The Chocolate Review: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 is a legit, full force action film that was well worth the wait. Though it fell slightly short of the hype, it secured its place in our hearts as the best action film of the year (thus far). Ekemini and I differ in opinion in regards to whether this installment of Favreau’s trilogy was better than the first. I don’t think it quite cleared the bar, but it came incredibly close. In either event Iron Man 2 was a fantastic ride that set the bar for 2010’s summer movie season pretty darn high.

In Iron man 2 Robert Downey Jr. revives his role as the self-absorbed and genius gazillionaire Tony Stark. After the US Senate demands that he turn over his Iron Man “weapon” to the government, Tony refuses on the grounds that his technology is too advanced to be duplicated. When Tony is proven wrong by a mysterious, electric whip wielding Russian he faces a multitude of decisions that threaten his company, his relationships and his life.

The underling storyline of Iron Man 2 was a bit convoluted and blurry. Somewhere in between dialogue and random news paper clippings was the essential reason for Ivan’s anger toward Stark. Apparently we missed it. But it didn’t matter because we understood the basics of the story. Good guy is minding his business, bad guy shows up, bad guy and good guy fight it out until one of them wins. The truth is no one goes to action movies for a moving, heartfelt story. We go to watch things blow up. And if there’s a good story wedged somewhere in between, even better. As long as we can live vicariously through make believe characters who can kick butt, fly and save the day- we’re satisfied. Iron Man 2 covers all three bases.

The film started off a bit slow and strange but it quickly picked up the pace. Ivan (Mickey Rourke), without the help of prosthetic movie magic, possesses the threatening physique of a traditional foreign nemesis. Ivan didn’t speak much. He didn’t have to. Looking at him tells you everything you have to know about his intentions. And when it came to Tony Stark, all of them were deadly. Sniveling Stark wannabe Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) was perfectly hateable. Hammer tramples after Stark’s accomplishments like a little brother, too small to play with the big boys. We enjoyed wanting to punch him every time he showed up on screen. And if you pay close attention to his palms, you’ll see how he keeps up that fantastic tan.

The dialogue was snappy and funny. There were many memorable fight scenes that will have you cheering, laughing and holding your breath. Nothing upsets us more than computer graphics that look like computer graphics on screen. Iron Man 2 was not guilty of this visual effects sin and most of what you see looks very real and very awesome.

We have to admit, when we first heard Terrence Howard would not reprise his role as Lt. Col. James Rhodes, doubts began to fill our minds about Don Cheadle as his replacement. We are pleased to say that our doubts were unwarranted and washed away the moment he was on the screen. It’s as if “Rhodey” was written specifically for him.

Thank God for Scarlett who revived the image of female superhero-ism. She was reminiscent of The Matrix heroine Trinity and was surprisingly believable. Gwenyth Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts. She fades into the background and you don’t really care about her as much you did in the Iron Man. She means more to Tony than she does to the audience. Nevertheless, she was ever graceful.

Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, appeared randomly and kind of rubbed us the wrong way. Sorry but Nick Fury just looked like Samuel L. Jackson wearing an eye patch and a costume. Jackson can’t separate himself from his trademark persona. We were waiting for him to say the words “snakes” and “plane”. To our surprise, he didn’t.

Overall, Iron Man 2 is a definite must see to kick off your summer movie season.

If you loved the first, you’re sure to love this one. Same hero, different shenanigans.

WARNING: Do not sit next to any full fledged, die hard comic book fans. We made that mistake and had to listen to “dork commentary” for most of the film. If you see a group of men of any age, all wearing glasses with unkept hair and sitting without any women: abort the mission and find another row to sit in. You’ll thank us later.

*Wait until the credits are over to leave!

The Chocolate Review gives Iron Man 2 3.75 out of 5 stars for the following reasons:

• Great action sequences and visual effects
• Confusing underlining storyline, not too sure why villain was upset
• Loved Scarlett!
• Overhyped but still a legitimate Marvel movie going experience