RustyBy John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"
"If you could make God bleed, people will cease to believe in Him." Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke)
It's apt to say Iron Man 2 is bleeding, but we know it won't be money. Rather it is that lifeblood of originality in story and dialogue characteristic of the original Marvel comic adaptation absent here. Remaining are pyrotechnics and gymnastics worthy of straight-to-video productions.
I'm being sardonic. Obviously, the effects are going to be first-rate; it's just that the story is so burdened with sub plots that the original story seems now to be minimalist with its dramatic emphasis on character development and relationships rather than quips and effects.
It is mostly visual mayhem while Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) keeps the government at bay as it tries to co-opt his invention and Russian scientist Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) challenges Iron Man with some very electric strategy. No less a threat is Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), an industrialist wimp with the old domination ambitions accompanied by an unhealthy dislike for the likeable Stark.
The limitations are plentiful: very few lines for Rourke, an Oscar winner who deserves more than a few Russian words, several grunts, and silver teeth. The plot has too many strands and too few appearances of Iron Man. Perhaps just as disappointing is the underuse of Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanoff, whose Catwoman-like costume demands more eye time and whose acting chops, like Rourke's, probably lie in the editing trash bin.
The relationship between Stark and talented assistant Pepper Potts goes to a new level, not a welcome development for this minimalist reviewer who prefers the cool of a professional relationship to a second-rate passion. And that feeling is pretty much my take on this first summer blockbuster: easy on the eyes but starvation for the brain.
John DeSando teaches film at Franklin University and co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, which can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml Friday at 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm and on demand anytime at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com