Rating in Stars: * (out of ****)
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson
Director: Jon Favreau
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some language)
Running Time: 2:04
Release Date: 05/07/10
Iron Man may have contained roughly an equal share of strengths (its central casting coup and the performance that resulted from it, a tone that largely matched the protagonist’s personality in both its good and bad forms) and weaknesses (a structure that was restrictive to a formula shared by many origin stories, a villain who was bland outside of his incidental connection to the hero), but its first sequel exacerbates only the weaknesses and finds a few to call its own, as well. Iron Man 2 is a work of distinct smugness in a way that cannot be attributed to the titular superhero, who here more resembles an anti-superhero (super-antihero?) before becoming a tool of Justin Theroux’ witless screenplay and Jon Favreau’s anonymous direction.
Tony Stark, once again played by Robert Downey Jr. but in a performance that here seems bored with the material already, is dying. The miniaturized arc reactor, powered by palladium that keeps the shrapnel from an attack in the first film from entering his heart and killing him, is killing him. He’s looking for a replacement of the element and having no luck. As his faithful computer-program sidekick J.A.R.V.I.S. (voice of Paul Bettany) keeps telling him, he’s running out of options (His ultimate solution to the problem is muddled beyond belief). He opts not to tell Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), his longtime personal assistant, whom he makes C.E.O. of Stark Industries out of fear of leaving the company in the wrong hands.
He’s been thinking about his dad (John Slattery via archival footage of the filming of promos for Stark Industries) a lot during this period of grief. Well, it would be a period of grief, if it wasn’t for the fact that Downey’s performance is almost exclusively a series of sequences in which he looks plaintive after checking the level of toxicity in his blood. Meanwhile, the Iron Man suit has been deemed a weapon by a sleazy Senator (Garry Shandling in a fun cameo that bookends the film), who wants the United States government to reclaim it, and Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a Stark clone of sorts from whom Tony steals publicity with ease.
Everywhere one looks, smugness exists, whether it is Tony’s belief that inspiring the longest period of peace the United States has known (six months and climbing) is all about him or that Hammer’s ultimate endgame is to destroy Tony’s and Iron Man’s legacy by creating a new kind of military. It becomes dull quickly, especially as it all seems to come to a head when Tony, drunk and careless and wearing the suit, battles James Rhodes (Don Cheadle, replacing Terrence Howard for some reason) over ego and destroys most of his house. When Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), a new villain, arises, a different and boring kind of ego also raises its head: Vanko is the son of the co-founder of Stark Industries and resents Tony’s legacy as a man whose actions have caused the deaths of so many.
The pieces of a good movie are here, but most of them are still in the box. Vanko’s entire motivation is just a bland reversal of the previous villain’s motivation, and it’s ultimately glossed over in the action sequences, which approach small-scale warfare with only one instance of ingenuity (the initial moments of Vanko disrupting a race in which Tony has randomly decided to take part) and a whole lot of nondescript visual noise elsewhere (the climax, which pits Tony and Rhodes against Vanko and his drones). The best part of Iron Man 2 is the provision of what amounts to a trailer for what is to come in the Marvel cinematic universe: Samuel L. Jackson (who with ten collected minutes of screen time devoted to exposition still gives the best performance onscreen), Scarlett Johansson, and Clark Gregg as agents of a government organization working in secret. The rest of this affair is dopey and self-obsessed.
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