'IRON MAN 2': Five Stars (Out of Five)

Like many second films in popular fantasy / action franchises (THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK', 'THE DARK KNIGHT', 'SPIDER-MAN 2', 'ALIENS', 'TERMINATOR 2', 'X-MEN 2', etc.)'IRON MAN 2' takes what worked about the first film and totally ups the ante and creatively expands on the characters and drama of the first film to probably it's emotional and entertaining peak! It in many ways blows the first film out of the water. Although the action is a lot less frequent than you might expect, from a big superhero blockbuster extravaganza like this, when it does happen it's breathtaking; the race-car fight scene, which happens about a third of the way into the movie, is so cool it's mind-blowing and it's also emotionally intense (It's one of the raddest scenes I've ever seen in a movie and the rest of the movie never quite tops it; so the climax does happen pretty early on but that's OK, there's still plenty of quality movie left even so).

What's best about the movie is not the action though it's the character drama and dialog; it would be a crime if this thing doesn't at least get an Oscar nomination for best screenplay, although I'm sure that's a crime that will most likely be committed (Robert Downey Jr. also unarguably deserves a nomination for his acting performance as well though). The movie is jam packed with some of the most witty clever dialog and interesting character development I've ever seen in a blockbuster like this! The whole thing is a very complicated psychological character exploration, all revolving around the most fascinating superhero character to ever hit the big screen; the eccentric somewhat mad genius that is Tony Stark (once again insanely but amazingly portrayed by Downey Jr.).

The film centers around Stark's battles (not with bad guys and world threats, but) with health issues (he's being poisoned to death by the machine he created, in his chest, that initially saved him), alcoholism, a Government that wants to take control of his technology for what they say is the good of the country and his overall fight to keep his sanity dealing with all this stress. Throw in Sam Rockwell as an impressively portrayed billionaire tech rival and Mickey Rourke as a soft spoken madman bent on revenge against the Stark family, who he blames for stealing his father's ideas, and you've got a complete circus act of oddly interesting characters. There's also Don Cheadle cleverly taking over the role of Stark's best friend James Rhodes (although Terrence Howard in the first film was better), there's a little Samuel L. Jackson being cool like always and there's some more Jon Favreau (more than the first film) that adds some nice comedic touches. There is a very sexy Scarlett Johansson playing another super hero named 'Black Widow' but the female characters are a little underdeveloped compared to the men.

You can tell it was written by a man (actor Justin Theroux who's only other writing credit is co-writing 'TROPIC THUNDER', another Downey Jr. scene stealer); the women dialog is mostly important plot advancement stuff but with the guys 80 percent of it could have been tossed and the plot would have been intact but it's just so natural and entertaining; like real people shooting the breeze! That's the brilliance of the film! Favreau has also come pretty far as a director; he's much more polished now and knows what's most important to the film. The whole movie just has an energy to it that can't quite be described in words. It's an astonishing film going experience if you really like film!

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