‘Iron Man 2’ Was Worth the Wait By Art Byrd

I’ve been waiting for “Iron Man 2” ever since “Iron Man” was in theaters in 2008.

The first time I saw “Iron Man” it was with one of my favorite people to see a movie with, Scott Schneider.

Many of you in the Valley see him Monday through Friday mornings on “WFMJ Today.” Scotty is a huge movie fan. So I called him to see if he wanted to see “Iron Man 2,” and he said yes. Scotty and I are like little kids at the movies. If you were to take a picture of us in our seats before the theatre lights go dark, the picture would look like two 11-year-old boys – one in a green hoodie (me) and the other with a baseball hat turned backward (Scotty).

Often sequels have lots of hype but end up being nothing more than a disappointing rehash of the original. True to tradition, “Iron Man 2” is a rehashing of the first one. But in this case, it was good thing.

I didn’t want much change. I just wanted to see where the characters had gone. “Iron Man” had ended with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) telling the world he was Iron Man. A totally different twist from the comic book, which kept Iron Man’s identity a secret.

The story picks up where the government is trying to take the Iron Man suit and technology from Tony. The senator trying to get the suit is played comedian Garry Shandling. This is a great casting move; his straight face and dry humor playing against Downey’s sarcastic wisecracking Tony makes for funny scenes.

There was a major casting change as Don Cheadle took over the role of Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes from Terrance Howard. I liked Howard, but Cheadle has made the character his own.

I enjoyed that Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), director of S.H.I.E.L.D, had an expanded role in the film.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Tony’s assistant, looked beautiful. She and Tony’s flirtation from the first movie carries over to this movie. Justin Hammer is Tony’s rival in the arms/warfare business. Sam Rockwell brings a cool insanity to the character. He recruits Ivan Vanko, a.k.a. Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), who does a great job as a vengeful genius. 

A new character had been added to the mix, Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson. She looked amazing with red curly hair; then she took amazing to another level with the Black Widow form-fitting outfit. Her fight scene is one of the coolest I’ve seen in awhile.

“Iron Man 2” worked a lot of levels with the action and the special effects, which were insane -- meaning fantastic! I really liked the portable Iron Man suit. Very cool.

However, while I really liked the movie, Scotty wasn’t impressed. He thought the movie was okay. He made a good point by saying a major part of the movie was just like the first -- which takes the originality level down a notch.

“Iron Man 2” lived up to the original for me, and my countdown to “Iron Man 3” has already started.

Edited by Michele Ristich Gatts