Rereading my review of the original Iron Man from two years ago, I was struck by the fact that all the minor issues I had with that film are also what I took issue with in the sequel. But where those issues were minor annoyances in the first film, here they become almost unbearable. It's as if Jon Favreau took all the wrong lessons from the first film. Where once there was a loose structure, now there is no structure. Where once we had villains with little screen time, here we have villains who make little sense and essentially do nothing. Where once the actors not named Robert Downey Jr. felt underused, here they are wasted. It's a shame, because this seemed like such an easy film to knock out of the park. I ended my review of Iron Man confident that the sequel would easily surpass it, as most comic book sequels seem to do. Sadly it was not to be.One of the things I found so interesting about the first film was that Iron Man wasn't a small hero: he was essentially a man out to protect the world. The stakes in an Iron Man film should be huge. So the fact that the only real drama comes from Iron Man's personal demons is a major letdown. Iron Man alter ego Tony Stark fears he is dying (the only clue to this is the infection we see around his arc reactor, as he never displays any signs of weakness). The film follows his struggles to cope with this fact. The main villain, as such, is not the megalomaniac Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) or the vengeance seeking Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), but his own failing body. Because that's what we really want from a summer blockbuster. For the first hour or so, I didn't mind this fact. I figured they were laying the personal stakes for Tony so that there would be more weight to the drama when the S hits the F. But by hour two, you realize that no, there is no other drama. This is it.
So what of these villains? Well, Whiplash is a joke. He has so little screen time that you'd be forgiven if you forgot he exists during the middle section of the film. He has the most stock of villain motivations: revenge. Now, this could be treated in an interesting way if the film allowed him to actually share any screen time with the man he is seeking revenge on. But because his motivation is so weak, the filmmakers decided to keep him and Tony Stark separated for the whole film. They meet twice and talk to each other even less. And that's the "main" villain. The other villain of sorts is Justin Hammer, the main competitor of Stark Industries. Rockwell makes him into a fun character, but again, there is little motivation for him beyond corporate rivalry. He ultimately comes across as a child who is mad he isn't getting all the attention.
Why do you hire all these really great actors if you aren't going to use them? I get that they want to focus on the sublime performance by Robert Downey Jr. but part of what makes him so much fun is seeing him play off of these other actors. Stark is by himself for so much of the film that even he becomes dull after a while. Don Cheadle gets a fun, if obvious joke when he is introduced as Rhodey, commenting on the fact that he is not the person we remember from two years ago. But beyond that he is put in the background with Gwyneth Paltrow, only allowed to pop in once in a while. And Scarlett Johansson is the biggest waste of the whole film. She exists only because they want to continue to build up the Avengers film. And there in lies perhaps why this film was doomed to fail: it's one big advertisement for another film.
Iron Man 2 is not allowed to have its own plot. Instead, it's a constant reminder that there are other movies that Marvel wants you to see in the future. Why is Nick Fury here? To remind Stark that they want him on their superhero team. The film ends on a note that adds absolutely nothing to the film, and is only there to advertise the big Marvel movie coming out next summer. It has zero to do with anything that has happened in the film previously, or with anything that will happen in any future Iron Man movies. It's all excessive, and is simply filler for a film that otherwise has no interesting plot threads of its own.
I'm not sure what anyone involved here was thinking when they made this film. There is almost no action, Tony Stark rarely dresses up in the Iron Man suit (and when he does, it is often as a joke, such as when he throws a birthday party for himself). The final fight is perfunctory and short (mainly because it's obvious that no villain they came up with was really any match for Iron Man, let alone Iron Man and War Machine). It's just such a nothing film, you can't help but wonder why it was made (besides to advertise other movies). Were it not for Robert Downey Jr. delivering his usual great performance, this would be a total waste. All in all, this is not how you start the summer movie season.
