Iron Man 2 - A Review

If you've read other reviews of 'Iron Man 2' and have come here looking for a different opinion, I'm afraid you're wrong. I was naturally skeptical about Empire's and even Culch.ie's review - they weren't able, I thought, to grasp the inner complexities or the textures that a good comic-book film should have. This latest craze of saying "Oh man, I love comic books" is prone to giving films with this heritage an unfair advantage or disadvantage. Reviewers seem to either overly berate or unduly praise a film because of it.

In this case, it didn't do it any favours and it didn't help its case. No pun intended. As a true and avid lover of the entire Marvel universe, I was sold on this from the get-go. I was going to see it, no matter what the reviews said. They are all, by the way, correct in their opinions. Without spoilering the shit out of you, I will say the following -

• Nick Fury has a somewhat big role in the film.
• There is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it piece of film from another Marvel property.
• The infamous Captain America shield makes an appearance. In a comedy scene. No, really.
• There is an after-credits sting. It's worth staying put for.

And that's all I'll say on that front. The film is glorious in its spectacle. There are tons of explosions, over-the-top choreography, zingy one-liners and Scarlett Johansson getting undressed. That alone had me forking over a tenner. Favreau goes out of his way to make sure that there are few dark areas in the film. Too often, the sequel is seen as the 'darker' film - meaning that the third has to be twee as fuck. Look at 'Return Of The Jedi' - it had Ewoks. While this didn't have Ewoks, it did have glitter. But that's half the charm of the Iron Man series. It's a suspension of disbelief, brainless entertainment - there's no hidden messages or even a deep and labyrinthine plot.

It does, however, suffer from crowbarring in too many elements into the plot. I get that Favreau and Theroux - who deserves most of the blame - have a duty to fit in pointers and references to the future Avengers film and so forth. It's frustrating - there are some scenes that are quite brilliant. Sam Rockwell's slimy greaseball character in Justin Hammer pretty much steals the show on the villain front. Mickey Rourke, who I personally hate, doesn't really get up to much. At least in the last one, Jeff Bridges made an effort to glower and roar at people. Here, Mickey looks half-bored and blubbers on in Russian for a few scenes before being offed by Iron Man & War Machine.

Despite all these faults, it's still good. The action scenes are brilliant and ScarJo and Gwyneth Paltrow are both engaging and Favreau's role is beefed up somewhat. What the film needed in order to make it better was a more finely-honed script. Theroux's not exactly a dab hand at this. I'm not saying somebody like Brian Helgeland was needed - but someone with a bit more experience. The overall story just feels like they were trying to fit in too many elements. A veteran screenwriter would have caught this and either excised the bullshit or make a bigger film. As such, Theroux simply puts everything in and doesn't allow you to connect to the story.

Then again, it's not that kind of film. It really is a case of all sizzle and no steak. But that's the charm of it. If you poke at it long enough, it will seem shit. You have to take it at face value for what it is - a big, dumbass summer film. And enjoy it for that.