Iron Man 2

Altogether lacking that dynamism of its forerunner “Iron Man,” its sequel “Iron Man 2” fails hard at being a sequel that lives up to the enthusiasm that one could look forward to from such a fun comic-book hero feature. Once again directed by Jon Favreau, “Iron Man 2” is a talky, slow paced, monotonous follow up that quite frankly left me in such disenchantment by what the filmmakers gave us in terms of a action-adventure that could’ve been so promising.

In the film, Tony Stark/Iron man (Robert Downy Jr.) finds his life as a playboy superhero continually becoming something more than he could’ve ever imagined when he comes to realize the one thing keeping him alive (an everlasting power source) is also killing him. To make matters worse Tony comes head to head with a foe by the name of Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who has mastered the technical research that Tony Stark’s father once pioneered and ultimately profiteered from. Tony Stark has found his residency in the world rather diminutive as his life deteriorating but also that of Iron Mans who is now seen as a weapon to the people who he has sought out to protect and serve.

With the first “Iron Man” being so exciting and new, its hard to configure why the filmmakers wanted to take this installment and ultimately the character into such a realm that is adverse and bland. Perhaps the filmmakers wanted to take cue from “The Dark Knight” by making a comic book film that was darker in tone but, also one that uniformly different than its predecessor. Personally this application doesn’t fair well with the film ultimately making it rather convoluted in its vision and series direction.

From a personal standout I have no problem with filmmakers taken chances with sequels but in all honestly by not giving audiences an “Iron Man” installment that just doesn’t compare by any degree is rather unacceptable. At the same time the film does offer some insightful and fun motives to showing the direction of the “Iron Man” character within the Marvel universe, giving audiences a sense of the proposed “Avengers” feature film which will see the likes of Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Iron Man in the same film. Sure this submission could be construed as illogical but in all fairness it is fun to see what could be expected from future “Iron Man” sequels and other Marvel based properties.

Robert Downey Jr. and company still looks comfortable in his title role and he still masterfully bringing Tony Stark/Iron Man to life with vigor and edge. The rest of the films cast is fine job but sort of limited with what they have to work with content wise. Mickey Rourke personally could’ve been better as I believe his presence wasn’t at all taken advantage of enough. I could go on and on about how better “Iron Man 2” could’ve been but in all fairness it’s reasonable to say that this installment of “Iron Man” is for the most part lacking that definite mechanism that would’ve made it so incredibly mighty.