Iron Man gets Hammeroids
After admitting that he is in fact Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) finds life a lot more complicated. On one hand the US Government lead by Senator Stern (Garry Shandling) want access to the Iron Man suit and the weaponry it contains whilst on the other hand the little power generator in his chest which allows him to not only live but to be Iron Man is also killing him by poisoning his blood. Facing his possible demise Tony finds himself having to not only deal with rival weapons expert Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) but also the mysterious and very deadly Russian Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke).
I've said before that I am not a huge fan of these comic book adaptations and when I see my twitter feed fill up with enthusiastic fans who go wild when Marvel announce another movie I switch off until all the excitement dies down. But it doesn't mean I dislike them and when I am in the right mind a dose of comic book action will certainly give me what I need. And that is what "Iron Man 2" did as it was fun, flippant, fast and did I mention fun. Yes I did and fun is so much more enjoyable that dark super heroes with a bad case of the self loathing.
Anyway to "Iron Man 2", well we have a few things going on as we have those who want to see Tony Stark fail especially those who have a grudge to bear. We also see him dealing with the power plant in his chest poisoning him which in a comical way has him briefly going off the rails. And yada yada yada because to be honest the storyline isn't overly critical to the success of the movie because it is the writing, the characters and the special effects which are important. Although what story there is in "Iron Man 2" is just enough to keep things moving on.
So as I said it is the writing, character and special effects which make the movie and there are plenty of witty lines and wittier scenes from Tony tossing a bit of computer data into a virtual basketball hoop to him driving along in his sports car with a giant model his father made in the spare seat. But when you throw on the comically full on performances with Sam Rockwell having a whale of the time playing it large it all works. And that is the key to "Iron Man 2" as everything is larger from the characters to the effects to the witty one liners but it never feels overly forced.
What this all boils down to is that "Iron Man 2" is one heck of a sequel and to use a cliche it is big and better. The only negative of sorts is the ending but of course there is usually a reason when it feels like things have not been finished off properly.
