Reviewed by Kate Rodger
Blockbuster season blasts off, and after the massive box office success of its predecessor, this Iron Man sequel is bulletproof, grenade-proof, missile-proof, and most importantly, review-proof.
Which means of course, that the growing chorus of average reviews, mine among them, will not stop the masses from galloping headlong to their closest biggest screens for another dose of Robert Downey Jr and his Iron Man entourage.
Where the original suffered a little from franchise set-up blues, the sequel suffers from the “where-do-we-go-to-now” conundrum. But for fans of the comic books, whether it be Iron Man or Avengers, director Jon Favreau does double the geek-value. Here Iron Man is joined by Marvel Comic staples Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson). There is also a new villain, in the form of Mickey Rourke’s electric bullwhip-wielding Russian, Ivan Vanko.
Vanko is on a payback mission, intent on making Tony Stark/Iron Man pay the price for the sins of their fathers. That mission comes to the attention of Marvel regular Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), who takes the Russian under his wing, or so he thinks, joining forces for their common goal: taking it to Iron Man.
Meantime, Iron Man has some PR issues of his own, along with some additional issues concerning his own mortally.
So yes, it’s a little complicated, not always a good thing in a popcorn flick.
I suspect I will now need an Iron Man suit of my own to protect me from the wrath of hardcore fans, but I hereby confess this latest outing did little to excite me, and in fact underwhelmed me at every turn. A goodly portion of the flabby, dull midsection was in desperate need of edit-room liposuction, the pace and action lurching along in fits and starts
Rourke and also Don Cheadle as Lt Col Rhodes were great additions to the cast though, and no doubt Scarlett will keep the boys happy.
Two and a half stars.
Iron Man 2
:: Director:Jon Favreau
:: Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle & Scarlett Johansson
:: Running Time: 124 mins
:: Rating: M
:: Release Date: April 29, 2010
:: Trailer: Click here
source: newshub archive
