Movie Review: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 starring Robert Downey, Jr.

Iron Man 2 is a sequel that works. Robert Downey returns as Tony Stark, now publicly know as Iron Man. The first film had Tony inventing Iron Man to save his life and allow his escape from terrorists who wanted to use his genius for evil, and made Tony realize that he himself had been using his genius for evil. In this film, Tony has redeemed himself by bringing peace to the world through his Iron Man persona. But there has been a cost. The same technology  that saved his life in the first film is now killing him by poisoning his body. Without a substitute, Tony will die. In the meantime, the Military Industrial Complex, personified by Sam Rockwell's character, is none too happy with what peace is doing to their business, and some elements of the government are uncomfortable not being in control of the peace keeping force. Add in Mickey Roarke as a brilliant but jealous and vengeance seeking bad guy, and the stage is set for lots of special effects laden battle scenes that look great and successfully wow the audience.

Robert Downey, Jr is great as Stark. He plays smart well, and snarky even better. Mickey Roarke looks better than he did in The Wrestler (I thought he looked like he'd had major plastic surgery in that one; now he looks much more natural) and even though here he is laden with a thick sometimes incomprehensible accent, he does most of his great acting with his expressive face and body. Gweneth Paltrow is strong enough as Pepper Potts playing a foil straight man character to Downey. Scarlett Johannson looks great but doesn't get much to do until some late martial arts scenes that look fabulous as comic book battles.