Iron Man 2 – RDJ Just Made My Day

I got Robert Downey Jr. for Mother’s Day!

Fine, I know it isn’t Friday and I didn’t see this movie on a Friday.  So this is a Sunday Afternoon Movie instead.  A little change-up is good.

I don’t ask for much on Mother’s Day.  I just want to be waited on, fed high calorie, low nutrition food and get to take as many naps as possible in a single day.  Oh, and this year I asked for Robert Downey Jr.  I see this as perfectly reasonable.  My family is incredible when it comes to Mother’s Day and never has a year gone by when they have failed to blow me away with their wonderful doings.  So they took me to see Iron Man 2 in the fancy theater with the comfortable seats with a giant, drool-worthy RDJ for my viewing pleasure.  They’re an awesome family.

I – all of us, really – loved Iron Man 2.  Remember, this is a super hero action movie.  You get what you pay for.  There are lots of explosions, lots of chases and lots of special effects.  The pace is lightning fast and if you blink you just may miss something.  Even if you don’t blink you may miss something.

My favorite thing about Iron Man (both 1 and 2) is that the dialogue is smart.  There isn’t a lot of it (remember – super hero action movie), but what there is does not pander to the lowest common denominator.  You are expected to know what a classic narcissist is and appreciate the irony of the moment when the phrase is used.  You get to watch all sorts of stuff blow up and use your vocabulary!  What’s not to like?

The actors are uniformly great – Downey is perfect as Tony Stark.  Eccentric, genius, egotistical bragard, self-absorbed and self-destructive.  Doesn’t sound lovable, but he gets put in his place plenty.  This go-round we get Mickey Rourke as the bad guy and he’s wonderful.  Menacing yet still almost cartoonish in his badness.  Sam Rockwell is the weaselly second tier baddie and he’s fantastic.  Simpering and foolish, Rockwell plays the character like a harp.   Don Cheadle returns as best friend Col. Rhodes and has a good time playing in the super suit.

Gwyneth Paltrow is back as assistant Pepper Potts and while this show belongs mostly to the boys, she makes a  good showing with what she’s given.  Scarlett Johansson gets off to a rocky start but kicks some serious ass by the end.

The star of this show is the amazing special effects.  From the suits to the bad guy tech to Tony’s lab – it’s all incredibly well done.  You know it isn’t possible, but it looks, well, totally real.  I know, I sound like a gibbering fan-girl, but the visuals are damn cool.

The parts I’m not completely sold on involve the greater evolving Marvel universe.  Samuel L. Jackson appears as the leader of The Avengers and I understand that they want to tie all these franchises together.  But some of those scenes take away from the immediacy of the story.  It isn’t a big complaint and one probably irrelevant to those interested in the other movies that will be placed in this universe.  For me it was just a little confusing at times.

But then RDJ would say something witty and blow something up and it was all good!  Iron Man 2 is a fun movie – well worth seeing on the big screen because of the awesome visual effects (and the great big – did I mention occasionally shirtless? – RDJ).  It’s a fix for any RDJ fan as well as a solid installment in the franchise.  If you liked the first Iron Man, I see no reason not to like this one.  Even though Mother’s Day is almost over, women the world over owe themselves a dose of RDJ and men a dose of high quality explosions.  Iron Man 2 – it has something for everyone.

Sue Millinocket

Sue reads a lot, writes a lot, edits a lot, and loves a good craft. She was deemed “too picky” to proofread her children’s school papers and wears this as a badge of honor. She is also proud of her aggressively average knitting skills  She is the Editorial Director at Silver Beacon Marketing and an aspiring Crazy Cat Lady.