Iron Man 2

image source

Iron Man 2 came out in 2010, two years after the first movie and was the third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time around, Tony Stark has been living a life where his secret identity has been exposed. The son of a man his father worked with wants vengeance against Tony. Also angry at Tony is a business rival. I'm not going to lie, this is probably the weakest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. I like the performances from Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell as the film's villains, but the development to both characters felt very thin. Mickey Rourke's character feels especially weak. I remember a couple of his lines because they were being delivered by Mickey Rourke with an over the top accent. I remember that he wants revenge, but I don't remember why he wanted revenge. Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) is first introduced in this movie, but she feels fairly tacked on. I'm glad the character got more development as the movies went on, because there doesn't feel there's much to her in this movie. A lot of the movie feels like a giant advertisement for future Marvel movies. It doesn't feel like you get subtle hints at what's to come. It feels like you're being beaten over the head. Now, I don't want it to necessarily come off as though I didn't like this movie. I did. The performances are strong. Robert Downey, Jr. owns the role of Tony Stark. Despite not being very developed, I still think Johansson, Rourke, and Rockwell gave really strong performances. This is the movie that replaces Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle, and I personally think Cheadle just does a better job. Gwyneth Paltrow also does a solid job returning as Pepper Potts, and their relationship does feel like it has some expansion. The action scenes and visual effects are excellent as always. Iron Man 2 is a fine movie, it's just the weakest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

6 / 10