Movie Review: Iron Man 2

Disclaimer: This review will contain spoilers. Don't read it unless you've already watched the movie or unless you don't care about being spoiled. I like to analyze movies, and I can't really do that unless I spoil the movie. You have been warned.
Six months after Tony Stark revealed to the media that he is Iron Man, he is a superstar and is resisting pressure by the government to sell them his supersuit technology. Stark has been keeping the peace, but it turns out that the palladium core in the arc reactor is slowly poisoning him. Stark searches for a cure, which is complicated by a new threat that enters the scene: Ivan Vanko, son of Anton Vanko of whom Ivan blames Howard Stark for his death, attacks Tony in the middle of a race. Stark dons his iron suit and takes Vanko down after a fierce battle, and Vanko later reveals he had no intention of defeating Stark, just proving that Iron Man is not invincible. Stark's rival, Justin Hammer, fakes Vanko's death and recruits him to build more supersuits. Stark must race to find a non-poisonous substitute to the palladium core in his suit, all the while Vanko has a master plan that doesn't really involve Hammer at all.

With the success of the first Iron Man movie, of course there came a sequel (although a sequel to Iron Man was produced before the third MCU hero was introduced into the universe). It's been rightly said that there have not been any outright bad movies that Marvel has produced in the MCU. There have been some mediocre ones, especially compared to the good ones. Iron Man 2 is still quite a good film, even if it isn't quite as good as the original. There's still some humor in it but not nearly as much as the first one. The sequel isn't quite as fun, but still a solid movie with great acting and great action in the introduction of the new villain, Whiplash, to the MCU.

Theme

The palladium core is slowly poisoning Tony Stark, causing him to come to grips with his own mortality. He refuses to even tell his closest associates (Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts) about it and starts engaging in self-destructive behavior, much to the chagrin of not just his associates, but also of Rhodey, who steals Stark's War Machine armor and uses it to try and beat some sense into Stark (who is in his Iron Man armor). Natasha Romanoff is introduced to the MCU in this film, but she takes an alias and pretends to work for Stark's business. In reality, she was put there by S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to evaluate him, and his narcissistic personality causes Nick Fury to want to use him as a consultant in the Avengers Initiative, rather than on the team, proper.

Stan Lee cameo

Stan Lee once again falls victim to mistaken identity. This time, at a party Stark throws, Tony mistakes him for Larry King.

Grade: A-

Not as good or as fun as the original, but still a solid film with good acting, good action, and a good examination of Stark having an existential crisis, of which he does not react very well to.

Iron Man 2
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Written by: Justin Theroux
Starring:
Robert Downey, Jr. as Anthony "Tony" Stark/Iron Man
Gwynyth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
Don Cheadle as James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine
Scarlett Johansson as "Natalie Rushman"/Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer
Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko/Whiplash
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan
Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson
Leslie Bibb as Christine Everhart
John Slattery as Howard Stark
Garry Shandling as Senator Stern
Paul Bettany as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S.
Stan Lee as himself (cameo)
Christiane Amanpour as herself (cameo)
Bill O'Reilly as himself (cameo)
Adam Goldstein as himself (cameo)
Elon Musk as himself (cameo)
Larry Ellison as himself (cameo)
Max Favreau as young Peter Parker (cameo)*

*Jon Favreau gave his son a cameo part in the movie. He was originally just playing a boy in an Iron Man mask that Stark saves from a drone, but it was later retroactively confirmed, once Spider-Man was headed to the MCU, that the kid Stark saves was a young Peter Parker. This was confirmed by Tom Holland in an interview, who says he confirmed it with Kevin Feige.