Paramount Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Studios
Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L Jackson, Gary Shandling
Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not a big fan of superhero movies. I yawned at all the Spiderman movies. Batman, Transformers, Incredible Hulk, Green Lantern, Hellboy, and on and on. They are just not my cup of tea. But I will admit up front that the Iron Man movies are really pretty good. The first one reminded me a lot of an Independence Day type of film, and it was not on some forgotten planet in some fantasy city, but real live, current times, and addressed current problems. Well, I’m not sure that Iron Man 2 is actually better than the first in the series, but I think it’s at least as good. Iron Man (himself, not the film) has some issues. For one thing, the very thing that keeps him alive is killing him. So the clock is ticking and he’s trying to get his house (and company) in order in case he’s not going to be around much longer.
And of course he’s got competition now. Like all superheroes, people are going to get used to him, and start to doubt and take him for granted. Especially with his declining health and dropping spirits. But Mickey Rourke comes along with a long held grudge looking for revenge and turns into a swell villain amongst a slew of villains in this film.
The ending is very exciting and fast paced, but if there is any problem, it’s that it may have ended up being a little underwhelming a finish. It’s like playing weeks on the latest video game working your way down the dungeon to finally face the “Dark Lord” and he ends up being pretty much of a wimp. Fifteen minutes after the movie is over, you may want to think back and try to remember exactly how he was brought down. If you’re like me, you don’t even remember. It should have been a fitting climax, but I don’t think it was that memorable.
But the entire story is a grand adventure, very exciting, and the look of the movie is stunning! All in all it was a great film, and I rate it pretty highly despite the little bit of fizzle in the ending. At least the story wraps up pretty well beside the ending of the bad guy. Very enjoyable couple hours, and a decent sequel.
EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog
Movie Review - Iron Man 2 (2010) {PG-13},