A lot was riding on Iron Man 2 when it was released in 2010. Not only was the original film a huge box office success, but many consider it one of the best comic book origin films to date. It was fresh and appealed to both comic book lovers and casual moviegoers looking for a good time at the movies.
My feelings about Iron Man 2 haven’t changed much since I first saw it eight years ago. The film is certainly fun and far from a misfire but it’s not as focused or streamlined as its predecessor. A lot of the problem is a problem of necessity. Iron Man 2 is essentially one big setup movie for what will become The Avengers. We are introduced to the facets of S.H.I.E.L.D. in this installment and while it’s not a mishandled introduction, it seems shoehorned in because it HAS to be there. The same can be said about the film’s own plot which doesn’t feel complete because it’s battling with the S.H.I.E.L.D. narrative. Because of that, we get villains that aren’t particularly realized and a film that’s less personal than what came before it. Keeping things afloat is Robert Downey Jr., whose charm goes a long way to make Iron Man 2 worthy of some of your time.
Iron Man 2 picks up shortly after the completion of the first film. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), having revealed himself to be the man in the metal suit, has been a one-person force for world peace, settling conflicts large and small across the globe. In secret, however, he is suffering from palladium poisoning, with the device that keeps his heart beating gradually releasing toxins into his blood. Recognizing the death sentence, he does what any man in his situation might do: positions the world for life after him while partying. He hands over control of his company to his faithful assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and allows his best friend, Lt. Col. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), access to one of his “spare” suits. Meanwhile, he refuses to cede control of his Iron Man intelligence to the U.S. government.
The film provides Iron Man with new foes: a would-be Tony Stark entrepreneur named Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), whose approach recalls the fatuousness of Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor, and Russian physicist Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who has developed his own Iron Man suit, with a few nasty enhancements. Justin Hammer is certainly the more interesting of the two villains, even if he’s not enhanced with Iron Man-like abilities. A credit to this is the performance of Sam Rockwell who makes him an intriguing figure and a nice counterpart to Tony Stark. As a villain, Ivan Vanko, played by Mickey Rourke, promises more than he delivers. For the most part, the narrative treats him as an afterthought until late in the proceedings and this was something Rourke personally had an issue with and I can see why. He’s set up to be more of a threat than he actually his and when he pops up later in the film after the movie seems to forget about him, he’s met with a sense of indifference.
It’s difficult to say whether the main problem with Iron Man 2 is that it suffers from too much plot or too little. There’s certainly a lot of exposition – so much so that it interferes with the pacing. For the first 90 minutes of its 125-minute running time, the movie is sluggish in spots, with action sequences few and far between. There are a lot of scenes of Tony being an asshole, plenty of setup for The Avengers movie (which was still at least two years in the future at the time), and a fair amount of dialogue that doesn’t amount to much (although screenwriter Justin Theroux delivers a few good one-liners – I especially liked the one about the Hammer-oids). The slowness of the first three-quarters is mostly redeemed by the kick-ass final half hour, which features the no-holds-barred battle one is expecting, although all the metal-on-metal crunching echoes the climax of the first Iron Man.
Iron Man 2 also ramps up the involvement of S.H.I.E.L.D. Samuel L. Jackson returns as Nick Fury (his appearance in the first film was limited to a post-credits “Easter Egg”). Another familiar face from Iron Man is Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg). He is joined by the double-jointed and combat-ready Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson), who goes undercover as Stark’s new assistant. Their moments are certainly fun to watch, with Scarlett Johansson getting a fun action sequence that gives us a taste of what she would bring as Black Widow in The Avengers, but it feels like these sequences are crying out for more time or their own movie. This can happen when a film is being used to virtually set up a bigger picture and that happens in Iron Man 2. At the time the inclusion feels forced but I will say I was more tolerable of it in viewings of the film after The Avengers finally came out because a lot of what they do here feels more relevant to the big picture once you see it.
The one thing that hasn’t faltered from the original is Robert Downey Jr., who virtually owned the role once the credits began on the first movie. His innate charisma, his ability to deliver cutting lines of dialogue with the perfect inflection, and his capacity to overcome narrative shortcomings are reasons why Iron Man 2 works better than one might suspect. Also still intact is his chemistry with Gwyneth Paltrow who continues to shine as Pepper Potts. Scarlett Johansson, adds a dose of sexuality and tenacity to the proceedings but her role is bit superfluous here. We now know she would have more to do, but at the time she certainly left us wanting more of her. The recasting of Rhodes/War Machine is a step in the right direction as Don Cheadle seems much more invested than Terrence Howard was in the role. Cheadle gets that he’s there for support and I have a feeling that Howard would’ve attempted to overshadow the lead. Cheadle brings the right amount of loyalty to the role that solidifies his friendship with Tony Stark.
Despite my criticisms, Iron Man 2 is still a fun and entertaining ride. It has definite rewatch value and doesn’t hurt the overall trajectory of the MCU. A lot of shortcomings are on display because the first film was just so good that it might’ve been almost impossible to live up to that hype. As sequels go, it’s not on the same level as the original, but it holds its own in certain regards despite not soaring to the same heights.
