Darkmatters Review: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 (12a)

Dir. Jon Favreau

Reviewed by Matt Adcock

Prepare for a heavy-metal super sequel that ignites 2010’s blockbuster season…

Director Favreau (who gets a fun cameo) makes sure that absolutely everything is in place for a successful follow up to 2008’s jaw dropping origin tale. Fun loving billionaire Tony Stark (Robert ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Downey, Jr.) blasts back as Iron Man. The action picks up straight after the first film where Stark had announced his ‘super’ alternate identity to the world.

New villainous baddie ‘whiplash’ comes in the form of a crazed Russian scientist Ivan Vanko (Mickey ‘The Wrestler’ Rourke) – a serious threat due to the fact that he has created a weapon based on similar tech to Iron Man. Rourke eats up the screen on a growling, arrogant collision course with Stark and he brings a mean pair of laser whips with him…


Super sexy Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson who hasn’t looked this good for ages) is another great new character who can kick ass and add a spunky extra option to the love interests in Stark’s life.


Iron Man’s lone wolf image could be threatened by a new ally in the heavily armed shape of Lt. Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhode who steps up to become ‘War Machine’ (Don Cheadle playing it straight). The sight of these two battle suited heroes going for it hammer and tongs, side by side, against some daunting odds in the climactic showdown is an absolutely wonderful adrenaline rush that elicited yelps of excitement from the audience.


Returning characters include Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) but whilst she was great in the first film, here she is so comprehensively upstaged by Johansson that she feels somewhat redundant. Also back is Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, the man who manages a certain superhero team – which Iron Man is destined to form a part of… Keep you eyes peeled for some great hints as to which other heroes are going to be turning up in the same universe as Iron Man very soon. Oh and make sure you don’t leave until you’ve caught the after the credits tease which is enough to make comic book geeks freak right out.


Downey Jr. brings his infectious charisma to the lead role and is a hero that has real issues to deal with but who keeps the audience onside even when making a bit of a dick of himself. Iron Man 2 is a crunching success, a good time super hero adventure that deserves at least one more sequel!

"Mmmmmmm..."

UNSEEN DELETED SCENE:

Iron Man gets into a sticky situation after hooking his suit up to a Xbox 360 for a Call of Duty battle simulation and unwittingly develops a hard to trace error which sees his suit overheating and his chest circle flashing a ‘red ring of death’…

Darkmatters rating: ööööööööö (9 armoured battle suits out of 10)

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