Fridae

There’s indisputably just one actor right now in Hollywood who can act in a suit – and that man is Robert Downey Jr. I’m not even going to talk about how he single-handedly made the superhero movie fun once and credible – as opposed to being too tedious (see Nolan’s very dreary Batman reboots) or painful to watch (please, no more Fantastic Four, Wolverine, or X-men 3!).

Well, this time round, Robert Downey Jr reprises his role as the narcissistic and eccentric Tony Stark/Iron Man. This time round, the character is undergoing some sort of depression that makes him even more eccentric, narcissistic, and addicted to the wild life – leading to at least one wild fight sequence. The premise of this sequel– aside from the B plot of Iron Man’s depression – centres on a very unhappy Mickey Rourke who, as the superpowered Whiplash, is out to ruin Iron Man’s reputation and Stark Industries as payback for an old debt.

That’s not considering the other side-plot, which has Samuel L Jackson and Scarlett Johansson as SHIELD agents who are somehow relevant to the film because they’re badass (Jackson, not Johansson) and look good in tights (Johansson, not Jackson). Did I mention that there’s yet another plot where Sam Rockwell prances around as an inept and bungling villain and business competitor (think Martin Short in Santa Clause 3) also out to ruin Iron Man/Tony Stark?

Now, I’m not saying that there’s far too much going on in the movie. For all the pandemonium and the hurried feel of the script, the end product on screen is highly entertaining and enjoyable – no doubt because each of the actors did a great job ad-libbing their lines from what must have been an unfinished script. Through their efforts, the film moves on far more smoothly and winsomely than it should. And precisely because of their furious ad-libbing, the one-liner quotient in the sequel is far higher than the first Iron Man movie.

The only sore point is that you almost expect there to be 20-minute lengthier director’s cut release on DVD half a year from now, with more scenes to flesh out and give emotional meaning to some characters (especially Rourke’s villain). While being a very good action comedy, Iron Man 2 falls just slightly short of the perfection of its predecessor.