Fan boys (and girls) can rest easy.
Jon Favreau delivers on the promise that he made with the open end of his first Iron Man movie. Again, it seems like the fact that he is clearly a fan of the subject matter is shown in his reverence and respect for the story he is telling.
Iron Man 2 is every bit as fun to watch and tech-nerdy as the 2008 film.
The basics: if you liked the last one, you're probably going to like this one.
It mixes the humor, action, drama and epic scope that made the last one such a surprisingly great film.
Robert Downey Jr. is actually even more perfect as Tony Stark in this one, with the same mix of narcissism and joviality that made him dead on for the role to begin with, but improves on the last performance with a role that delves a little deeper into the demons deep inside Stark that made the comic book character perpetually compelling.
The rest of the cast bring the typical Marvel references to secondary characters that are mostly enjoyed by nerds who grew up with comic books and superhero cartoons: Black Widow, Nick Fury, War Machine, Whiplash, Jarvis, Justin Hammer and even a very brief (and not-so-subtle) reference to the son of Odin.
Tony Stark has a wonderful dilemma of which super-hot redhead he wants to be enamored with in Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts and Scarlet Johansson's Natasha Romanoff/Natalie Rushman/Natalia Romanova.
The replacement of Terrence Howard still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, but Don Cheadle is a great actor so he does a fine job with James Rhodes, though I still argue that Howard's portrayal was smoother and cooler, even if Cheadle's Rhodey gets to actually wear the suit.
Mickey Rourke's Whiplash is seriously menacing, even if he's a bit washed out by being one of the enemies instead of the only enemy that Iron Man faces.
Like many superhero movies, they try to put a little too much story in not enough space, so elements that could be better get a bit marginalized, like Rourke's evil genius which could have been spotlighted a bit better.
This film is clearly going to be not just one of the best action movies of the summer film season, but it lays a lot of groundwork for the Avengers movie that is scheduled for release in 2012.
In spite of trying hard to include a bit too much awesomeness, Favreau and crew manage to present us nerds with the right mix of story and action to make his second Marvel foray just as good as his first, which really took audiences by surprise that "Gutter" had that much genius in him. As much fun as it is to watch Favreau act, I really hope he keeps directing if we're going to get quality like these, and Made, out of him rather than Zathura.
Now I'm looking forward to Cowboys and Aliens in 2011.
Iron Man 2 gets an A-
--John Berry, Online Editor--