Iron Man 2 Review

I’m confused.

I wanted to love “Iron Man 2”, but I just didn’t and I’m not really sure why.

I SHOULD love this movie. It reunites the director and (most of the) cast of the 2008 blockbuster. (On top of that, coming into the movie I thought Don Cheadle for Terrence Howard was an upgrade!) As if that weren’t good enough, the movie actually added Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke, the consistently excellent Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson in a skintight catsuit.

So to summarize, here’s what this movie had to offer: a typically excellent and charismatic performance from Robert Downey Jr., better villains, more action and boobs.

So what’s my problem?

Well, the problem is that all the stuff I just mentioned doesn’t end up amounting to a hell of a whole lot.

“Iron Man 2” picks up a short time after billionaire playboy industrialist Tony Stark (Downey) announced to the world that he was Iron Man at the end of the original film. With the help of his superpowered suit, Stark has “privatized world peace” and made the military and other weapons contractors – like burgeoning rival Justin Hammer (Rockwell) – mostly obsolete.

His armor of invincibility figuratively and literally gets a major chink with the arrival of Ivan Vanko (Rourke), a Russian genius with deadly electrical appendages and an axe to grind against the Stark family.

My fear coming into this movie was that it would feel WAY overstuffed trying to serve each of these terrific performers. To his credit, director Jon Favreau did a nice job of giving every single member of his cast his or her moment to shine. (Though I probably could’ve done with a little less of Favreau inserting himself as Stark’s bodyguard.) Unfortunately, each actor (other than Downey and probably Rockwell, who fares very well as a pathetic Stark wannabe) gets little more than a “moment” to shine.

Mickey Rourke could’ve been a great villain, but Ivan pops up in the beginning, participates in an impressive race track action sequence, and then the most we do is check in on him every once in a while before the budget-busting climactic action sequence in the end (from which he’s largely absent). Rourke makes the role interesting, but have you seen Mickey Rourke in real life?! The dude is always fascinating and just this short of crazypants. I would’ve liked to have seen his talents unleashed more than they were.

Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Stark assistant-turned company CEO Pepper Potts, but despite her natural chemistry with Downey, she has little more to do than fret about Stark and roll her eyes. Similarly, Johansson’s mysterious character is a blank slate (not in an interesting way) until she (or at least her obvious stunt double) gets to kick a little ass (and pose after every move). Cheadle takes over the mostly thankless role of Stark’s best friend Rhodey, but doesn’t really add anything to the proceedings besides he scores a few laughs when he finally joins in on the action toward the end.

I hate to sound like I’m complaining so much because the movie really is pretty good. Downey alone – conveying Stark’s hubris and newfound vulnerability equally well – is worth the price of admission. To be honest, I didn’t at all understand the science behind a key plot point, but Downey made it interesting to watch.

Then again, the movie’s biggest problem (other than the missing sense of wonder from the original flick – how cool was it when he flew for the first time?) is that it never really feels like anything matters.

I get that the world of Favreau’s “Iron Man” is NOT the world of Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” (where girlfriends can get blown up), but there are so many different actors and characters to serve in “Iron Man 2” that writer Justin Theroux doesn’t really come up with a storyline compelling enough to tie them all together.

In fact, another problem is that Theroux seems more concerned with setting up events for future films (witness Samuel L. Jackson’s jokey extended cameo as S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury, and the scene at the end of the credits). Also, the fight between Iron Man and War Machine at Stark's house is absurd, but comes just sort of joining the pantheon of Laughably Bad Comic Book Movie Sequences (where the jazz club scene from "Spider Man 3" and the playground fight in "Daredevil" live).

Still, “Iron Man 2” is strong, if unspectacular summer entertainment. You’ll enjoy it well enough while you’re watching it, but you probably will have forgotten about it by the time you get home.

Iron Man 2…B-