Starring Robert Downey Jr. Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Favreau
Written by Justin Theroux
Directed by Jon Favreau
Synopsis: Dying from his suit, Tony Stark turns to alcohol abuse in what he thinks are his final days, while a bitter former rival seeks revenge.
Visuals and Audio: For the most part, this film fares as well below the line as the first one did. The effects are solid, as are the editing and cinematography. The filmmaking is all pretty solid, nothing too excellent or flashy, but it gets the job done well enough.
Cast: While nobody's arc is as strong as they were in the original Iron Man most of the cast still does a decent to good job. Downey Jr. manages to hold the drama and comedy together, even in its more forced moments, and Paltrow has less to do this time around, but still serves as a grounding presence. Don Cheadle is a minor improvement upon Terrence Howard in the role of James Rhodes/War Machine, although that's likely due to the script allowing him to banter much more. The final positive acting note comes for Sam Rockwell, who's Justin Hammer is easily the best part of the film. Taking full advantage of being the secondary antagonist Rockwell has an absolute blast chewing on the scenery and taking advantage of his plentiful comedic dialogue.
On the contrary, the worst part of this film is it's villain: Whiplash. Played by Mickey Rourke, Whiplash is a mishmash of poorly connected ideas and visions. While other MCU villains may be less memorable, the sheer disconnect from screenplay to performance cements Whiplash as a real low point for the series. Add in his bland motive and various oddities (like that frickin' bird) and you have a character who never had much hope in the first place. As well, this film adds in SHIELD in a big way. Nick Fury, Phil Coulson and Scarlett Johansson all have significant roles to play in this film. The problem is that Marvel hadn't properly figured out how to set up a shared universe yet, so all of their dialogue is incredibly forced and unnatural, preventing the characters from having a chance to feel important or real. Johansson has the most prominent role, and also fares the worst. Though she would go on to become one of the MCU's strongest female characters thus far, here she only serves for sex appeal, and never finds any semblance of nuance or character to flavor that. It's an especially unfortunate treatment of a prominent female character, especially in the same series that created a three dimensional love interest who was able to fully avoid most stereotypes.
Writing: Alright, here we go. The first third of this film is actually pretty solid. It does a decent job of setting up Tony's impending death and conflicts with the government, all leading up to a pretty fun action sequence on a racetrack in Monaco. Unfortunately, after this the film almost immediately loses track of the plot and devolves into a series of subplots fighting for prominence. As mentioned before, Marvel hadn't quite figured out how to connect their films, so SHIELD's role in the film, which serves only to set up The Avengers feels very tacked on, and distracts from the primary storylines. The dialogue in these scenes is also truly atrocious. One particular scene in which Nick Fury motivates Tony Stark to create a new element is likely the single worst scene to come out of this cinematic universe. Aside from the scene having no reason to exist beyond giving Samuel L. Jackson some screen time, the dialogue within is forced, out of character, and in no way resembles human speech. Though the film is already struggling to stay cohesive by this point, this scene really stands out as a major low point, and leads to one losing whatever suspension of disbelief may have still remained.
Directing: Much like the screenplay, Jon Favreau's direction peaks in the first act this time around. An early scene of Tony testifying in front of a senate committee is hysterically funny, and the aforementioned racetrack fight scene is stronger than any action sequences in the first film. It contains a level of intensity and brutality that wouldn't be seen again in this series until The Winter Soldier. (Hell, Happy Hogan straight up rams Whiplash with a car three damn times!) Once this scene passes, Favreau struggles to continue any sort of a consistent tone. While the first film managed to deftly blend drama and comedy, this film leaves them almost entirely separate from each other. The result is that the comedy feels unnecessary and silly, the drama feels uninteresting, and nothing seems to have any importance whatsoever. Because of this, the emotional and exciting scenes fall far short of their potential, and the entire film feels like a clip show.
Verdict: Lacking in any sort of cohesion, Iron Man 2's main issue is that it simply doesn't feel like a film for much of its time. There are too many ideas at play, and none of them are given the attention necessary for their impact to be felt. Though there are some strong performances, and the effects are still solid, the best thing about this film is that it served as an early lesson for Marvel, teaching them what not to do in their future. Thankfully, they took the lesson to heart, and did a much better job at telling their individual stories from here on out. Still, it's worth watching the first third, and pretending it's just a fun short film with the Monaco Raceway fight serving as the climax. It still feels unimportant, but it honestly works better than it ever should.
Grade: 4.9
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