Iron Man 2 Reviews

Iron Man is having a bit of a personality crisis for the first half of this movie, but it was still an enjoyable ride.

My kind of superhero movie. Combines interesting pots and subplots, not-too-serious dialogue and just enough realistic action. I dislike when the explosions and clanging overtakes the characters; in this film sometimes even the folks in the iron suits will keep their faceguard up! perhaps not realistic, but it proves the point that this film is about the characters. I want to see the actors doing action, not a featureless robot face. This is also my kind of superhero movie sequel- with just the right type of new plots (not rehashing old stuff, things have moved on) and two fascinating new characters in Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson (maybe 3? i can't remember if Hammer was in the first. A worthy sequel.

Yes I think this is better than the first movie

SCREENPLAY/DIALOUGE: The screen play or dialouge wasn't too special. I give it a 5/10, it wasn't like I was writing down the quotes, yet it wasnt a horrible dialouge

ACTING: I give the acting a 8/10, Mickey Rourke was great with the russian accent. Robert Downey JR. never dissapoints. Jon Farveau added a little comedy. Scralett Johansen was a suprise, I though she played the role good. That Patrow lady was ok, I don't know why she was screaming at the race car scene, other than that nothing really special, but SAM ROCKWELL, ROCKED IT. This guy is awesome and he shows it in this, I was so glad he was in this because he is the man and pretty much stole the movie. And yes I know Don Cheadle was in it, he fit the role very well, just was a little corney

STORY: I give the story a 6/10, it was all centered on Tony Stark's idiotic ways, I was dissapointed he wasn't as funny as he was in the first one.

Overall I liked it better than the first, a bigger cast, more characters, better action, and much more interesting than the first.

I already saw this movie but since I just bought an awesome brand new TV, I thought I might as well check it out again. Following the impressive success of the first installment which would launch the almighty Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was obvious that they would come up with a sequel and the expectations were even higher this time. Personally, I really liked the first movie (after all these years, it is still easily one of the best stand-alone super-hero features delivered by Marvel so far) above all because Robert Downey Jr's performance was just really awesome and completely entertaining. Unfortunately, with this sequel, the story was not really compelling, there was nothing actually really new and the characters were rather poorly developed. Apparently, there were quite some tensions between Jon Favreau and Marvel as they pretty much forced him to increase the links between this movie and the rest of the MCU at the expense of the coherence of the film's own plot. As a result, Favreau would choose to decline directing the 3rd installment. Concerning Mickey Route, he was a solid bad guy but, for some reasons, they also brought Sam Rockwell, also a fine actor, and while neither of them did anything wrong, two villains was probably too much too handle for this movie. In fact, there were probably too many characters/actors involved in this sequel (Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, Clark Gregg, John Slattery, Garry Shandling, Paul Bettany, Kate Mara, Leslie Bibb, Jon Favreau, Olivia Munn). On top of that, there was also a rather weak sub-plot about Tony Stark slowly dying because of the palladium that keeps him alive but it  was rather half-baked and not really entertaining. Eventually, the only really interesting element in this movie was the introduction of Natasha Romanoff A.K.A. Black Widow. Indeed, even though some may have had some doubts about Scarlett Johansson pulling this off, she eventually completely nailed it and became instantly one of the iconic characters in the MCU. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, the whole thing was still fairly entertaining but there is no doubt that it is one of the weakest movies delivered by Marvel so far.

The Sequel of Iron Man surprised me highly with great performances from Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle and Mickey Rourke as the evil Ivan Vanko even though i went to see the movie with kinda low expectations after reading a few reviews. I sure got the wrong picture about Iron Man 2 after those, this was not a disappointing film. In fact Iron Man 2 in my opinion was the best sequel made of a superhero-movie.

This movie had it all!

Great performances, funny jokes, excellent music and Samuel L. Jackson.

What more could you ask for!

8/10

I'm personally not into Iron Man, due to Stark's overly-cocky attitude. However, unlike the first film, I enjoyed the sequel. Cheadle, Johansson and Rourke carried the weight that Downey Jr. and Paltrow just can't handle.

With the additions of Scarlett and Don Cheadle, the film instantly became more impressive and the "bad A$$" factor along with it. Scarlett's lines may not have been prominent or..well noticeable, yet her presence and stunts in the film made up for the dialogue. Cheadle is truly a fine actor and deserves recognition as one. His one liners, although cheesy, were quite funny and outweighed Gwyneth's performance which was a mess.


Stark and Pepper's connection was unnoticed and to be honest had terrible chemistry. Downey and Paltrow don't flow well together and shouldn't work as a couple. Rourke was a great villain and pulled off the accent surprisingly well in my opinion. He's extremely rugged and knows how to act..plain and simple. Samuel Jackson's cameo was..decent so-to-speak, but didn't do much for the film besides one good laugh.

Whoever played Agent Allen was actually good as a bad guy. The job was to make you angry and think of him as a douche and he succeeded in acting naturally, very believable as a bad guy hahaa.



This film makes up for the stupidity of the first film. The action, dialogue and additional actors were much well thought out and I must give a tip of my hat to Jon Favreau for his directing. I'm not sure if there's another film following this, if so, I'd definitely watch it.

Rating: 7.2/10

Mi aspettavo di più, dopo l'ottimo primo episodio. La storia qui, è trita e ritrita anche per un film sui supereroi. Se non fosse per i tratti insoliti del protagonista rispetto ai suoi "colleghi" (identità pubblica, presunzione e autocompiacimento) e per la solita bravura di Robert Downey Jr sarebbe in film insufficiente, soprattutto per i modi sbrigativi in cui vengono risolti i due grossi problemi di Tony Stark (sconfiggere il problema fisico e sconfiggere il nemico). Interessante la tela che si sta tessendo per portare alla formazione dei Vendicatori, con l'entrata in scena di Nick Fury e il suo dossier. A questo proposito, da vedere la consueta scena finale, se resistete agli interminabili minuti di titoli di coda (ma quanta gente ci lavora in un film!?)

Surprisingly enough, the people who are going to be most disappointed (or at least underwhelmed) by IRON MAN 2 are those who are part of the movie's ostensible target audience, that is, those who are looking for tons and tons of consecutive, loud action sequences. I'm not a part of that group of people, which is why I had no problem with the fact that this movie dedicates its first hour and a half to exposition and dialogue-based scenes, while reserving the kick-ass action for the last act. It's hard to complain, though, when that hour and a half of dialogue and exposition features Robert Downey Jr. being as brilliantly irreverent as he was in the first film.

Justin Theroux's screenplay features so many one-line zingers that it puts to shame the so-called "wit" in the recent (failed) attempt at a franchise that was THE LOSERS. If there's a flaw in IRON MAN 2 as far as the dramatic component is concerned, it comes in the scene involving our protagonist watching a video of his father... it's something you'll easily see coming, and it seems to tie up a plot thread in a far simpler way than I would've hoped.

Added to Downey Jr.'s charisma is Gwyneth Paltrow's consistently genuine turn as our hero's love interest, the great Sam Rockwell in a delightfully twisted villainous performance, and Mickey Rourke taking sleazy to levels that I suspect not many actors could achieve. Scarlett Johansson doesn't have much to do in early scenes except assume the femme fatale persona, but there's a pretty rewarding scene towards the end in which she quickly dispatches a bunch of people (this won't be too impressive for those of who, just a few weeks ago, witnessed what a certain Hit Girl can do, but still).

Once again, there's the obligatory "after the credits" scene, which may or may not satisfy people as much as the one we got from the first movie. Basically, my suggestion is to stay for it only if you're a fan of Thor. Is that a spoiler? I don't really think it is, but well, sorry if you feel like I spoiled something. It's not much of a revelatory moment, anyway. There aren't many signs that there'll be an IRON MAN 3, but there are a heck of a lot of references to the upcoming AVENGERS franchise. Personally, I'd pay money RIGHT NOW to be able to see Chris Evans ordering Robert Downey, Jr. around, but I guess we'll have to wait a little bit.

Overall, I think the IRON MAN 2 experience is basically just as satisfying as that of the first film. It may leave something to be desired for those who would've preferred more action sequences during the film's first two acts, but for my taste, this approach was very good. The build-up is fantastic, and the final battle sequence is intense and well-made, and doesn't simply consist of pieces of metal clanging against each other (you'll have to wait for the next TRANSFORMERS movie if that's what you're looking for). Regardless of whether the IRON MAN franchise continues, or if we'll simply see the character of Iron Man transferred over to a new franchise, you have to be thankful that this superhero has been portrayed by such a versatile actor who has made these two films so much fun.

Lacking much of the brains and heart of Iron Man, Iron Man 2 mistakes more for better and chaotic, often headache-inducing over-indulgence for thrilling action set pieces. There is still much to like, but it just isn’t quite as tart, smart or breezy as the first time around. It never betters its predecessor, but it does offer two hours of fun blockbuster entertainment, however thin an endorsement that may be. And, thankfully, there’s no craptacular 3D version of to be found.

Whatever the specific problems with Iron Man 2 are, it is not the cast. Each performer seems game and strikes the correct note, even if one or two seem slightly miscast, they still manage to give it their best shot and seem to be having a good time. Robert Downey Jr. embeds the same sense of manic narcissism and rock star-level theatricality to the role, and goes deeper to showcase the self-destructive alcoholism and neediness hidden beneath the charming playboy veneer. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts and generates the kind of sparks with RDJ that haven’t been seen since His Girl Friday. Should they ever decide to remake that movie (shudder), sign up Paltrow and RDJ immediately because their quick back-and-forth is a pleasure. Don Cheadle, in a needless bit of recasting, doesn’t do anything better or worse than Terrence Howard in the same role. Sam Rockwell, normally so reliable, tended to grate my nerves with his simpering, whiny little-boy-playing-dress-up performance, I’m not sure if the fault is with the performance or the character. The truth is possibly somewhere in-between. And Scarlett Johansson, under-used and not given much to do besides pout and kick-ass, gives it her best. It’s nice to see a girl kick ass and show that she can take down all of the boys in a genre predominantly focused on male-centric action.

The best performance belongs to Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, a composite character of Blacklash and Crimson Dynamo. With his too-tanned skin, covered in tattoos, bad teeth and bleary-eyed-yet-pinpoint-focus, he makes the character seem far too real and dark for the rest of the proceedings. He is also underutilized, completely forgotten after a great set-up, awesome reveal (that outfit can only be described as gladiator BDSM-chic) and the best action sequence in the film. While Rockwell’s character gets a satisfying resolve, Rourke goes out cheaply and appears briefly which speaks to the biggest problem with the film: the script.

Iron Man 2 either has too much story or not enough to fit the run time. Since plot lines and characters are dropped, forgotten, tossed aside or so poorly utilized shows that maybe it’s a combination of both. With so many main characters and storyline vying for attention things are bound to get lost in the shuffle. That the film ends with a ridiculously long, ear-bleeding loud fight sequences between Iron Man and War Machine and hordes of robotic soldiers is a chance at finally firing off the action sequence load the film so sporadically stroked itself off towards.

When the dust finally settled, Iron Man 2 wasn’t awful. It was disappointing, forgettable but entertaining. Sporadically featuring the same tart and sharp wit in the original, but bogging itself down too much with unnecessary filler, Iron Man 2 plays like a stop-gap before the Avengers film.

After revealing that he is Iron Man businessman Tony Stark is loving the media attention. Tony is just enjoying being Iron Man and thinking that he has rid the world of evil and that the Iron Man suit is a revolutionary crime fighting tool. The government however would like to get their hands on the Iron Man technology and use it to mass produce soldiers and have an advantage in the war. Tony is being pursued by Justin Hammer an ego centric government official who thinks that he has the brains and the money to challenge Stark on the technological front. As all this takes place Ivan Vanko plans to attack Stark Industries for leaving his father jobless and broken.

There is a lot happening in Iron Man 2 and you would think that it would be enough for the plot to keep flowing smoothly with the final product being an action packed thrill ride. However they somehow managed to add too much to a film that everyone was already anticipating. They had Stark trying to stop himself from dieing.They had Stark being interviewed by Fury and cracking jokes about his eye patch. They had Stark drinking and fighting with the one friend he has. They had Stark questioning the sudden appearance of Natasha. But ultimately and this was the story that seemed lost they had Stark battling Vanko who during the film had been recruited by Hammer to design a suit that could better the Iron Man suit.

Tony Stark: I'm not saying I'm responsible for this country's longest run of uninterrupted peace in 35 years! I'm not saying that from the ashes of captivity, never has a Phoenix metaphor been more personified! I'm not saying Uncle Sam can kick back on a long chair, sipping on an ice tea, because I haven't come across anyone man enough to face me on my best day!


Robert Downey Jr is the perfect choice for Tony Stark. Downey is just so perfect at capturing the smug narcissism of Tony Stark, or as many people might see it the confidence that Stark has in his own work. However you see it one cannot deny that despite all the things that may have been crammed into Iron Man 2 Downey as Stark is not a let down. He continues to play the character exactly the way he was written in the comics and he even looks similar to the way Stark has been drawn in the best. As a whole Iron Man 2 may have been a let down in some aspects but as a fan of the series and Robert Downey Jr I am confident that this franchise can bounce back and be better then ever with its third installment. There are a few things that must be present in order for this franchise to do that. Scrap the appearances by Sam Jackson as Fury and stop the whole will he wont he story with the whole idea of them creating the avengers. I think we all know that Iron Man will be part of the avengers. Also for a third installment bring in the alcoholism factor, they gave us a glimpse but never really showed how it stopped Stark from being Iron Man and saving the world. Just slow down the pace and focus more on the adult issues that Tony Stark has always been faced with in the comics.If you create the Stark from the comics these Iron Man movies would not be for kids, but instead they just have Stark parading his confidence and blowing things up.

For a fan of the Iron Man comics and a fan of the first film that did not do a lot of developing with the character of Stark, instead they just brought a supporting cast full of big names to hype the film. I am slightly disappointed in the final product for a film that I had seriously been anticipating since 2008. Oh well there is hope for the future.