Movie Review: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 came out this weekend to raging success. The novelty of “Iron Man” hasn’t worn off on me.  While it would never be the same as witnessing the first scene of Iron Man soaring into space and the joy of the trial and error, Iron Man is still the only one of its kind that is as grounded in future reality as it could be.

“I privatize world peace,” sums up all of it.

Tony Stark is one of the rare exceptions of the superhero world; his identity is publicly known.  Robert Downey Jr. doesn’t disappoint in the sequel wherein the world knows Tony Stark not only as the billionaire weapon manufacturer extraordinaire, but more pivotally as The Man in the armored suit.

RDJ is the brain, heart and soul of Iron Man.  It makes me wonder whether the script was written specifically for him. His personality carries through every single scene and truly makes the movie what it is.

Bold and brash, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark has that smug swagger that commands the world over. Naturally narcissistic and sarcastic, over-sized just doesn’t cover it as far as Stark’s ego goes.  Never known for subtleties, his flashy style and fast-paced lifestyle suits him just fine – even in his quest to discover the new energy source since the arc-core machine that keeps his heart beating is also slowly poisoning him.

In Iron Man 2, Stark goes toe-to-toe with not only his enemies, but also buts heads with his alllies: the newly minted CEO of Stark Industries aka love-interest Pepper Pots; the newly appointed eye-candy secretary with an ulterior motive, aka Black Widow; Hammer, the competitor with an ambitiously ambiguous agenda; Nick Fury from yes, the future Avengers team (sidenote: the geeks in us would notice Captain America’s shield and Thor’s hammer); and Whiplash… what an entrance!  I totally didn’t expect the Monaco mayhem to happen early.

With interconnected pasts, Whiplash is a worthy adversary. Their first encounter in the film is in the Grand Prix thrill scene where Whiplash faces off with Stark sans-suit is the scene that steals the movie (even more so than the last sequence of dash, smash and blast of the battle of the war machines in the end.)

The incredibly cool mass zig-zag laser cut and the armed superobots add dimension and thrill to the film. But if there’s a “flaw” in all this, Don Cheadle dawning an Iron Man suite and flawlessly becoming a war machine is less than believable. Not just anyone can put on the suit and become “Iron Man.”

In addition to the action and adventure of the film, numerous outrageously riotous one-liners bring on continuous giggles and laugh out-loud moments. Theaters full of people seem to have enjoyed the show.  Personally, I don’t recall ever laughing so hard for so long in a non-comedic movie.