Iron Man gets a Sequel

Written By: mike on September 3, 2010 No Comment

When a genre-defining movie like Iron Man gets a sequel, it’s inevitable that that sequel is going to be compared – not to the other largely mediocre superhero movies that it’s competing with – but to the epic original that inspired it. If the numbers are to be believed ($600,000,000 and counting), then Iron Man 2 is a more successful movie than its predecessor. The real question, though, is – is it a better movie? We can count on one hand the number of blockbuster sequels that have been as good as or better than the first in their series, but unfortunately we don’t count Iron Man 2 in that number.

To Iron Man 2′s credit, when it comes to villainous impact a crazed and greasy Mickey Rourke as the electrifying (literally) Ivan Vanko definitely trumps a bald-headed and be suited Jeff Bridges as sleazy Obadiah Stane in the first movie. Unfortunately, that’s where the improvements end. There was a lot of hype over Terrence Howard getting replaced by Don Cheadle in the role of Rhodey, but for me the difference wasn’t noteworthy. In my opinion, they might as well cut the character altogether. I don’t have anything against either actor, but neither of them has the charisma to compete with Robert Downey Jr. on-screen.

I was equally unenthusiastic about the actresses that were cast. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as the stiff and sniffling Pepper Pots, and about the only thing Scarlett Johansson got right as the Black Widow was the walk and the hair toss. When it comes to “the woman behind the man,” I think 76-year old Judi Dench out acted and out-sexed both as M in the James Bond series.

Since I’m not handing out any Oscars, I’m willing to forgive Iron Man 2′s minor – if persistent – miscastings, but what I can’t forgive is some of the overtly bad CGI. Iron Man II is first and foremost an action movie, and the action is fast and fairly constant, but if they’re going to continue to shoot so much of it in the suit then they’re going to need to improve their special effects. It’s a hard pill to swallow coming from a modern superhero movie where suspension of disbelief is key.

Where director Jon Favreau continues to redeem himself is in his hard-won choice of leading man, Robert Downey Jr. Downey continues to carry the franchise regardless of how bad the storyline, action sequences or other actors are, so if you’re not a fan of him then you’re probably not going to be a fan of Iron Man 2.

Iron Man 2 is far from an ideal sequel, but in all honesty it’s the high expectations created by the near-perfection of the first movie that make the second one such a disappointment. If you can break away from these comparisons, then all in all Iron Man 2 is still an above average addition to the superhero genre, and it’s nice for once to have a balls to the wall action movie that isn’t diluted with excessive sentiment or pointless sub-plots. I don’t regret seeing Iron Man 2 in theaters, I’m just not going to rush out to buy it when it’s released on DVD later this month.