Iron Man 2 (2010)
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Reviews Counted: 274
Fresh: 201 | Rotten: 73
It isn't quite the breath of fresh air that Iron Man was, but this sequel comes close with solid performances and an action-packed plot.
Average Rating: 5.9/10
Critic Reviews: 47
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 19
It isn't quite the breath of fresh air that Iron Man was, but this sequel comes close with solid performances and an action-packed plot.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 295,751
Movie Info
As Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) owns up to being Iron Man before the world press, Anton Vanko lies dying in Russia. Years ago, Anton worked with Tony's father to create a new source of energy. But greed got the best of Anton, and now as he slips away, his son, Ivan (Mickey Rourke), vows to make Tony pay for the sins of his father. Meanwhile, Tony fends off efforts from smarmy Senator Stern (Garry Shandling) and military weapons expert Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) to get him to divulge the
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Robert Downey Jr.
Tony Stark -
Gwyneth Paltrow
Pepper Potts -
Don Cheadle
Lt. Col. James 'Rhodey'... -
Scarlett Johansson
Natalie Rushman/Black W... -
Sam Rockwell
Justin Hammer -
Mickey Rourke
Ivan Vanko/Whiplash -
Samuel L. Jackson
Nick Fury -
Clark Gregg
Agent Coulson -
John Slattery
Howard Stark -
Garry Shandling
Senator Stern -
Paul Bettany
Jarvis -
Kate Mara
U.S. Marshal -
Leslie Bibb
Christine Everhart -
Jon Favreau
Happy Hogan -
Christiane Amanpour
Herself -
Philippe Bergeron
Detective Lemieux -
James Bethea
Security Force #1 -
Michael Bruno
Security Force #2 -
Katie Clark
Expo Fan -
Luminita Docan
Russian Newscaster -
Francois Duhamel
French Photographer -
Larry Ellison
Himself -
DJ A.M.
Himself -
Tim Guinee
Major Allen -
Eric L. Haney
General Meade -
Ali Khan
10 Rings Gangster -
Eugene Lazarev
Anton Vanko -
Stan Lee
Himself -
Isaiah Guyman Martin IV
AV Operator -
Helena Mattsson
Rebecca -
Keith Middlebrook
Expo Cop -
Anya Monzikova
Rebeka -
Margy Moore
Bambi Arbogast -
Olivia Munn
Chess Roberts -
Elon Musk
Himself -
Bill O'Reilly
Himself -
Alejandro Patino
Strawberry Vendor -
Davin Ransom
Young Tony Stark -
Karim Saleh
Guard -
Brian Schaeffer
Hammer Expo Tech -
Phillipe Simon
French Waiter -
Jack White
Jack
ADVERTISEMENT
Iron Man 2 Trailer & Photos
All Critics (274) | Top Critics (47) | Fresh (201) | Rotten (73) | DVD (14)
As for the actual grand finale, Downey Jr. and Cheadle seem like they're already network gaming the PS3 release instead of facing any actual threat, and Rourke goes out like a chump.
Top CriticThe whiz-bang stuff here -- while never less than slick -- doesn't produce anything we haven't seen before.
The best scenes are still the ones with Downey and Gwyneth Paltrow (as Stark's charm-resistant assistant, Pepper Potts), or just Downey alone. The rest feels like padding, which is something a sleek-suited superhero shouldn't need.
It's enjoyable to see a quality superhero dynamically and enthusiastically rendered.
Rourke puts a human face, albeit a bashed one, on comic book villainy.
Even the director...seems to view the heavy clanking of mechanized men as a bit of a chore: the kind of well-prepared yet unremarkable meat course that must inevitably follow the delightful amuse bouche of Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Stark.
Throws down the armored gauntlet to all the other summer blockbusters - bring your "A" game or be content being the season's second best movie.
Robert Downey Jr., plays Stark with a twinkle in his eye and a sense of fun, but can't quite stamp the same authority onto the film as he did in the first version.
It's half the fun of the first movie and twice as convoluted.
Despite being more traditional in structure and theme than the original, Iron Man 2 offers just about everything anyone could ask for in a superhero spectacular, and then some.
The most cynical and calculating part of it all is that the movie never really finds a justification for its existence; except, that is, as a bald-faced setup for The Avengers.
Many people will probably not find this one up to par with the fun of the original, but personally, I ended up having more fun with this movie, so while I gave the original a mild recommendation, I can give this one a slightly stronger one.
I was predisposed to like Iron Man even if it starred David Hasselhoff wrapped in tinfoil ... Is it worth your time? Definitely. Is it the calibre of Spider-Man 2 and The Dark Knight? Afraid not.
By rights, a superhero sequel should be darker, more intense and more dangerous, but Favreau is happy just to stay cool. That's all Iron Man's job has ever been, and frankly, that's fine by me.
The bar has been set for the 2010 summer blockbusters.
... The visual effects, though solid, may brighten the screen but are a poor substitute for characterisation and style - those two absent friends who we miss the most during the show.
In the land of sequels it's no Temple of Doom or Empire Strikes Back, but it's also not Rise of the Silver Surfer. Me and my box of Junior Mints, we still had a good time.
Iron Man 2 isn't an ideal sequel but it is good, fixing most of the problems of the first movie without giving up what made it work to begin with.
Some critics may claim that the Iron Man films are simply dragging on a genre that's redundant (...) but my view is that it is rescuing a big part of the Marvel universe.
Robert Downey Jr squeezes back into ... Tony Stark's incredible suit ... and his charismatic presence gives the movie a bigger boost than his character's jet-propelled boots.
Iron Man bests the biggest adversaries of the superhero genre in his second outing: production troubles, sequel-bloat and overwhelming, unrestrained fanboy hype.
Fans will be satisfied, even if it doesn't match the nuanced and well-rounded brilliance of the first film. But many will be disappointed with this seemingly rushed follow-up.
...the movie offers an abundance of thrills, laughs, and interpersonal communications. Yeah, action and talk; a little something for everyone.
In the quest to do things bigger, louder, and faster than its predecessor, excess can get a little... excessive. But this is still miles ahead of the average summer festival of fireballs, owing in large part to the great ensemble and snappy dialogue.
Audience Reviews for Iron Man 2
Super Reviewer
Secondly and even more surprisingly is the fact that this comicbook franchise is clearly the best yet, far superior to the X-Men nonsense and much better looking. Thirdly is how much of a great director Jon Favreau is!!! this guy is a pretty average comedic actor and just lingered about Hollywood until BLAMMO!! he makes the best comicbook superhero adaptation there is!! take that Spidershite!!
This is a solid film with brilliant CGI and a very likeable main hero in Downey. I can't fault it really, the lack of action wasn't a problem for me in the slightest plus the slow paced intro and use of Rourke really works well making him a much better character instead of the cheese fest he could well of been. The metal suits just look fantastic, never have I seen such coolness since Star Wars armour based suits. The characters all blend well and don't jostle for screen space plus they are all quite believeable as is the entire film really, its well done and nicely grounded...to a degree.
There are good performances from a few people here too, of course Downey is amusing and a well rounded guy, Rockwell is actually pretty likeable too as the baddie industrialist. Rourke, as said, is great a the low key 'Whiplash' and Don Cheadle is calm and collected instead of a possible over the top military type. Only let downs for me were Paltrow of whom I can't stand, terrible actress, and Scarlett Johansson who didn't quite pull off her hardass character for me (I can't get 'Lost in Translation' out of my mind). Finally the use of Jackson as 'Fury' which I never understood seeing as he's black and in my opinion HIGHLY overrated.
Lastly I thought the ending of 'Whiplash' was over too quick and a little cheap, he is too good a character to just finish off that easy. I also liked that they used a character who (like 'Stark') is just a regular guy in a suit, not some supernatural powered all CGI character.
Don't be put off by the lack of action, its a solid film and shows how you can make a sensible comicbook film. Watch out for little tit bits of 'The Avengers', that film should be awesome if they can get it right. Stay till the end of the credits for a big hint at the next upcoming superhero member of the future Avengers team, although I don't like that particular character, silly looking.
Super Reviewer
-
- Tony Stark: I already told you, I don't wanna join your Super Secret Boy Band
- Nick Fury: Nah I remember you go it alone. How's that working out by the way?
- Tony Stark: It's you know it's, I'm sorry I don't wanna get off on the wrong foot here, do I look at your eye or the patch? I'm still hungover, I can't even tell if you're real or not.
-
- Pepper Potts: So now your Googling her?
- Tony Stark: I thought I was oogling her.
-
- Ivan Vanko/Whiplash: Hey, I want my bird.
- Justin Hammer: Uh, a bird? You want a bird?
- Ivan Vanko/Whiplash: I want my bird.
- Justin Hammer: I can get you a bird, I can get you ten birds.
- Ivan Vanko/Whiplash: I want MY bird!
- Justin Hammer: Well, nothing's impossible. Are we talkin--is this a bird, uh, back in Russia?
-
- Tony Stark: 'Mr. Stark displays compulsive behavior'. In my defense, that was last week. 'Prone to self-destructive tendencies' I was dying, please, and, aren't we all? 'Textbook narcissism'?...Agreed.
-
- Tony Stark: What do you want from me?
- Nick Fury: What do we want from you? No, what do you want from me? You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with! Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe! I have bigger than you in the southeast region to deal with!
-
- Natalie Rushman/Black Widow: Well done with the new chest piece. I'm reading significantly higher output and your vitals all look promising.
- Tony Stark: Yes, for the moment, I'm not dying. Thank you.
- Pepper Potts: What do you mean you're not dying?! Did you just say you're dying?!
- Tony Stark: Is that you? No, I'm not. Not anymore.
- Pepper Potts: What's going on?
- Tony Stark: I was going to tell you, I didn't want you to alarm you
- Pepper Potts: You were going to tell me? You really were dying?
- Tony Stark: You didn't let me.
- Pepper Potts: Why didn't you tell me that?
- Tony Stark: I was going to make you an omelet and tell you.
- Natalie Rushman/Black Widow: Hey, hey. Save it for the honeymoon. You got incoming, Tony. Looks like the fight's coming to you.
- Tony Stark: Great. Pepper?
- Pepper Potts: Are you okay now?
- Tony Stark: I'm fine. Don't be mad, I will formally apologize...
- Pepper Potts: I am mad!
- Tony Stark: When I'm not fending off a Hammeroid attack-
- Pepper Potts: Fine
- Tony Stark: We could've been in Venice.
- Pepper Potts: Oh please!
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for Iron Man 2 yet.
What's Hot On RT
John Goodman's Best Movies
Woody Allen in San Francisco
Naomi Watts stars as Princess Di
Pictures from a zombie nation
Latest News on Iron Man 2
May 22, 2013:
Comic Book Movies You Can Watch OnlineComic book movies are all the rage these days, and every year we see more of them hitting theaters...
October 31, 2011:
Mickey Rourke Talks Sin City 2, Iron Man 2, and MoreSome candid thoughts from one of Hollywood's most candid stars.
July 19, 2011:
Marvel Movie Madness! Part 31: Iron Man 2Luke: Has everyone forgotten about this movie already? It seems like it. Despite good reviews and...
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 770800493 Title: Iron Man 2 Release Date: 2010-05-07 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 3 Status: 1
Family Movie Mistakes
Even the best family entertainment experiences a few blunders now and then...
The Looks of Johnny Depp
To celebrate the star's birthday, BuzzSugar looks at the many faces of Johnny Depp.
10 Egregious Product Placements
Rolling Stone wonders if The Internship goes too far... then provides 10 examples of movies that did.
10 Bad Movies That Look Great
Sometimes even terrible movies can be beautiful; here are 10 of them, from HitFix.
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- James Gandolfini: 1961-2013 9
- Total Recall: John Goodman's Best Movies 29
- In Pictures: Zombie Nation! 0
- Video Interviews with Cast & Crew of Monsters University 0
- Digital Multiplex: 21 & Over, Quartet, and More 3
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Jack the Giant Slayer and Quartet 23
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Man of Steel Sets June Record 111
Top Headlines
-
Has Brad Pitt Ever Made a Successful Blockbuster?
1
-
Pacific Rim Set Visit Report
0
-
Shailene Woodley Cut from Amazing Spider-Man 2
0
-
Star Wars Casting Breakdown Reportedly Leaks
0
-
Universal Picks Up Dumb and Dumber To
0
-
Sam Taylor-Johnson Directing Fifty Shades of Grey
0
-
The Logan's Run Remake Has a New Writer
1
Foreign Titles
- Iron Man 2 (DE)
- Iron Man 2 (UK)
