Iron Man 2 (Opening everywhere)
Director: Jon Favreau
With: Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson
Second time around can be a problem for a movie franchise. We already know the actors and situations, there are no real surprises in the general idea of the series, and there is always the danger of the so-called “sophomore slump.”
Iron Man 2 may not be as knock-out cool as the first movie, but it’s pretty good. Director Favreau has managed to keep the nice balance between action and witty dialog (not at the level of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell, but certainly inspired by them), and, except for a few lapses in writing, we still love the characters. (Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard is a non-issue. Cheadle is good in everything he does.)
There are two new bad guys, Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, industrialist rival to Downey’s Tony Stark, and Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko, an embittered Russian seeking revenge on the Stark family.
Rockwell almost steals the movie from Downey. One of the best and most underrated actors in movies, he plays the role as an evil dork and brings it off. Rourke has a physical presence that lends credibility to his under-written character, who uses high-tech whips to attack Iron Man.
We still have the CGI battles between the iron suits, and the conflicted Stark character whose personal issues must be overcome.
Johansson and Jackson are thrown in for no apparent reason, but it’s good to see them having fun. This, after all, is not Chekhov or Shakespeare, it’s a dumb-fun action flick, and delivers as such. We already know that there will be another, and it is really not necessary to stick around after the credits for 30 seconds of film hinting at the plot.
One more thing. It is in glorious 2D.
B
One more thing. The Bicycle Thief, directed by Vittorio De Sica, was one of the films that established post-war Italy as a capital of world cinema. It is about getting by as best one can in the horrid conditions follwing the devastation of World War II. Most of Europe was in ruins and food and jobs were scarce. When a man is offered a job, he must provide his own transportation, a bicycle. The family sells everything they own to buy one and it is stolen. The effect on the family is the soul of the movie.
The film is a prime example of how to reat a melodramatic subject without cheap sentimentality, and the acting (by non-actors) and direction are excellent. This is a big subject focused in the most human way. It is at the Hollywood Theater, and should be seen.