After the success of Iron Man, a sequel was guaranteed. Marvel announced immediately that Iron Man 2 was in the works, and managed to get Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and Paul Bettany, the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S., back. This time, however, the story would be written by Favreau and Downy Jr. themselves, with the screenplay itself being written by Justin Theroux, co-writer of Tropic Thunder. RDJ personally recommended him due to their experience together on that film, and thus the script was written. Due to contract negotiation failures, Terrance Howard declined to return for the film, and was replaced by Don Cheadle. After a near breakdown in negotiations with Samuel L. Jackson, a deal was (thankfully) struck for him to appear in up to nine movies. As for the Black Widow, a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff, Emily Blunt was originally intended to play the role, but complications with another contract arose, and she had to back out. Meanwhile, Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke were signed on as villains Justin Hammer and Ivan Vanko, respectively. On the same day Rourke accepted, Scarlett Johansson signed on to play the Black Widow, in a deal that would allow her to appear in multiple films with the possibility of an appearance in The Avengers. Clark Gregg would also return as Agent Coulson, and would begin to play a larger role in the shaping of the MCU.
After filming was completed, merchandising and special FX work began. ILM continued on the work from the last movie, and began upgrading the designs of the suits. A comic prequel was released, along with numerous toys, and a video game. The film was eventually released on May 7, 2010. The critics had mostly good things to say about it, though pretty much everyone said it wasn't as good as the original. A common criticism was that the plot was convoluted, however, many also said that RDJ continued to excel in the role of Tony Stark, In terms of box office success, the movie opened to the fifth-highest opening weekend of the time, and made back roughly three times its budget. So, what did I think?
Iron Man 2 was a troubled movie. It was funny and well-acted, but the script was all over the place, and the action scenes are over just two minutes after they began. The problem with this movie is its script. If you need any more evidence, let me sum up the plot of the movie. Tony Stark is dealing with the after-affects of revealing his identity as Iron Man, with the government wanting him to hand over his suit. An element used in the arc reactor is slowly poisoning his blood, and will eventually kill him. He also has to deal with a business rival, Justin Hammer, S.H.E.I.L.D.'s ongoing investigations of his capability for the Avengers Initiative, and his new feelings for Pepper. Meanwhile, the son of an associate of Tony's father has made his own arc reactor, and is out for revenge. That's six different plot threads, and it just overstuffs the movie. It's basically the Spider-Man 3 of the Iron Man movies. And while I do enjoy Spider-Man 3, that doesn't change the fact that it's flawed, nor does the fact that I enjoyed parts of this movie change its flaws. However, the plot is not the only problem. If you watch the scene where Tony is celebrating his birthday by partying drunk in the suit, the way Rhodey and Pepper react implies that the scene is supposed to be dramatic, and we should be horrified by how Tony is abusing the suit. But the tone is completely comical, and all he's doing is smashing bottles and a watermelon. And this just continues on into the fight between Rhodes and Tony, which should be showing us just how far Tony's fallen, but instead tries to make the tone upbeat with pop songs. While we're on the subject of action scenes, they're VERY short. The longest one, at the end of the movie, barely takes more than three minutes. They're very rushed, and we never have any time to get excited. And let's face it, with everything going on in the story, there's little time to get invested in anything. And on a minor nitpick, how can the government force Tony to give them the Iron Man suit? I'm pretty sure that's unconstitutional. Which therefore makes Rhodes a thief, and Tony is simply to lazy to do anything about it. Quite frankly, this movie either needed to remove Vanko and his sub-plot, or remove Justin Hammer and War Machine. If either of these had been done, it would've allowed the movie a lot more time to focus on a few specific things, rather than dabbling all over, and not really amounting to anything. Quite frankly, I think there was a miscommunication between the script writer and Favreau and RDJ. While it's clear the story wants to be dramatic, so many scenes and lines make this feel like a comedy, like Tropic Thunder. But I suppose I should talk about what I liked in this movie now.
The FX, when used, are very good, and feel very polished. The suits and drones all looked like they were really there, and the CGI on Whiplash's whips were great. However, let's all be honest, it's Robert Downey Jr. we all came to see, and it's him who carries the movie. That's not to say the other cast member don't do well, especially Don Cheadle, who very capably replaced Terrance Howard. Gwyneth Paltrow continues to do well, and Jon Favreau makes the most of what little screen time he has. Clark Gregg stands out, however, as the best supporting cast member. It takes a lot of guts to walk into Tony Stark's armory, where he keep several suits that could easily kill you, and tell him that if he doesn't do what you tell him, you'll tase him and put on Supper Nanny. It was a lot of fun to see him again, and you really get the feeling that this guy has seen it all. Samuel L. Jackson gets to expand his role as Nick Fury, and it's basically him being awesome, but that's what he's best at, so we'll let him continue. Scarlett Johansson does well with what little she's given, but the problem is there's just not much we find out about her. Still, she does well in her fight scene, which, sadly, is the best one in the movie. As for the villains, it's a mixed bag. Again, they do what they can, but they're not given much. They're really at their best interacting with each other, because on their own they just don't have enough weight to carry their roles through. But they were very funny together, and that helps a little. Still, it continues to share one thing with the last Iron Man movie, that being the villains were only passable. Well hey, with Ben Kingsly playing the Mandarin in the next movie, maybe we will finally get a good solid villain. I can't wait to see what he does with the role. Why are you all looking at me like that?
In conclusion, Iron Man 2 limps along, but it's got enough little fun bits that you should be entertained for a while. However, next time we'll bring the hammer down on Thor, and decide if the god of thunder deserves his reputation, or if it's just another light show.
Trivia:
Stan Lee cameos as a man mistaken for Larry King.
Captain America's prototype shield returns, this time much more obvious.
Footage from the scene in The Incredible Hulk where the military tries to capture Hulk at Culver University is shown on a news channel, meaning that the first half of the movie runs concurrent with the events of Iron Man 2.
Tony Stark is recruited as a consultant for the Avengers Initiative, which leads into his appearance the end of The Incredible Hulk.
After the credits, Coulson arrives at a sight in New Mexico where Thor's hammer has crashed.
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