Iron Man 2 (2010)

I really enjoyed 2008’s Iron Man. And it also made me become a fan of Robert Downey Jr. Two years later, Downey returns to the role that made him a born again movie star as billionaire inventor Tony Stark aka Iron Man. In this installment, Stark, who has revealed himself to the press he’s IRON MAN, faces pressure as he refuses to hand over the Iron Man technology to the U.S. Government, a rival weapons business manufacturer (Sam Rockwell), his friendship with Lt. Colonel James “Rhody” Rhodes (Don Cheadle), and the son of a brilliant Russian physicist (Mickey Rourke) who has built himself his own but deadly arc reactor-based weapon to exact revenge on Tony Stark. I thought this movie was a continuing part of the first Iron Man but I really enjoyed the action sequences of the film. Downey and Gwyneth Paltrow were terrific together. Scarlett Johannson’s performance as Natalie Rushman / Natasha Romanoff was good. I thought Don Cheadle as Rhody aka War Machine was a lot better than Terrence Howard did in the first one. Sam Rockwell as the cocky Justin Hammer was good. But I thought Mickey Rourke’s performance as Ivan Vanko was both badass and brilliant. Although I’m not a fan of Rourke and I saw very little of The Wrestler, but I have to say that this is the best performance of his I’ve ever seen. It was nice to see Leslie Bibb return making a small appearance as Christine Everhart, Samuel L. Jackson as S.H.E.I.L.D. director Nick Fury, Garry Shandling as Senator Stern, Kate Mara as a U.S. Marshall, and the late Adam Goldstein aka DJ AM as himself. Being that Jon Favreau is the film’s director, he was good as he reprises his role as Tony’s chauffeur Happy Hogan. The music is this film with songs from AC/DC, Queen, and Tupac Shakur was great. One minor note that I think is great is that Robert Downey Jr.’s wife Susan Downey, who works for Joel Silver, is one of the executive producers of the film. IRON MAN 2 is one of the best sequels I have ever seen that’s got great action and great entertainment all rolled into one.