If “Entourage” were a superhero movie, it would be this one. “Iron Man 2” loves knowing that it has a cocky, self-centered character everyone loves and an actor that is not only convincing at playing it but whom everyone loves even more. It hypes up the pretty boy lifestyle to the point of being silly and on the verge of absurdity.
If everyone loved the original “Iron Man” because the Tony Stark secret identity was not a cookie cutter hero, dweeb or lone wolf, then reasonably no one should be amused by Robert Downey Jr.’s now extreme version of a cookie cutter narcissist. But maybe like many episodes of “Entourage,” it’s hard not to be amused. I found it odd how little Stark was impressed by his own ability to discover and create a brand new element in the short time frame of one montage. I wondered why he didn’t blink at the thought of drinking coffee in a diner with an eye patch wearing Samuel L. Jackson as he sat in full Iron Man uniform. I can’t say any of it was out of character, and I can’t say it was an inappropriate direction in terms of entertainment value.
But it merely felt disengaging. “Iron Man 2” has such a packaged blockbuster feel even though the performances are all there and the visuals are in top form and I didn’t have to watch any of it with 3-D glasses. The film now seems to have two pretty boys by means of Stark and his rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell, who ironically auditioned for the Stark role for the original). It has a love interest in Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and a sexual interest in Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson). It has a textbook villain by an actor way too good for this material in Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) and it has a few brief cameos by none other than Samuel L. Jackson to pave the way for another franchise.
Forcing The Avengers franchise down our throats is just one of the several reasons I felt distant toward the film in front of me. It’s also loaded with product placement, peppered with appearances from real journalists, heavy on an ACDC soundtrack, shot as though it were a nightly news package and otherwise fairly exaggerated and over the top.
It’s more of a design by committee film than anything else, and despite having little else bad to say about it, it’s the furthest I’ve felt from a film without disliking it altogether.
What is good about it? Well, the plot isn’t bad, but the details and the attitude that surround it are the problem. At the end of the last film, Stark came forward and admitted to the world that he is the Iron Man. Six months later and he’s an even bigger superstar, hosting a year-long expo for technology related developments. Unfortunately, the material powering his body and the suit is also killing him slowly, and he seeks a cure. The U.S. government wants the Iron Man suit turned over to them and weapons expert Hammer. Hammer enlists Vanko after Vanko attacks Stark on a racetrack. Vanko seeks revenge against Stark claiming that Stark’s father stole the Iron Man secrets from him.
The rest is a lot of personal drama brought about by Stark’s own ego, and it meanders quite a bit. It serves as extra long filler for the few but precious action sequences the film has to offer, the best of which come at the end. Stark and Rhodey as War Machine (Don Cheadle) fight off a group of drone soldiers based off Stark’s technology, and the scene is inventive, well shot, an appropriate length and frankly, spectacular to look at.
I cherished the PG level violence of “Iron Man 2” because unlike the original, the rest is so uninviting, so ridiculous and so cold in its attempts to sell merchandise rather than an experience.
3 stars