel was sheer brilliance. As opposed to most superhero sequels, which tend to think that the only way to amp up the drama is to amp up the number of supervillains and the amount of action, Iron Man 2 goes down a much more introspective road. The film is almost exactly two hours long, and in the first 90 minutes there are only two fight scenes of note. Both of these fight scenes are fairly short too. The vast majority of this film revolves around Tony Stark, his personal problems, his friends and his dealing with suddenly being this superhero which is requiring him to become a better man than he is. It's a deep character drama. Only in the last 30 minutes or so do we finally see some large scale Iron Man action.
To a lot of people, this may be a negative thing. I've been hearing comments here and there where people are saying that the film is really long and boring, and that it takes forever to get going. Those people don't get what Jon Favreau and his team are trying to do here. They fully understand that Tony Stark is a flawed hero. Deep down, he's a loveable guy, but he's all too human and he needs to overcome his personal demons even more than he does the giant bad guys with the big electric whips.
As for the action in the film, holy schnikes does it get awesome when it finally starts. The last 30 minutes of Iron Man 2 is almost all combat. It's Iron Man vs. War Machine and an army of evil robots, then it's Iron Man and War Machine vs. said army of evil Robots, and finally it's Iron Man and War Machine vs. Whiplash. The action is fast, intense and incredibly pretty. Jon Favreau certainly does know how to make things explode in the prettiest ways possible. There were moments in the fight scenes where I was seriously on the edge of my seat and gasping as things were happening. It may take a while to get to the big fight scenes at the end, but the wait is more than worth it.
In the end, Iron Man 2 comes out as a completely stellar sequel. Is it as good as the first film? That's open to one's own opinion really. I'm not sure where I stand on that thought, but I would definitely at the very least rank it to be equally on par with the first film in level of overall awesomeness. This is definitely a longer, more slowly paced film than the first one was, but I think that was necessary to make this as good as it was. It's the continuation of Tony Stark's quest to become the hero he needs to be. He's not quite there yet, but he's getting better.
Final Grade: A
P.S. If you didn't stay until the end of the credits to see the easter egg with Thor's hammer, you should be kicking yourself. Go see the film again. Seriously, you missed something truly bad ass.
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