Grade: B
Has there ever been a more obvious pairing of superhero and actor than that of Tony Stark and Robert Downey Jr.? Here’s a character and a movie star who relish being the center of attention, who meld the poise of an intellect with the antics of a frat boy, who don’t so much walk into a room as strut in as star of their own scene. They like to brag and preen. They aren’t in it for noble intentions, but for the lights and glamour.
Granted, I might be simplifying things here, but I think this is why America fell head over heels for Stark in 2008, when we were all still months away from the bursting of the invincible American bubble: He’s the first big screen superhero-celebrity hybrid. By night, he cruises the skies and defeats evil; by day, he’s walking red carpets and posing for celebrity magazine shoots. Is he more famous (and entertaining) as man or machine? I think it’s that very question, and tension, that makes Iron Man – which could just as easily be titled Tony Stark – so gripping. Bruce Wayne was rich, but secretive; Clark Kent and Peter Parker were kind of lame in their daily lives. Most superhero movies simply string a plot between masked action sequences, but back in 2008 Iron Man was one of the few comic-action films to invert this formula. Things got more exciting when it was Stark at center stage, not his ironclad alter ego. In an era of Jersey Shore insta-fame, I think Stark’s rise to prominence at the very end of Iron Man, when he takes credit for the invention, is riveting.
If you could build the most powerful technological suit of all time, forget noble acts of courage; how would you cash in on that buzz as an overnight celebrity? (Iron Man 2 Primer: Check out our character guide)
But I digress. The new Iron Man 2 takes all the themes of the original and doubles down with the house money – delivering to an eager global audience a swirling, chaotic, hilarious jumble that rides high at 100 mph before careening off the road in a sensory-shattering third act. The fact that I left the theater just a little hesitant and disappointed is less a statement on the overall quality of the film than the high bar that was set by its predecessor – one of the very best movies of its year. Iron Man was a great movie, period; Iron Man 2 is an above-average superhero entry, leaning heavily on a tidal wave of ego, breakneck technology and an endlessly watchable ensemble of actors.
Stark is at once more invincible and vulnerable than before – complete with an enhanced mechanical exoskeleton, and some seriously screwed up internal organs. His grand entrance in Iron Man 2 is a tour de force – taking the form of not only a Top Gun flyby and Broadway kickline but also a shapeshifting scene straight out of Transformers. He jumps from a plane as Iron Man, flies through a maze of exploding fireworks in the sky, and then lands in a grand hall at the Stark Expo, robotic arms taking apart his suit to reveal a smirking Robery Downey Jr. underneath, preening in a tux, surrounded by dancing girls. It’s an eye-popping debut, and one done in the right order – Iron Man giving way to Stark, the man we really paid to see.
At the year-long Stark Expo, being held in the outer boroughs of New York City, our favorite engineer-savior is trying to use his fame to draw together the world’s leaders to fix Earth’s problems – think the Clinton Global Initiative, if Bill Clinton could fly – and to get a little face time with the press too. He may look tough, but in reality Stark’s moxy is just a mirage. The science that kept him alive in Iron Man, inserting some sort of reactor thingy into his chest to keep the shrapnel from coursing through his veins (I’m not an expert on the comics, mind you) is now poisoning his blood. Bit by bit, with each and every Iron Man mission, Tony Stark is getting closer to death. Not so surprisingly, his ailing mind starts to focus on the value of his life and the mysteries of his past, on memories of his brilliant father who always showed him the cold shoulder. Unpacking some archival film footage of daddy presenting at older Stark Expos, our fragile-hearted Iron Man leans closer, looking for secret answers in the past that may help him survive into the future. (More at Techland: Check out our guide to the Iron Man comics)
Now let’s pause for a second. What I have described right there could make for a fascinating, evocative film. A celebrity who, while growing ill, must continue his charade of self-aggrandizing even as he comes to realize the utter meaninglessness of his fame. A superhero who is being killed by the very equipment that makes him special. This is heavy stuff. And I would have much preferred an Iron Man 2 that was just this – a story about the many contradictions of Tony Stark.
But then the Big Hollywood Machine gets spinning, and we enter an infinite loop. All momentum and no friction. We start with the peppy Pepper Potts (a fairly innocuous Gwyneth Paltrow), who Stark handpicks to run his company when he enters the full depths of despair, bequeathing everything in his life. Just as their love-hate relationship, clearly tipping towards the former, whips into a froth, enter Natalie Rushman (a pouting Scarlett Johansson) the ravishingly beautiful “notary” who Tony hires on as a full-time assistant – a double-agent of sorts with a wicked ninja kick. Then there’s Rhodey (an earnest Don Cheadle, taking the place of Terrence Howard) who starts growing wary of Tony’s self-destructive behavior and steals one of Stark’s suits to take back to his military bosses. He emerges as War Machine, a foe and then ally to Iron Man. (More at Techland: Better than Pandora – the all-time best sci-fi planets)
Pile on top of all this the diabolical double team of greasy-haired Russian engineer Ivan Vanko (an underused Mickey Rourke) and wealthy military contractor Justin Hammer (a scene chewing, buttoned-up Sam Rockwell) – and just a pinch of both Samuel L. Jackson as the secret super-agent ring leader Nick Fury and Garry Shandling as a grandstanding congressman who wants to enact eminent domain on Stark’s weapon of mass destruction – and you have a bloated, heaving blimp of a movie. Yes, each and every characters gets his/her moment in the spotlight, from Scarlett’s harrowing Hit-Girl sprint down a hallway lined with bad guys to Sam’s arrogant commandeering of the stage at Stark Expo, convinced that he’s about to steal Iron Man’s thunder on his home turf. But given this lengthy, labored list of characters, that’s all Iron Man 2 has time for – one moment in the spotlight.
Blink too long, or run to the bathroom, and you could easily miss half of an actor’s performance.
The worst consequence of this scattered focus is that it diverts our attention from the franchise’s greatest asset: Robert Downey Jr. It’s his frantic flamboyance that blew me away the first time around, and yet here in chapter two, I think people might feel shortchanged. Yes, we build up to a showdown between Iron Man and War Machine and about two dozen robotic drones. But it’s hard not to notice, in the climactic battle sequence, that Stark is pinned inside his suit, his face obscured by computer graphics, all but removed from the action. A carefully choreographed final brawl has all the attitude and humanity of a Transformers showdown; even when Ivan is on his last leg, and when Pepper appears to be in danger, there’s no real emotional weight. In wielding so much CG so quickly, the movie itself is rendered mechanical.
So it’s not that Iron Man 2 is a bad superhero movie, just that it could have been so much more than just a superhero movie. This is one of the few franchises that has found a way of crafting a human that’s even more interesting than his superhero persona, and the addictiveness of Tony Stark is still in full effect. I loved experiencing this movie. But the more I’ve thought about this sequel in the 10 days since, the less interested I am in seeing it a second time. Director Jon Favreau has fused together so many characters, and so many plot twists, and yet the sum is less than all its many moving parts.
If Iron Man proved anything, it’s that audiences wanted more man, not more iron. And while Stark’s grand entrance in part 2 clearly understands the urgency of stripping off the suit to reveal the mad scientist underneath, we spend the last 20 minutes lost in the CG circus, dazzled by a brilliant, bright but ultimately lifeless light show.
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