Saturday, May 8, 2010

Movie Review: Iron Man 2

The latest superhero sequel, Iron Man 2, was released yesterday, and it is exactly what you expect. It is highly entertaining but isn't quite as good as the 2008 original.

Robert Downey, Jr. returns as the film's protagonist, Tony Stark: a role that could not be more perfectly cast. He is a great fit for the witty, over-the-top narcissist and delivers another brilliant performance.

While RDJ was a bright spot, there were a couple things that disappointed.

Mickey Rourke was heavily underutilized as the main villain. He disappeared for what seemed like half the movie and returned in a somewhat anti-climactic ending. For someone who turned in a career-best Oscar-nominated performance in "The Wrestler" just two years ago, he should have been a much bigger part of the plot. I didn't expect Rourke's Ivan Vanko to be as memorable as Heath Ledger's Joker, but unfortunately for all other comic book films "The Dark Knight" is the new standard. And this is far inferior.

Another weak character was Sam Rockwell as Stark Industries' rival Justin Hammer. The role was poorly written and acted, and at least some of that blame should be placed on director Jon Favreau. Rockwell is a good actor. But not in this film.

The story is jumbled and poorly executed but not enough to make it much less enjoyable. It is somewhat similar to 2009's "Transformers" sequel in that it has high entertainment value but lower quality. But that probably won't bother anyone who will see this in theaters.

And who doesn't like watching Scarlett Johansson kick ass?

Grade: B-

2 comments:

  1. I agree, especially with the comments about Mickey Rourke. From the opening shots of the movie, I thought, "MAN! He's gonna be great! This is going to be awesome!" But instead of getting Mickey Rourke's badass-ness throughout the movie, we get Sam Rockwell's poor attempt at badass-ness. I think he was a poor casting choice because he just wasn't sleezy enough. It felt like a dachshund fighting a doberman. There was never a doubt as to who would come out on top, which killed the suspense in the end for me.

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  2. Agreed. Plus, the writing for Sam Rockwell's character was just way off. Give the witty lines to only RDJ. He makes them work. And that's why people want to watch. So many of Hammer's lines just misfired--definitely took away from the movie. And if you're gonna bring in Mickey Rourke. Bring in Mickey Rourke. Thx for commenting

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