Marvel-Thon: #03
Preface: With the success of "Iron Man" watered down a bit after the serviceable, but underwhelming, "The Incredible Hulk", Marvel smartly went back to what worked before with a direct sequel. The negative ramifications of revealing his identity, struggling with his current arc reactor, and cooperating with S.H.I.E.L.D. would all be topics the movie tackled. It would also contain an impressive cast featuring Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle (replacing Terrence Howard), etc. On paper this sounds like the formula for an ideal follow-up to the film that expertly kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that is far from the case...

Plot: "Iron Man 2", as stated previously, centers around the ramifications of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) coming out as Iron Man including the corruption of fame and the danger that his technology could inflict if replicated or left unregulated. The latter is exactly what the villains, Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) and Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), do with one being out of vengeance and the other profit. While this is going on, Tony Stark is coping with the idea that his current arc reactor is slowly poisoning his body to the point of inevitable death. He does this through relapsing into excessive drinking, reckless actions, and treating those around him similarly to before his humbling cave experience in "Iron Man". Eventually, his behavior ends with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) taking over his company, James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) stealing a suit after a confrontation, and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) stepping in with a couple of assistants to make Stark get back in check. The last part involves revealing to Tony a way to save himself through finishing an incomplete power source his father had started. With the tools in hand to persevere, but the clock ticking against him, Tony is left racing to cure his condition and defeat the villainous duo.

Thoughts: There are some solid elements to this sequel. The debate over how to handle the new technology Tony brought into the world is interesting, Robert Downey Jr. is still giving it his A-game performance-wise, Don Cheadle is a good replacement for Terrence Howard and has some humorous banter with Tony, there some well-timed jokes, and the final action sequence is pretty thrilling. However, the negatives definitely outweigh the positives. First off, the villains for this film are wasted. Sam Rockwell plays a corrupt business man who wants to steal Stark's technology for personal benefit which is near identical to Obadiah Stane from the first movie. While he is a talented actor, Rockwell's role feels repetitive and without the edge brought by Jeff Bridges last time. Mickey Rourke, another talented actor, is given a sweet introduction, but the rest of his character is wanting. His motivation against Tony is petty and his personality is underdeveloped, effectively leaving little to engage viewers. Tony Stark himself is unfortunately handled even worse. All the humility and responsibility learned through his journey last time is abandoned once the fame goes to his head and he chooses to live wildly upon realizing he's dying. Yinsen (Shaun Toub) may as well not have bothered telling Tony to avoid wasting his life by becoming a better man because that advice is disregarded entirely here. Robert Downey Jr. puts all his energy into playing what is basically a parody of his character from the first third of "Iron Man". Yet, no matter how poorly he treats those around him, they keep coming around to forgive him despite little-to-no remorse from him. Finally, all of Tony's problems are rendered void by a deus ex machina gained through a scenario so convoluted that it requires one to not only suspend their disbelief, but to do so out of a window before cutting the cord to kill it. Then there is the stuff with S.H.I.E.L.D. which is thrown in just to advertise the upcoming, "The Avengers", through shoe-horned plot points and exploitative means. Yet even the conclusion to this is pointless when "The Avengers" actually happens and ignores the decision the side plot had been building towards. This is a sequel where no one learns anything and rather than progress the main character, it regresses him to the point of reset, destroying all the development the first movie did so expertly. While not the worst comic movie ever made and debatably not even the worst movie quality-wise in the MCU, "Iron Man 2's" soiling of its predecessor and its characters makes it an abomination in my eyes and the lowest point of the Cinematic Universe. Rather than use my own words, I'll leave this fitting quote from famous movie critic, Roger Ebert's (1942-2013) review of "North" (1994), to sum up my feelings towards this "flick"...
Quote: "I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated, this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it."