“Iron Man 2” Sequel fails to match original!

By Judy Marker

MCJ Movie Critic

“Iron Man 2” struck gold this past weekend rocketing to the 5th biggest movie opening in history with a $133 million box office in North America and a stunning $300 million worldwide.

The summer’s most awaited sequel is 2 hours and 4 minutes of so much to witness, you may think you have seen the third version as well. This sequel will leave you disappointed.

Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is again in top form as a self-confident, wisecracking arms merchant turned hero that won us over in the 2008 blockbuster. However, even with a $180 million budget this time around, Director Jon Favreau and writer Justin Theroux have a slow moving story with new villains and sadly less action.

We now find Stark searching for a cure for his failing heart. Besides his potential fatal situation, he also has to put up with Senate investigators who want to seize his Iron Man peacekeeping arsenal. But that is not all he has to deal with.

Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke “The Wrestler”) alias Whiplash has the American arms billionaire in his sights for elimination. The rival Russian Physicist wants to get rid of Stark because his father ruined Vanko’s father’s career.

Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Stark’s flame and former administrative assistant is now running the company. Stark’s longtime friend Rodney (Don Cheadle “Traitor”), has divided loyalties that may cost him dearly.

Joining on in the all-star cast are Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Sam Rockwell

(“Moon”) as Justin Hammer and Scarlett Johansson (“The Spirit”) as Natalie Rushman alias Black Widow.

All the action scenes you would expect in a summer blockbuster are lacking in this sequel. With all the commercial tie-ins, there never was a doubt that “Iron Man 2″ would set records at the box office. My problem is what we see on the big screen.

The cast is topnotch and works well, but it is the story and lack of action scenes that fails. There is simply too much to follow and uneven in its telling. After a while you may wish you had taken notes or even been able to stop the film for a moment.

“Iron Man 2” is rated “PG-13” for sequences of intense sci-fi action and some language. This is one movie that should have had more action and less story and that is why “Iron Man 2″ receives my rating of just “2-J’s/Wait for DVD!”