Written by: Dan Geer

When the first Iron Man film was released, I had little expectations going in. The previews looked okay, but I knew pretty much nothing about the comic it was based on. Needless to say, Iron Man was the biggest surprise of 2008, at least for me anyway, which meant any subsequent sequels that would follow would have some big shoes to fill. After seeing Iron Man 2, I can safely say that the shoe fits.

In this riveting sequel, the military wants Tony Stark (once again played brilliantly by Robert Downey Jr.) to hand over the “Iron Man Weapon” to them, which of course Stark in all his cockiness does not agree to do. After all, he loves being Iron Man, and has already “successfully privatized world peace.” He believes Iron Man and Stark are one, and that the two should not be separated (thankfully).

Unfortunately, multi-billionaire businessman Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) will do anything to get a hold of Stark’s technology, which leads him to recruit Russian technologist Ivan Venko (Mickey Rourke) to help build the ultimate antithesis of Iron Man – a whole robotic army, in fact. Venko (also known as “Whiplash” in the comics), whose family has a dark history with the Starks, agrees to help – all the while working to fulfill his own agenda of annihilating Stark for good.

Directed once again by Jon Favreau, this sequel lives up to its predecessor quite well. It has all the same charm that the first film had, particularly with Robert Downey Jr. back in the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man. The first film would not have worked nearly as well without him in the role, and its sequel is no different. He is still cocky, and also bit more egotistical this time around because of all the fame of being a superhero. But somehow he makes it so that we all still love him, which is what makes the character so great.

It would be a lie to say that the film doesn’t suffer a little from the story having to work its way towards the eventual Avengers film, which will be released in 2012. While it is cool to see the pieces being put into place for all the various Marvel comic book characters to join forces (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, etc.), the Venko storyline gets pushed back a little more than it should and is left little time to participate in the action. The same goes for Scarlett Johansson’s character, Natasha Romanoff, who only gets one main action sequence.

But the audience shouldn’t be too worried about that, as the characters are quite entertaining and the action we do get is one heck of a romp. Even Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes (played this time by Don Cheadle instead of Terrance Howard) gets to join forces with Iron Man this time, putting on one of Iron Man’s suits and blasting away at Hammer’s robotic soldiers. There is one action sequence in particular towards the end with the two of them where the entire audience cheered at the screening I attended. They truly raised the standard for action in this film, pulling the audience to the edge of their seats in excitement. I literally had a big smile on my face the entire time.

So, generally speaking, while the story feels a little disjointed and is not quite as polished as the first film, it still lives up to the hype and starts off the summer blockbuster season with a bang. With great characters, lots of laughs and spectacular action, not much can go wrong here.

(Note: Don’t forget to once again stay until the very end of the credits for a nice little surprise)

Rating: (out of four)