There's the old saying about life being what happens when you're busy making other plans. It's certainly true for most people whether they like it or not, but such detours occasionally turn into fairly fruitful routes if traveled with care. Take, for instance, that of Robert Downey Jr., a talented actor in most anyone's book.
Yet, despite his critical success, he never was considered the go-to guy for opening a movie big, and his personal issues off-screen nearly derailed his career (not to mention life). For a while, that undermined industry confidence in his ability to earn his paycheck, not to mention diminished some degree of goodwill toward him -- and thus the characters he played -- from some quarters.
A funny thing, happened, however, on his rehabilitation course, and that is that he became an unlikely action star. While Sam Worthington may have bigger box office numbers to back him up as the current number one such performer, few viewers can probably actually place his name to his mug. Downey, on the other hand, is instantly recognizable has surprisingly become the star to turn to, thanks to his work in 2008's "Iron Man" and "Tropic Thunder" and 2009's "Sherlock Holmes."
With the release of the inevitable "Iron Man" sequel, he's about to send his action hero status into even higher orbit. While the actor is as good as ever -- he's one of the few performers I can watch in just about any sort of movie -- this latest offering (that comes with "2" tacked onto the title to state the obvious) isn't as good as its predecessor. That's not to say it's bad, and it certainly has its moments.
But for those expecting lightning to strike twice in terms of getting another fresh and innovative spin on the fairly tired superhero genre ("The Dark Knight" notwithstanding), this is bound to elicit some degree of let-down and/or disappointment for those salivating to see the latest adventures of Tony Stark and his metal-clad alter ego.
Granted, it's fairly difficult to capture the original magic in any sequel -- particularly in this genre -- mainly because of the nature of the beast. The first film in the series got to work with the origins plot, and director Jon Favreau, writers Art Marcum & Matt Holloway and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Downey along with the rest of the cast had a field day with that. The result was an infectiously entertaining popcorn flick that pretty much worked from start to finish, despite the "Transformers" type conclusion.
Here, most of the original main cast is back (save for Terrence Howard who's been replaced by Don Cheadle) as is Favreau, but new to the fold screenwriter Justin Theroux has a hard time filling the shoes of the writing quartet that preceded him. Perhaps feeling the need to deliver the same amount of writing, the scribe introduces a number of storylines and subplots that end up bogging down the flow, particularly in the middle section where things surprisingly get somewhat boring.
The one that works best and helps get the audience behind the protagonist is that his artificial ticker inserts are both prematurely burning out and poisoning him. That naturally imbues the character with mortality issues that make us concerned about his well-being, although it's highly unlikely anyone thinks anything bad will happen to him in the course of the pic.
Of course, it certainly doesn't help that while Mickey Rourke might be a formidably-sized villain, his Whiplash character (so named for long, electrified steel whips he yields, sort of like a two-armed Doc Ock as mixed with an electric eel) isn't terribly interesting. That also holds true for Sam Rockwell as a competitive defense contractor who desires to one-up his rival. Garry Shandling is present as a U.S. Senator who wants the eccentric and egotistical billionaire's high-tech flight suit for national security, but that doesn't do much for the story beyond allowing Downey to have some fun dissing authority figures.
There's also a subplot where he promotes his assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow reprising her role, but not given much to do) and thus gets a new aide in the form of the beguiling and shapely Scarlett Johansson. The fact that she's quite capable of handling anyone in her way, along with the presence of Samuel L. Jackson (thankfully not hamming it up despite the signature eye patch), a certain highly identifiable shield to comic book fans and an end of the credits coda ends up making the film feel something like an advertisement (or at minimum, a blatant tease) for yet additional Marvel Comics product headed soon to a multiplex near you.
Despite plenty of characters and story arcs being in play, most of what's present isn't terribly engaging, and the third act leads to the final battle that -- to no one's surprise -- has to go bigger, louder and flashier than last time around, but only ends up feeling even more like those noisy and hyperactive Michael Bay 'bot films. The saving grace, of course, is Downey and what he does with the character, and that's continue to make him fun to behold. In that regard, he's worth every penny he's being paid to be this unlikely action movie star. Now if he could have gotten everyone else to perform up to his level, than we would have really had something here.
Not exactly rusty but certainly feeling recycled from the first flick minus the new and hypnotic sheen that 2008 flick brought to the increasingly boring genre, "Iron Man 2" has had those elements buffed and spiffed up, but it still feels like a used vehicle. Okay and occasionally entertaining, the film rates as a 5 out of 10.
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