Film Review: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2. 124 minutes. Rated M. Directed by Jon Favreau. Written by Justin Theroux. Based on the Marvel comic books by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby

The art of making sequels to immensely popular films is a complicated affair. It can be extremely difficult to define precisely what it was that captured the imaginations of audiences around the world the first time, and, more often than not, it will be the filmmakers' blind faith in expecting it all to work equally as well the second time around that can leave a sequel struggling to make its own unique impact. While Iron Man 2 works well on a number of levels (chiefly the spirited performances and its abundant tongue-in-cheek humour), its failure to advance the story or the visual imaginings in meaningful ways (like the Superman, Spider Man and Batman franchises did), renders it immediately second-rate, before it eventually goes on to drown in its own conceit.

The main problem, as is so often the case, is the script. Actor/writer Theroux (who has one other screenplay, Tropic Thunder, to his credit), simply fails to elevate the story beyond this messy, derivative and imagination-starved incarnation. There are certainly hints of some interesting possibilities (such as the fact that the element that keeps Tony Stark/Iron Man alive is rapidly killing him by poisoning his blood stream), but they are abandoned within minutes. This is, after all, a determinedly 'feel-good' popcorn crunching affair. Sadly though, all we're left with is an incredibly old-fashioned 'might of the US Armed Forces' analogy that manages to not only deflate our expectations, but also to slide into an awkward, mind-numbing slump at the critical half-way mark from which it fails to recover.

Billionaire businessman Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr) is on top of the world. Stark Industries has created the 'Stark Expo' – a year-round technology expo which, apart from providing him with his own personal playground, allows Tony Stark to shamelessly flout his wealth and success. His Iron Man suit is now the envy of the US Government, and his fiercely competitive rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), is beside himself with jealousy. Meanwhile, in Moscow, Ivan Vanko/Whiplash (Mickey Rourke, pictured) – whose father worked in collaboration with Stark's in the engineering of the Iron Man's arc reactor technology – is using the identical blueprints to create his own version of the suit. Once it is complete, Vanko is determined to use it to avenge his father's treatment at the hands of Stark Snr, while destroying Stark Jnr and everything he stands for.

Problematically, the sequel never lets us know what it is, exactly, that Tony Stark stands for. Downey Jnr continues along on the same playful route as he did in the first instalment which, over the course of two hours, just becomes boring. With the exception of some cute interaction with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), there's nothing to either dislike or like about him. In a film about him, in which we're supposed to acknowledge him as the champion we all cheer for, it renders the whole thing kind of pointless. Fatefully, Favreau (who directed Iron Man) fails to bring new cinematic vigour (other than a fantastic Monaco Grand Prix sequence and some impressive Stark Expo action) to the whole affair. The climactic sequences only serve to remind us how much better Iron Man was. The camera ends up just being too far away from the action – resulting in Iron Man appearing to be nothing more than Tinkerbell on steroids.

Ultimately, though, Iron Man 2's final conceit is that we wish we were having as good a time watching it as everyone obviously was making it. That we actually don't, and by a long shot, just doesn't seem all that fair. Let's hope they spare us from Iron Man 3 which, if you hang around until the end of the credits, seems highly unlikely.