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Sunday, May 9, 2010

MOVIE REVIEW
Iron Man 2
More Iron + More Cooks + Less Downey = Too (2) Bad

 
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, in Jon Favreau's "Iron Man 2", now playing across the U.S. and Canada. 
Paramount Pictures

By Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW 
Sunday, May 9, 2010

*With an addition, in italics and hypertext

Ah, the sequel.  The secret to their success is to make them more interesting and riveting than their predecessors.  Only a few times has this been done in American cinema: "The Godfather Part II", "The Empire Strikes Back", "Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan", "Aliens", "Lethal Weapon 2", "Terminator 2", "Spider-Man 2" and "The Dark Knight".

"Iron Man 2" doesn't make this short list, unfortunately falling prey to the oft-made mistake of excess and over-packing.  Robert Downey Jr. returns as the inimitable and hedonistic Tony Stark, indulging again in self-acclaim.  Mr. Downey continues to rip the one-liners that screenwriter-actor Justin Theroux supplies him in breathless, effortless style.  Mr. Downey's star power and acting acumen are the sole reason to see Mr. Favreau's latest film, but even he gets relegated to second billing because of the additional iron-suited beings and assorted characters that populate it.

The main villain of this orgy of disaster is Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who steals and (augments?) the patented technology of Stark Industries to make a more potent Iron Man suit of armor.  Vanko, as paper thin as he is brawny, is the film's proficient terminator, but he is installed as its side distraction rather than its center, solely to confront Stark and force him to explore his own vulnerabilities.  Vanko arrives on the stage, makes his presence felt, then disappears.  He reappears -- just in time, in an attempt to get audiences to forget about the waywardness of the film.

Others overstay their welcome too, such as Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johanssen), an enigmatic presence.  We aren't sure what her function is in the film.  Is she good, bad or shades of in between?  We find out, but the film teases us, it seems, for no good reason.  Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Stark's assistant-turned-CEO, but she spends much of the film shouting.  At times Mr. Downey and Ms. Paltrow try to emulate Howard Hawks-like banter but it doesn't feel right in an already clunky film.

Due to the presence of the additional characters (there's also Sam Rockwell, Garry Shandling, Samuel L. Jackson and Don Cheadle along for the ride), "Iron Man 2" spins wildly out of focus.  The action is neither galvanizing nor awe-inspiring.  The film's overall energy is tepid.  A few members of the audience that this film was screened for on a particular night seemed to will it to enthusiasm with scattered cheers and hollering, but ultimately to no avail.  They wanted something to root for, but that something eluded both them and the filmmakers.

With: Jon Favreau, Kate Mara, Clark Gregg, Leslie Bibb, John Slattery.

"Iron Man 2" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association Of America for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some language.  The film's running time is two hours and four minutes.


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Unscripted review of "Iron Man 2"



Read more movie reviews and stories from Omar here.

Read Omar's "Far-Flung Correspondent" reports for America's pre-eminent Film Critic Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times - here



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