Iron Man 2

Overall Score: 72

Director: Jon Favreau
Run Time: 124 mins
Rating: PG-13

Viewer Bias: 8

The first Iron Man was great. You take a slightly lesser known Marvel superhero, add a ton of wit from star Robert Downey Jr., backed with creative dialogue, set it in a possible real-world scenario and you have one of the most under-anticipated, overachieving summer flicks of 2008. Iron Man's second casting is quite the opposite, heavily anticipated and flows as gracefully as a hunk of metal. Nevertheless, Iron Man 2 is a decent summer film and a worthy beginning to what looks like a dismal summer movie season.


Direction: 6

Somewhere director Jon Favreau lost his way with Iron Man 2 and let it jet a little too far out of control. He simply tries to do too much with Iron Man 2's story and inserts too much of himself in the process. Many scenes feel too immature and outlandish to be grouped with its predecessor and Downey's performance is almost completely without any of the charm of Tony Stark's first test flight.


Editing: 8

The film's editing is typical in both the sense that its a summer movie flick and - possibly more appropriate - because its a superhero movie. It's nothing to shout at, but it gets the job done.


Acting: 7

The Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 2 is not the Robert Downey Jr. in the first Iron Man. I equally blame the film's not-so-great writing and story as much as I do Downey's acting - he only has so much he can work with. Similarly, Gwyneth Paltrow did not do anything to warrant additional character development to Pepper Potts, in fact, her character seems more like a back seat to others in this venture. Invading the film are a slue of tacked on characters that produce a film too full of supporting characters that both Downey and others are reduced to nearly one-dimensional characters. Great superhero films are the result of a well-developed villian and Mickey Rourke was barely given enough screen time to even explain his character's motive.


Writing: 7

The writing in Iron Man 2 ranges from tolerable to mildly laughable. All the wit of its predecessor is gone only to be replaced with overly simplified dialogue between characters. Oh, I vant my beurd!


Story: 5

Enough has already been said of Iron Man 2's outlandish story that nearly singlehandedly shorthands the film. The easiest illustration of how the film suffers is by detailing all of the subplots that attempt to make a cohesive story in Iron Man 2: Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) wants to kills Tony Stark seemingly because of a feud between both of their fathers, Tony Stark faces depleting health because of the chest implant that keeps him alive, Pepper Potts becomes the CEO of Stark Industries which challenges her relationship with Stark, the "government" wants access to the Iron Man suit, archival Justin Hammer wants to create an equivalent to the Iron Man suit, Stark revitalizes his deceased father's dream with a technology summit and faces issues lingering issues, Natsha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson - yes, he's in it) and Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) try to induct Stark into a new alliance called The Avengers (future movie?) and Stark's military mate Lt. Col. James 'Rodey' Rhodes (Don Cheadle) finds himself as a sidekick to Stark. Sound like a little too much? It is.


Cinematography: 7

Since you spend so much time trying to figure out what's happening - see above - you don't have much time to notice the film's cinematography. It seemed about average, nothing special.


Special Effects: 8

Iron Man 2 had a touch knack of creating noticeable special effects, especially toward the film's end. However, I can't fault it too much concerning its subject matter in the first place.


Music: 7

To be honest, I really don't remember it.


Wow Factor: 9

I have to reward this film for its "wow factor" because that is its sole purpose. Given that, I could of certainly used a little more action. I remember thinking throughout the film that a little kid that can't and won't follow a story or listen to dialogue is going to be completely bored with this movie.

MOVIE - 72