Dual Review: Iron Man 2

This years summer movie season opener is the sequel to 2008's smash hit, Iron Man. I suppose by now that I don't have to go into any background as most of you know what the deal is. Most of the cast from the first movie are back and we even have a few new faces added to the fray. Iron Man 2 picks up just after the ending of the last movie, after Tony Stark has revealed to the world that he is Iron Man. We soon learn that there is a Russian scientist, Ivan Vanko, who has a vendetta against Stark. To make matters worse we learn that the miniature arc reactor keeping Stark alive is causing complications and that the US government wants the suit. How does he deal with all of this you ask....he turns to alcoholism, which soon places himself and others in danger. Will our hero find what it takes to turn everything around? Only time will tell....

Jared's Take:

Iron Man 2 has everything that you would expect from a big summer movie. It has action, comedy, romance, and everything else in between. The acting was good and on par with the first movie. The special effects and the CG were very well done and you could tell that a lot of work was put into them.

I do have a few minor complaints about the movie though. The plot seemed to be watered down a bit. What I mean by this is that it had rather odd pacing. There were these big action sequences and they would be followed by a 10 min lull. I realize that you can't have an explosion every five minutes and still have a good movie, but I at least wish that the scenes in which there were no action were a little more interesting. I also think that the final fight was way too short.

As I write this review my thoughts do turn to The Dark Knight and how Iron Man 2 stands up against it. TDK's story was much better, but IM2 and TDK are two different movies. It's like comparing apples and oranges. TDK is more dark and serious and it forces you to reflect upon the struggle against good and evil. IM2 is a more light-hearted and fun film. It still has everything that you would expect from a good superhero film.

Overall Iron Man 2 was an enjoyable movie that should be seen by all. You've probably guessed what rating I'm gonna give it.....

GO NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Allan's Take:
This is kind of a difficult movie to review. I really wanted it to be good, at least as good as the original. However, while sitting in the theatre watching it I kept thinking that Chris Nolan has quite possibly risen the bar of comic movies to an extremely high level that's unrealistic to obtain in most movies. He's at least laid out the basis of what I want a comic movie to be.

I really didn't see the point of the specific use of villains and other characters that are used in the movie. They just seemed to be thrown in there at random but they have to get as much Avenger stuff in there as possible, I guess.

Despite all of the above I still think that Iron Man 2 should be seen at some point just to keep up with all that's happening in the Avenger world. I hope Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers movie take Marvel to a new level in the comic-movie genre

.....FX/TBS IT...