IRON MAN 2

The original Iron Man film, released in back in 2008, formed a pretty solid one-two punch with The Dark Knight. Together they reasserted the Superhero movie as a critically viable and commercially successful enterprise. Yet, Iron Man differed significantly in terms of mood from Nolan’s Batman offering.  The Dark Knight was about as broody as a fertility clinic and as cheerful as a morgue, Favreau’s Iron Man attempted to capture the comic’s sense of fun. In terms of mood, it’s much closer to Raimi’s Spiderman films. This was a breath of fresh air for critics who were growing tired of these grandiose and ‘worthy’ Superhero origin stories that lock onto a serious mood from the very first scene and rarely relent for a smile throughout.

The film had a naturalistic feel uncommon to superhero flicks and the dialogue was zippy and spontaneous. The whole production felt as fresh as a squirt of Febreeze. It was also a fantastic and deserved success which, of course, necessitated a sequel. As is often the case with follow-up efforts, Iron Man 2 aims for the sky, but is weighed down by a lack of focus, a cocktail of contrary moods and a general lack of bonhomie. If I could ask Iron Man 2 one question, it would be this: Why so serious?

The film begins with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) announcing his identity as Iron Man to the press. Across the world in Russia, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) mourning the recent death of his father regards the announcement with interest and begins work on constructing similar technology. His plan is to use the technology to destroy Tony Stark – the son of the man he holds directly responsible for his father’s undeserved life of abject poverty. You may think that the whole father-son dichotomy that underlies Tony’s Russian rivalry would be meaty enough to fill a film. Unfortunately, Iron Man 2 has sequelitus and chooses instead to pull in about 3-4 different directions.

Where do you start? There’s the complicated relationship between Tony Stark and the long suffering Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) which isn't ever granted any great importance. Whilst the first film was a good showcase for the chemistry between Downey Jr. and Paltrow, the flair and energy that once existed between them seems spent. Sure there’s still the snappy dialogue, but it seems less witty and dynamic than before. Tony Stark also has to contend with his own mortality – the palladium core in his chest that keeps him alive is slowly poisoning his body and there is seemingly nothing he can do to stop it. Such realisations can be difficult on a man, and Stark is led down a dark path for much of the film – he starts drinking, alienating his friends and self-sabotaging his business. It’s a far-cry from the self-aware, it’s-nonsense-but-you-love-it tone of the first film. It’s a shame that this path doesn’t really go anywhere and that all these different strands are resolved with such ease. Iron Man 2 is a bit of a mood roulette – you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get next.

Tony also has to contend with a rivalry between himself and a rival defence contractor Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell – who looks like he’s having a good time throughout – at least someone is) that is threatening to bubble over into violence. All this and I haven’t even mentioned Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson’s roles in the film. I do so for good reason – they are almost entirely superfluous – they are here to service The Avengers, Marvel’s next big superhero project. It’s almost as though Favreau were told that he had to include these two characters and made no real effort to ingratiate them into Iron Man 2’s wider story. Despite this, Scarlett Johansson is responsible for one of the films better scenes. Late on in the film, she dons a skin-tight black catsuit, infiltrates Justin Hammer’s compound and in doing so kicks all kinds of ass. It’s a stand-out scene because for once, it’s action that doesn’t merely involve robots hitting each other.