Iron Man 2

It's hard to sell a sequel to film critics. It's easy to sell them to audiences in a fiscal sense, but until Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2, the most recent good sequel in popular consciousness was Terminator 2. A good film with the word "2" in the title is a confusing beast for professional critics, a good comic-book film with the word "2" in the title doubly so. The resulting effect caused by Iron Man 2 has been reviews which say, "there was too much action, and not enough talking, booo", or "it was okay, but there was too much talking and not enough action. Booo." Would it surprise you to learn that I think neither is accurate?

Iron Man 2 picks up where the first film left off, with Tony Stark announcing his secret identity and showboating it like no one's business, with an appropriately ludicrous introduction that works because of how thoroughly Tony's character was cemented in Iron Man. No, wait, scratch that. Iron Man 2 picks up with Russian career prisoner Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) being given a reason to finally get off his butt and seek revenge for the apparent wrong done to his father by Tony's father fourty years earlier. Rourke is a careful actor, one who has a knack for making a character both over-the-top and down to earth at the same time, and that talent serves this film very well. One critic complained that "it's hard to fear a villain who wears reading glasses, chews toothpicks and coos sweet nothings to a pet cockatoo", but I'd argue that it is these quiet, matter-of-fact eccentricities - and normal things, like being pudgy and wearing reading glasses - that make Vanko so scary, especially when combined with Rourke's sleepy portrayal that seems to suit a man who's spent most of his life in and out of Russian prisons. And who (aside from Russian speakers) knows what he's actually saying to his bird? For all we know, it could be twisted and disturbing sweet nothings, like when Emily Watson moans that she's going to bite Adam Sandler's face off at the end of Punch-Drunk Love. At any rate, Rourke is a standout, producing a character who's also a believable person.

Though the cast is uniformly excellent, special mention must be made of Sam Rockwell as Stark's chief rival in the Department of Defense contracts game, Justin Hammer. Taking on the typically thankless role of the hero's less successful, less charismatic, less intelligent, extremely irritating foil, the film is Rockwell's to steal - and steal it, he does. His scenes with Mickey Rourke are just great, and he perfectly delivers what will probably be this film's most memorable bit of dialogue, in a scene in which he tries to sell Rhodey a new type of bunker-buster missile.

This film does have a bit of an awkward pace, but it's nothing to write home about, and what really stands out is how short the fights are. There's a decent bit of set-up, particularly when Vanko's alter-ego Whiplash is introduced against the backdrop of the Monaco Grand Prix, but when heroes and villains actually start hitting each other, epic boss fights last perhaps fourty seconds. It's like someone actually sat down and asked themselves, "if two people capable of causing massive destruction actually tried to kill each other, what would happen?" - this isn't two giants punching each other in the head for twenty minutes (*cough*Transformers!*cough*).

But, let's face it, the question I've been asked the most is, "is it better than the first film?" No. Is it Spider-Man 2? Not quite. Is it a solid film with great writing, acting, directing, and really great superhero action? Yes. Frankly, the only thing I'm truly disappointed with is that the infamous briefcase suit made a quick but crucial appearance - but there was no word on whether or not it harnessed the power of MAGNETS! Go for the movie, stay for the credits, stay for the scene after the credits, and look forward to the next Avenger film.