My summer movie viewing officially begins today with Iron Man 2. And I'm proud to say I was one of the first people to see it. I and my roommate caught an afternoon screening, right when the theatre opened.
Unlike many sequels, IM2 does not disappoint. As Tony Stark, played with gusto by Robert Downey Jr., deals with new complications that come with being an outed superhero, not to mention coming to terms with some of his own personal demons, new enemies emerge to shake things up even more, including a Russian scientist with a score to settle (played by Mickey Rourke) and an unscrupulous weapons designer (Sam Rockwell).
With a cast like this it's hard to screw things up. There's Downey Jr. of course, whose career was revived by this role in the first movie. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as the fiery Pepper Potts. Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard as James "Rhodey" Rhodes, and while I wondered how this replacement would go over I thought Cheadle did a great job. Plus he had some awesome action scenes with Downey Jr. Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell make for great villains, one being quiet and menacing and one being talkative and slimy respectively. And Samuel L. Jackson got to do what he does as S.H.E.I.L.D. leader Nick Fury.
My only quibble with the cast is that I found Scarlett Johansen's performance as the Black Widow a tad wooden. Maybe that's supposed to with being a spy, but still I would've liked to see her a bit livelier. Really good martial arts scenes though.
There were some great lines, keeping the humor from the first film. There were also so many comic book references to keep the average geek happy. From a cameo by Stan Lee, to hints at other Avengers. it all stays Geek-tastic.
My Verdict: A worthy successor to the first film, and hopefully a good sign of the new comic book movies coming down the tracks.
P.S. Stay 'til the end of the credits. There's a final scene that's guaranteed to set any comic geek's heart a flutter.
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