Iron Man 2 – Has the sequel got the metal to live up to the first film?

My brother and I have an ongoing argument about big Hollywood film which basically goes like this:

Me: I quite enjoyed ***insert name of blockbuster type movie here ***, but it was kind of dumb, there was too much going on that it didn’t have time to deal with properly, and I can’t help but think the film should have been a bit better.

My Brother: Well, I thought it was great. There was loads of action and special effects, and quite frankly when I go to a movie, I don’t want to have to think – I do that all day at work – I just want some dumb fun with plenty of escapist spectacle.

I have a feeling we might have the same argument about Iron Man 2.

To be honest, the sequel’s flaws are pretty much the same as those of the original, in that they’re forgivable and covered up by a lot of fun. However they’re also more noticeable this time around. Part of the reason Iron Man was so well received was because it felt so fresh. After a run of superhero films that were either po-faced and angsty (Batman Begins, Superman Returns) or so lightweight they were in danger of floating off the screen (Fantastic Four), here was a movie that seemed to take its comic book origins seriously, but never forgot to be fun, energetic and entertaining.

It wasn’t really doing anything astoundingly new, but it did things with panache and felt fresh because it went against the grain of most modern superhero flicks, and suggested perhaps they could be about a main character who was having fun. It’s also important to remember how it literally seemed to come out of nowhere. Few had high expectations as the character wasn’t that well known, the director had only made Zathura and Elf, and even Robert Downey Jr. was mainly getting second fiddle parts at that time, having never quite made it back to the top following his problems with drugs. The film came like a bolt from the blue and took over the world, ensuring any sequel was going to have immense problems living up to the now sky high expectations.

The problem with Iron Man 2 is that it doesn’t have that sense of novelty, leaving a movie that’s never dull and does have much of the flavour of the first flick, but which never reaches any giddy heights either.

Some early reviews have bemoaned the lack of action, but to be honest, I didn’t feel that was too much of a problem. If you watch the first film again, there are actually fewer great big set-pieces than you might remember. The fun of that film comes more from the swagger than an endless parade of explosions. Iron Man 2 delivers enough action to be entertaining – particularly a scene set at the Monaco Grand Prix, where we first see the power of Whiplash – without overloading things so much you go into spectacle meltdown. It makes the action count, which is actually quite rare nowadays.

However the film falls into the pit so many Hollywood blockbusters do, which is that it mistakes having lots of things going on for serving up a satisfying plot that works as a cohesive whole. And boy is Iron Man 2 packed. With Marvel planning several movies over the next couple of years leading up to the superhero mash-up that is The Avengers, this feels like the transitional movie that’s designed to take us properly into the criss-crossing Marvel Universe.

Things start off well. For the first hour, Iron Man 2 seems to be going the way of Spider-man 2 and The Dark Knight, where, with all the origin stuff out of the way, the second film can have fun with the characters, tell an interesting story and take things deeper than they went before. After revealing himself to be Iron Man at the end of the first movie, Tony Stark is now under investigation by the government (who want the suit) and also building a rivalry with fellow industrialist Justin Hammer, who is bitter because Tony is everything he wants to be but isn’t. There are also a few issues with Pepper Potts, who’s trying to hold Stark Industries together, which is made more difficult because the metal suit is having his attention pulled every which way but saving his business.

And then there’s Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who has ties to Stark’s family and is busy using technology to turn himself into the powerful Whiplash, with plans to take revenge on Stark once and for all.

All that would probably be enough for most movies, but Iron Man 2 is only getting started, and particularly in the second half gets weighted down with too many characters and story strands, with the result that it simply doesn’t have the time to do justice to them all. You have Jim Rhodes (Don Cheadle taking over from Terrence Howard) becoming War Machine, a mystery ailment that starts affecting Tony, the presence of shady new assistant Natalie (Scarlett Johansson)  and then there’s all the stuff introducing the set-up for The Avengers. This mainly involves an expanded role for Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his SHIELD organisation, who gets more than a single post-credits scene here. There are also a few tantalising references to Thor and Captain America.

This takes up more time than would be ideal, largely because while fanboys are already aware of who these people are and how they’re connected, Marvel’s gamble to essentially turn their movies into a mini-series leading up to The Avengers needs to be introduced to those who aren’t in the know. That’s fine, but there are times when you wish they’d get on with it and go back to Tony Stark and his suit. After all, he’s really the star of the show here.

Whether he’s covered in metal or not, it is the sheer bravado of Robert Downey Jr. that both Iron Man movies rest on, and there’s no doubt he’s very good here. He’s also surrounded by a lot of very good special effects, but as with so many big movies, the overloaded plot left me feeling entertained but not elated.

I found it particularly frustrating because the story has the potential to be so good. With Justin Hammer wanting to basically be Tony Stark, the government out to get the suit, Pepper trying to sort out Stark Industries and Tony getting affected by some sort of illness, there’s so much fodder. It initially seems like the first film was about boys and their toys – and the fun you could have with unlimited cash and ingenuity, as well as a new sense of civic responsibility – while the second is going to concentrate on the consequences of that.

In essence it’s dealing with the Spider-man thing of ‘with great power comes great responsibility’, not because you might want that responsibility or that you have a duty to use that power to benefit others, but because everyone else will want to rip it from you and/or destroy you. While it does try to deal with some of these things, and certainly sets itself up to do just that, there’s just so much stuff to get through that it ends up posing more questions than it can hope to answer. The result is that while the ending satisfies in terms of spectacle, thematically it’s a bit of an anticlimax.

So we end up back at the argument between me and my brother. If I’m being honest, much of Iron Man 2 is kind of dumb, there’s too much going that is doesn’t really have time to deal with, and I can’t help but think the film should have been a bit better. Yet there’s no doubt it is fun and has a lot of energy. Those looking for fun night out will find it, with a couple of great action set-pieces, Downey Jr. doing his trademarked flashy charm routine (which is all-important), Sam Rockwell having fun as the slimy Justin Hammer and a pace that rarely slows down and openly wants the audience to have a good time.

Iron Man 2 Film Clip – Suirtcase Suit

There’s nothing wrong with a movie that’s just whizz-bang entertainment, and Iron Man 2 succeeds on that score, but the film critic inside me can’t help but feel frustrated by a film that hints (particularly in the first hour or so) that it could be that and so much more, but then doesn’t deliver. I’m sure my brother will be more than satisfied, but me, I could have done with a few less characters and a bit more of a cohesive feel.

PS. One thing I can’t help wondering is how the setting up of The Avengers in Iron Man 2 will go down with a general audience. Personally I liked it, even if it did occasionally feel like it was holding up the rest of the film a bit. Is Tony Stark’s father involved with the creation of Captain America, and how is the more fantasy oriented Thor going to be linked into all this? However, those who aren’t aware of the inter-woven Marvel universe, or who don’t know (or care) that the comic company’s upcoming movies are going to be linked to one another, may be a little non-plussed or even confused by all the SHIELD stuff (particularly as Nick Fury’s arrival is a bit of a random deus ex machine moment, who seems to have suddenly dropped in from another movie). Hopefully these general viewers won’t mind too much, but I wouldn’t be surprised if quite a few people leave the cinema wondering what’s going on.

Overall Verdict: Fun and pretty entertaining, but Iron Man 2 loses the novelty of the first film and can’t replace it with anything more substantial. Anyone looking for a bit of blockbuster entertainment should be satisfied though, but those hoping for something with more meat should look elsewhere.

Reviewer: Tim Isaac