04. Iron Man 2
The first Iron Man film was such an unexpected surprise and very
entertaining film, we all wanted more – and soon. And so the filmmakers wasted
no time in making the sequel, and in 2010 ‘Iron Man 2’ hit the screens.
It’s been about six months since the events of the first story, and the
whole world knows Tony Stark is Iron Man. This creates legions of fans for him,
as he makes ‘appearances’ at special events as Iron Man, casually exiting his
mechanical shell to reveal his second suit, made by Giorgio Armani. As weapons
are no longer his business, he launches the Stark Expo in the Flushing Meadows
area of New York city. The people are treated to a futuristic mini-city that
will change the world, according to Stark. The general public love the man in
the flying suit, but no one person can have all those fans without making a few
enemies.
The US military want Stark to hand over his suit so they can basically
steal the technology he invented for their own purposes. Stark, ever the proud
and integral man refuses to hand over his creation. Meanwhile, in the shadows
of far Eastern Europe, a man sits hunched over a device, working on it with
total precision. His walls are covered in articles and newspaper clippings,
covering stories of Stark the business man and Stark the superhero. We soon
find out this basement engineer is Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke); the son of a man
who used to work with Tony’s father, Howard Stark. Ivan’s father was deported
to the Soviet Union for trying to make money from the Stark brand of
technology, and died in poverty. Ivan wants revenge.
While Stark is attending (and taking part in) a car race in Monaco, Ivan
shows up to crash the party. Armed with whips made of electricity, Ivan walks
out onto the track, smashes Starks car to smithereens and picks a fight.
Luckily, Stark keeps a spare Iron Man outfit in a suitcase – which turns into
his suit and fits onto him in seconds. Stark takes Ivan down and he’s locked
up.
Upon returning to America, Stark starts to doubt himself as a hero. This
is when Nick Fury, (the mysterious man dressed in black we met at the end of
Iron Man) shows up to “recruit” Stark. S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to really move on
putting together their “team”, and Stark has been picked as their first
soldier. The billionaire is reluctant, so Fury incorporates the assistance of
Natalie Rushman, who is also secretly an assassin called ‘Black Widow’. She’s
sexy, mysterious and knows how to persuade any man… including Stark. While he
battles with this, retreating into the isolation of his massive mansion, Ivan
has been broken out of jail by an industrious defense contractor named Hammer.
He resources Ivan’s engineering gifts to build him an army of robots, which
Hammer will sell to the military.
That’s the set up and I don’t want to go on with plot for too long, or
give away anything else if you haven’t watched Iron Man 2. It’s an enjoyable
blockbuster, not as good as the first instalment, but still entertaining and
smart. Robert Downey Jnr carries on in the role of Stark/Iron Man as well as he
did the first time around, and the inclusion of such talented actors as Sam
Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson and Don Cheadle add some heat to proceedings. I
felt Mickey Rourke was underused a bit. He got a chance to strut his stuff in
the scene on the race track, but for the majority of the film he was cooped up
indoors building robots. Another good element to the film is the extra
inclusion of Nick Fury as he goes about setting up his team, that we are
certain will get their own movie by this point.
* Post-Credit Scene – The scene at the end of the credits that
hints at what is still to come, is a short moment in this case and doesn’t give
too much away. A car drives down a long, desert road. As it comes to a stop we
have a close-up shot of the license plate, which tells us its from New Mexico.
Out of the car steps Agent Coulson, who figures more prominently in Iron Man 2.
He looks down into a large crater where lots of people in hard-hats and car
after car arrive at the site. Taking out his mobile, Agent Coulson dials a
number then speaks, “Sir…we found it”. In the centre of the crater is a large
hammer, lodged in the ground. END OF SCENE *
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