ARCHIVE: REVIEW: Iron Man 2

hey guys, I've always reviewed movies and here's an article I wrote a long time ago - and it was when Iron Man 2 came out. I really liked this movie, but here it is from the archives for your reading pleasure...

FILM: IRON MAN 2

Starting pretty much straight after the last one, after Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) announces that he is IRON MAN it seems that he is on cloud nine and is doing really well for himself. Starting a rather nifty Stark Expo that runs for a year and, according to Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), it will also drain the finances of Stark Industries.  It's a needless folly but the public like it. Meanest of whiles, an evil is brewing from all sides.  The army want the Iron Man suit to use as a weapon.  Stark's competition, Hammer Industries, want to develop similar suits but fail miserably.  And, a disgruntled son of Starks father's work colleague (Mickey Rourke) decides to have a crack at taking Iron Man down. For the lads, theres a rather nubile Natalie (Scarlett Johansson) working with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to try and convince Stark that there's a bigger game to play than the one he thinks he is involved in.

Tony Stark is finding that the power he gets from that thing in his chest (you can tell I'm very accurate here can't you?) is killing him, so a side part of the film is his quest to try to save his own life as well as that of others.  He also has some great lines - and on his birthday he dresses up in his Iron Man suit and answers the most question he gets asked from people - how do you go to the toilet in the suit?

Add a sprinkling of War Machine (Ironman's colleague) and a rocking soundtrack from AC/DC I think you get very much a good bang for your buck. Robert Downey Jr is one of may favourite actors and his portrayal of Tony Stark is spot on - he's a bit arrogant but a bit witty but has his heart in the right place. Scarlett Johansson plays a really sexy part in the film and can kick ass as no one else can, and the remaining characters help the story along.

There is always that problem of the difficult second movie.  But retaining the original cast, moving on from what was developed in the first film and the immediately likeable Tony Stark - this film is fantastic and I'm sure there will be another sequel. There have been a lot of questionable Marvel films out - but this is totally in line with X-men and Spiderman blockbuster standard.

Brilliant movie, if you like action or comic book movies it's a must see.

POPSCORE:  9/10

Oh and as an addition - I really think you should sit through the credits... they may be a surprise at the end... ;-)