My Review: Iron Man 2 (8/10)

¨ If you could make God bleed, people will cease to believe in Him. There will be blood in the water, and the sharks will come. ¨

(8/10) Jon Favreau does a great job again with the direction of the sequel to his 2008 hit, Iron Man. He has made a sequel that is just as good and entertaining as the first movie was, and he even had some screen time as Tony Stark`s personal bodyguard in this second installment. Just like in the first film, the secret to the movie`s success is Robert Downey Jr. `s performance as Tony Stark, who unlike other superheroes is even more fun to watch as himself than when he suits up. The film is highly entertaining and the two hours the movie lasts just fly by. This is what summer movies are all about and Iron Man 2 has lifted the standards for entertainment this season. The problem most sequels have is that the novelty of the first movie is gone, and yes Iron Man 2 misses that, but the film is still so entertaining and it is so fun to watch Downey Jr. playing Tony Stark that we just can`t get enough of him. The special effects, the characters, the action, are all good, but the true success of this film (like the previous one) relies on Robert Downey Jr. `s performance and how fun it is to see him playing this character. There are new villains, new superheroes, a new plot, but none of that outshines Downey Jr. and we just want to see more of him without caring too much for all the other elements. This is not a superior movie than the first one, but it is just as equally as entertaining and if you enjoyed the first one then you will enjoy this one. This time the screenplay was written by Justin Theroux (who also wrote Tropic Thunder) and there were some very funny lines and dialogues. The plot was also smart and up to standards for superhero movies, but I will not get tired of repeating it, Jon Favreau hit a homerun when he casted Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark.

The movie picks up where the first one ended; Tony Stark is telling the world that he is Iron Man and that he wants to maintain world peace after all the destruction that his company had caused in the past. Somewhere in Russia an old man is watching this statement on TV and telling his son, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), that that should be him and not Tony Starks. Right after he says this he dies and Ivan gives a vengeful cry and begins working on some sort of powerful weapon. Six months go by and Stark`s confession has caused the government to try to force him to turn in the suit so that they can use it as a military weapon. They have tried to make another suit with the help of Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a weapon specialist and clearly one of Stark`s rivals, but he has failed, so now they are trying to take his suit through legal actions. Tony has a bigger issue to deal with; the pacemaker like device he is using as a heart is deteriorating his blood and he is heading towards a painful death if he doesn`t discover another element that can replace the one he is currently using. Because of this Tony decides to appoint Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) as the CEO and president of Starks Industry and hires the very attractive and sexy Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson) as his secretary. His best friend, Lt. Col. James Rhodes (played by Don Cheadle instead of Terrence Howard who played him in the first version) works with the government and is forced to ask Tony to collaborate with them by giving them the suit after an incident with Ivan has showed the world that Iron Man (God) can bleed.

Iron Man 2 is one of the most entertaining movies of the year. There is nothing new about the sequel, but it still provides a lot of entertainment. As sequels go, I think The Dark Knight was a much better one as it introduced some new elements, an unforgettable villain, and was even superior to Batman Begins. Iron Man 2 is not superior to the first one, but it is entertaining enough to equal it thanks in most part to Robert Downey Jr. who has really found the perfect role. The villains were also interesting enough; Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke are great actors and they contributed to this film. Don Cheadle is a talented actor, but I really didn`t like the switch they made with Terrence Howard, I think he fit the character better and this is probably one of the only negative aspects about this movie. Scarlett Johansson was placed mostly for eye candy (although no one can argue she is a great actress as well) and she didn`t disappoint either. Jon Favreau also has some funny lines as Happy Hogan and delivers some laughs. Samuel Jackson has a couple of good scenes as Nick Fury, and you can`t help but get excited for The Avengers movie since this one serves as a sort of transition for that. Overall I really enjoyed this movie and recommend it. If you liked the first one then you won`t be disappointed although I can`t say it is better because it is more of the same, but same is good enough for me as far as entertainment goes.