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PAGE 12, MAY 17, 2010, THE ISLANDER
“Goin* to
the Show...”
with...
Roland
Willis
IRON MAN 2~
Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow,
Scarlet Johansson, Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell,
Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson & Garry Shandling
Directed by Jon Favreau
Written by Justin Theroux
Based on comic books written by: Stan Lee, Don Heck,
Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby
Running Time: 2 hours, 4 minutes
Rated PG-13 - Comic book violence
Here we go again... the second
Iron Man movie of a planned tril
ogy-
This time Iron Man (Tony Stark
plus his iron suit) is dying. Of course,
this is too good to be true.
The arc reactor in his chest is
leaking palladium into his blood and
is reaching toxic levels.
The outward sign is a series of
varicose veins radiating out from the
center of his chest. Not a good look.
The inward sign is that Tony
(Robert Downey Jr.) is despondent.
He hands the reins of his company,
Stark Industries, over to his long
suffering assistant Pepper Potts
(Gwyneth Paltrow).
There is supposed to be a love
interest between these two but their
relationship is as cold as yesterday’s
mashed potatoes (borrowed grate
fully from Jerome Kern and Dorothy
Fields). She doesn’t even get his sig
nal that he is dying.
To add to his misery, Tony is
dragged before the Senate Armed
Forces committee where Senator
Stern, smirkingly played by Garry
Shandling, demands that Iron Man
be handed over to the U.S. military.
In a scene filled with self-loving
bravado, Tony points out that he is
Iron Man and is not about to hand
himself over to anyone.
To add further to his misery, a Rus
sian physicist, Ivan Vanko (Mickey
Rourke) decides to challenge Tony’s
dominance.
Turns out that their fathers were
partners in their early years but
Ivan’s father was imprisoned by the
KGB and died in poverty.
Somehow Ivan blames Tony’s
father and uses the plans from his
father to build his own arc reactor
and a suit of amour to rival Iron
Man.
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In spite of being incapacitated by
the poison in his blood, Tony enters
the Formula One car race through
the streets of Monaco only to find
Ivan waiting for him with whip
like energy weapons which can slice
through anything.
Tony escapes but the advanced
technology demonstrated by Ivan
attracts the attention of Justin
Hammer (Sam Rockwell) of Hammer
Industries.
Hammer is desperate to capture
defense contracts and signs Ivan
up to build a version of Iron Man to
embarrass Tony.
But Ivan has other ideas. He builds
an army of droids to battle Iron Man
in a spectacular battle at the end.
There are a couple of minor char
acters worth mentioning.
With Pepper’s promotion to CEO,
a very voluptuous Scarlet Johans
son shows up as Natalie, Tony’s new
assistant.
Tony immediately blurts out, “I
want one of those!”
I mean, who wouldn’t?
“Well you can’t have her,” is Pep
per’s sharp response.
Now Natalie is an undercover
agent for some outfit called S. H. I. E.
L. D., which is directed by Nick Fury
played by none other but Samuel L.
Jackson.
Their main role is to protect
Tony.
Also in this mix is Lt. Col. James
“Rhodey’ Rhodes (Don Cheadle) who
is the liaison between the military
and Iron Man.
Initially Rhodey is on Iron Man’s
side but, as the poison kicks in and
Tony’s behavior becomes erratic, he
switches allegiance.
So the whole story is just a wee bit
complicated.
This, however, is not my complaint
about this movie.
None of these great supporting
actors seem to get into their parts.
Rourke, looking much as he did in
The Wrestler but with gold caps on
his teeth and mumbling Russian, is
about as threatening as a moth in a
wind storm.
The beautiful Johansson never
seems to be able to project a person
ality in any of her movies and here
she is a cold fish.
Even the great Jackson is uncon
vincing in his “You better get your
act together” pep-talks with Tony.
Paltrow and Cheadle just appear
confused.
Downey is, however, very good
and carries his ultimate narcissistic
act brilliantly. His disdain for Ham
mer is summarized in his name for
Hammer’s weapons... Hammeroids.
The dialogue is very good if you
listen closely.
Sam Rockwell plays Justin Ham
mer with just the right mix of flam-
boy ancy and menace, and Garry
Shandling steals the show.
Jon Favreau keeps the action mov
ing in this his second Iron Man movie
and the pyrotechnics at the end will
please the pyrotechnic lovers. Yawn!
My rating for Iron Man 2 is a gen
erous B. □
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