Iron Man 2 (4½ Stars)

This is the third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released in May 2010. Stan Lee's cameo is disappointingly short. We only see him for 1¾ seconds. He's playing the role of Larry King. I can see the similarity. Everyone is applauding him. Is it because they love Larry King or Stan Lee? It must be the latter, because I couldn't imagine people being excited about seeing Larry King.

"Iron Man 2" takes place about six months after the first film, which ended with the shocking words "I am Iron Man". For me as a Marvel fan those words are shocking, because they were never spoken in the original comics. There are even reporters mocking the story that Iron Man is Tony Stark's bodyguard, even though that's the story that Stan Lee wrote. It's disrespectful to speak badly of Stan Lee's stories. I mean the major plotlines of his stories. I'm honest enough to admit that Stan had his bad days, such as when he wrote the wedding story in Fantastic Four Annual #3. That must be the worst story he ever wrote, unless he intended it to be a parody. As a parody I could just about accept it.

The villain in the film is Ivan Vanko, a Russian scientist who has built a suit similar to Iron Man's. A lot of reviewers – including me, unfortunately – have called him Whiplash, connecting him to the Marvel Comics villain with this name. That's not correct. When the film was made Marvel knew people would complain about the non-canon nature of the character, so they hurriedly wrote a four-part mini-series, "Iron Man vs Whiplash", for fans to read before they went to the cinema.

I disagree with such tactics, but I still enjoyed the character in the film. Mickey Rourke plays the character perfectly, with an attitude that could have given him a place in the early Marvel stories. Maybe he could have been just a touch more corny. Maybe he could have shouted "I am Whiplash" in response to Tony Stark's televised confession.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is advanced by the introduction of the Black Widow, even though she doesn't use that name yet. She's only referred to by her real name, Natasha Romanoff. Don't you think it's about time she had her own solo film?

The ever-smiling Phil Coulson also returns. I don't know what it is about him that's so appealing. His immaculate suit and tie, combined with his neat hair, annoy me, and yet I still like him. He's so square that he's cool.

Nick Fury gives Tony Stark the eye. That's creepy!

In the after-credits scene a hammer is discovered in the desert in New Mexico, and Phil Coulson is sent to investigate it. It's Thor's hammer, of course, but nobody knows. My question is simply, why all the fuss? People uncover old junk all the time, some of it valuable, most of it not, so what's the big deal about a hammer? It would only be worth sending government agencies to retrieve it if they knew it's Thor's hammer, which they don't.

I was about to end this post when I realised that I've written a review of an Iron Man film without including a picture of Iron Man. Here you go! Are you happy now?

Success Rate:  + 1.1

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de