Iron Man 2

Hello WORLD!!! I saw about 200 movies since I last updated the Favorites blog and I'm sorry I haven't been updating this blog or my others lately. I sorry if Blogs were children, DCFS would be on my ass!! But enough with the banter; yall came here for reviews and yall shall receive...

IRON MAN 2 (2.5):
One of the most anticipated sequels of this year was to 2008's successful superhero vehicle IRON MAN, which re solidified Robert Downey Jr as a Hollywood A-Lister. He should have never left that list; despite all of his well documented battles with substance abuse, his movies (or more acurately, his roles in various movies) have all been on point. I don't see a flaw in his entire career with the exception of AIR AMERICA (which is a guilty pleasure of mine so I don't count it as a failure) and maybe KISS KISS BANG BANG (see what I said for AIR AMERICA). Anyway IRON MAN did manage to do a rare thing as far as superhero movies go: it produced quality over the top action sequences while still managing to believable, which is the amazing part. I recently seen KICK ASS too and even though there wasn't any superpowers per se... I'll save these comments for THAT review but you get the idea. Downey continues that trend here but is it enough to save this movie from itself? Let's see:
The sequel starts with the great ending to the first movie that really alludes to the character of Tony Stark (you know how the conceited millionaire who just so happens to save the WORLD-types are, right?) where he has just announced to the WORLD that he is in fact Iron Man. What follows after that is only logical: the Government wants in on the whole Iron Man bit and forces Mr. Stark to go to Washington, under the whole you have a weapon of destruction and we want it guise. This scene is thoroughly entertaining, partly because it retains the same crisp freshness that the first movie did. Another winning aspect from the original that is still intact is the relationship between Starks (played by Downey,Jr) & his secretary Pepper Potts, played with irresistible charm by Gweneth Paltrow. If this was another universe, I could see a whole movie dedicated to them trying to figure out why they haven't gotten together yet. Rounding out the returning characters is Col Jim Rhodes played this time around by Don Cheadle, who replaced the just as good Terrence Howard. Of the newcomers, the beautiful Scarlett Johansson plays the mysterious new secretary for Pepper who turns out to be.... I don't do spoilers but I'm more than sure you already know, Samuel L Jackson is SHIELDS leader Nick Fury, and Mickey Rourke plays a villainous Russian whose father's path is somehow intertwined with Stark's own father's path. While I did leave the theater not as happy as I did for the first movie, I can not say that this is a bad movie. I CAN say that Tony's smugness and Pepper's charm are enough to carry the so-so plot to the finish line. I CAN say that the introduction (FINALLY) of Rhodes WarMachine (it's not a spoiler if ya seen it on the damn poster people!) wasn't enough to throw my final judgment of this movie over the top. And I CAN say that despite Mickey Rourke's somewhat entertaining evil genius in this movie, the action was sorta ho hum the whole way. With that said, I CAN say that if you waited for the DVD you wouldn't be to hard on yourself for not see the theatrical release. I enjoyed this movie more than I have a lot of movies this year but then again that isn't saying much. Overall, I say it's worth a viewing IF you liked the original (& you're not looking for more than an update of the characters) and/or IF you're a fan of the comic books. Otherwise, you can probably wait for the DVD.