Iron Man 2 review (in five brief points)

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Above: The most difficult part of scripting an Iron Man movie is probably coming up with reason after reason for his helmet to be off.

1.) Is there any other comic book movie franchise where the action set pieces feel like an unwelcome distraction from the character beats and dialogue exchanges? The first act of Iron Man 2 has a great action scene that takes place on the track of the Monaco Grand Prix, but the other battle moments are sort of lukewarm. The final fight sequence is better than its counterpart in the first movie, but isn't anything that's going to have you out of your seat and cheering. I think this has something to do with the fact that all the work the movies put into establishing how badass the Iron Man suit is makes it hard to believe the character ever faces any real threat. All the character banter is still great, though. I'm half-convinced that Robert Downey Jr.'s flippant playboy act can make any movie worth the price of admission. Since I'm starting to think that special effects have reached a point of diminishing returns with regard to making a genuine impression on the viewer, Avatar aside, Iron Man 2's approach is probably a smart one.

2.) The new characters in this movie are really well-cast. Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer, a glad-handing Tony Stark wanna-be, looks like he's having a ball, and more importantly, fits perfectly with the movie's comic edge. Mickey Rourke was a great choice for the main villain, who's set up as a doppelganger of Iron Man; he plays the character as a taciturn and deeply internal contrast to Tony Stark's showiness and charisma. Scarlett Johansson wears a lot of tight costumes, is mostly successful at affecting a grim determination, and blends in well with her fight double in a pretty well-choreographed. Don Cheadle is good, even though his character is kind of a thankless one, but honestly, when is he ever bad?

3.) Iron Man 2 is definitely worth seeing, but it's not up to the standard of Spider-Man 2 or The Dark Knight in terms of raising the bar. There's some missed opportunities that keep the film from being as good as the first. Like I said above, Mickey Rourke is a kick-ass villain. He plays off of Robert Downey, Jr. incredibly well. Unfortunately, he only does so in a whopping two scenes, one of which doesn't even really count because it's a fight sequence where everyone's wearing masks and blasting each other with lasers. It would have been killer to see the two of them match wits a couple more times in the second and third acts. What do we get instead? Fifty scenes of Mickey Rourke tinkering with electronics in various rooms. Also, there's a subplot about Tony Stark being poisoned by the reactor in his chest that doesn't really get too far off the ground. It's clearly intended to highlight how he's bit off more than he can chew with the Iron Man persona and mission, and that he needs to learn some humility, but that thematic point is somewhat undermined when he solves the problem completely on his own, and again, the movie can't really seem to commit to putting its hero into genuine danger.

4.) That being said, the continuity between this film and the first one is worthy of praise - Iron Man 2 picks up right where the first one left off and establishes the new characters and plot efficiently. There's not much "previously on Iron Man," so if you're fuzzy on the events of the first movie, better hit up Wikipedia before you go to the theater. The Marvel universe coherence effort is still in play, too. Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury, introduced in the bit after the credits of the first Iron Man, has a full-on supporting part in the sequel, and the upcoming Avengers superhero-alliance movie continues to be telegraphed apace. There's another little bit after the credits in Iron Man 2 to tease the upcoming Thor movie, so if you are unlike me and have more than a vague understanding of the character of Thor, you may be excited for that.

5.) There's a sequence bridging the second and third act that shamelessly steals from the "Careers in Science" episode from season one of The Venture Bros. If you're familiar with the episode, you'll know it when you see it.