Friday, May 7, 2010

I grew up a comic book fan.  I worked in a comic book store.  I spent countless dollars on all sorts of comic books, that I read once and then secreted away to my white collectors long boxes.  I read comic books each and every week as much for the story as for the sense of excitement I'd feel when an amazing comic book ended and I knew I had to wait another month before I could re-immerse in to the story. Thus, I came in to Iron Man 2 scared that this, the second book in an already strong run, wouldn't live up to the hype of the first.  That director Jon Favreau and crew would fall victim to the calamities of sequel and ruin what had originally been so good.

Review - Iron Man 2

I sat in a crowded theater last night, one full of techies and slightly obnoxious geeks and smiled and chuckled and completely enjoyed myself all the way through this big, silly, at times intelligent super-hero film.  If you've been stuck inside a refrigerator for the last two years, Iron Man was a film about Tony Stark, a playboy millionaire who in the wake of a weapons accident is wounded, captured, and must build a battery operated war-machine to keep his ailing heart alive.  Iron Man 2 follows up on that: Tony Stark has revealed himself as Iron Man but is slowly dying because of the battery keeping him alive.  He's also spinning in to a self-destructive spiral while being pursued by a vengeful, electrical-whip wielding physicist and the U.S. military. Yes, this is a superhero film.

Yet, again, Favreau takes what could be deemed truly fantastical material and gives it a strong realistic edge while not losing the wholehearted fun of films about flying men who shoot repulsor beams from their hands.  Robert Downey Jr. continues to be Favreau's greatest weapon and every scene he's in, which sadly, is fewer than before, crackles.  He's one part fast-talking James Bond, one part boozy, self-destructive sot, and one part thick-armed superhero - and only an actor as good as Downey Jr. can combine the lot and not lose a grip on his character.  Perhaps the best character in the film is Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer, a rebuffed nerd to Tony Stark's strapping All-American quarterback, he uses his immense money and power to bluster his way through the film.  You imagine he climbs in to bed at night in a puddle of self-conscious tears, and you want to feel bad for him, but he's just enough of a prick to let you hate him.  That said Mickey Rourke, as vengeful son Whiplash, though almost entirely underused and sadly cast off in the end of the film, exudes pure evil, cementing his strange comeback to the A-list of Hollywood.

I could write and write and write about this film.  About the way that it's a film about technological wonder and the advent of technology for peace, not war.  About the way that overuse of Gwyneth Paltrow and Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts makes the film feel a bit like Team Stark: The Movie.  About the fact that Scarlett Johansson is a wooden mannequin but still manages to eek out the most amazing fight scene in the whole film.  About the fact that there's a little too much film here, but it's so imbued with love for the material I almost didn't care.

But the most important thing to say about Iron Man 2 is this: I found myself near the end of the film, as War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Iron Man face off against an amped up Whiplash, smiling huge, already excited for another film to continue the adventures of these characters.  To see what villain they fought next, what new superhero would grace the screen, when and where Tony Stark would start his long downward spiral in to alcoholism.  When the final frame of film rolled, I was waiting for the "Next Month" box in the lower-right hand corner of the page.  I wanted more, and that might be the biggest compliment I can give to Favreau and his lover letter to the three-colored medium.

- Noah Sanders - -



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