Iron Man 2

“It’s Good to be Back”

“It’s not about you. It’s not even about us. It’s about legacy.” These words ushered by Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) best describe the main theme of the sequel to one of the best movies of 2008, Iron Man 2. This time Tony Stark is back and better than ever, or so it seemed. The Arc Reactor, which keeps Stark alive and powers the Iron Man armor, is also killing him. He fails to inform his secretary, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), of his condition which causes her to lose trust in Stark. Things couldn’t get worse for Stark, but they do. A Russian man by the name of Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) uses blue-prints from the first Arc Reactor and creates his own. He then uses the reactor to ambush Stark. Although Vanko is defeated, he leaves Stark in complete disarray. The technology he thought couldn’t be created for 10 years is now a reality. However, Vanko is broken out of prison by Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and is instructed to use the Arc Reactor technology to create a legion of Iron Man suits. Hammer plans on using the machines to take the spotlight off of Stark Industries, but Vanko has other plans. Meanwhile, Stark becomes reckless, due to his health, and throws a wild birthday bash that ends up with his best friend, James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), taking the power of the Iron Man “weapon” away from Stark. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) steps in to straighten out Stark and to find a cure. In order to find the cure, however, Stark will have to get help from the most unlikely places.

The movie does a nice job of keeping the audience entertained. It throws in a mid-movie battle that pumps the viewer up. The cast is great, with most of the original cast members from the first film coming back for the sequel. The only problem is that the movie is a sequel and like all sequels, will never be as good as the first. The director, Jon Favreau, wanted to go further into the Marvel universe and create a more complex story. The Arc Reactor for example was used much more as a plot development than in the first movie. He wanted the fan boys to have their turn and wanted less of an introductory movie and more of an expansion to the first film. A step similar to Transformers 2, but like Transformers as well, suffered lower critic reviews.

Metacritic, which is a website that takes the review from many major media companies and blends them together, gave Iron Man 2 a score of 57 out of 100. I say disregard the critics. What’s bad for some is good for others. I enjoyed the movie very much and thought it was a great experience to watch.


http://www.metacritic.com/movie/iron-man-2