Iron Man 2

I must confess a weakness for comic book based movies and the Marvel Comic character Iron Man, as portrayed by Robert Downey Jnr in Iron Man (2008), was a superb example of the superhero genre. The plot involved a wealthy industrialist, Tony Stark, the acceptable face of capitalism, who is forced to build an armoured suit after a life-threatening incident and then ultimately decides to use its technology to fight against evil. Downey Jnr plays Stark and manages to convincingly bring out the three sides of the character: Playboy, Scientist and Superhero. The great way it sets out the story line makes it unnecessary to clutter the sequel with further explanations.

I’m afraid Iron Man 2 (2010) does nothing to improve on the original film. Although its an entertaining movie with some great action sequences between our American superhero and a his Russian counter part Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) known as Whiplash, a tattooed giant who has the technical skills to build a suit similar to Iron Man’s. The sequel is again directed by Jon Favreau who also plays the part of Tony Stark’s bodyguard and chauffeur Happy Hogan, a former boxer with a history of losing fights. Gwyneth Paltrow reprises her role of Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts, Starks close friend and budding love interest, who in this film is promoted to CEO of Stark Industries. Two other superheroes make an appearance, both of whom will join Iron Man in the live action movie The Avengers due for release in early 2012, Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) director of the espionage and law-enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D and Natalia Romanova known as the Black Widow a leather clad Scarlett Johansson (well that’s got to be a plus?) posing as Starks assistant. Its plot is rather silly at times and occasionally looses its comic book charm, but with blockbuster films you basically pays your money and makes your choose.