Iron Man 2

Supercharged superhero sequel Iron Man 2 is a lot like the man behind the iron mask who stands front and centre in this franchise. It's ambitious, charming, humorous, and a little vapid. Okay, make that a lot vapid. This second cinematic adventure for billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr., once more putting his soaring presence to great use) is certainly not a turkey, but it's sure loaded with stuffing. Plot threads zoom in every direction, stretching the canvas almost to its breaking point. Fortunately, though, the narrative's scattered activity is entertaining enough to prevent the movie from devolving into a bloated bore.

Picking up almost exactly where the first movie left off, part 2 pits celebrity superhero Iron Man against a whole host of villains threatening to make him obsolete. There's the puffy senator (Garry Shandling) who insists that Tony turn over his weaponized suit to the U.S. military; a slimy weapons manufacturer named Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) who contains twice Tony's greed and not even half of his charisma; and finally, a Russian physicist named Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) who blames Tony Stark for the death of his father (a former Stark Industries employee who worked alongside Tony) and decides to deal with his anger by strapping on body armour and flicking a pair of electrically charged super-whips.

The villains are employed with a variety of results (some bad, some better), but it is Ivan Vanko who makes the best impression, thanks entirely to the actor portraying him. Rourke is fantastic in his woefully underwritten role, gritting his metal teeth and letting an eerie Russian accent seep through his lips. His hulking body, fully adorned with mysterious tattoos, is made all the more menacing when he dons his own metal suit and attacks Tony on the Grand Prix racetrack in Monaco. For a moment, it looks as though Iron Man has finally met his match. Rourke's character is using the same technology that powers Tony's suit and he's putting it to devastating use, slashing Tony's race car into pieces and toasting a backup suit that Tony uses to defend himself.

But following their initial confrontation, the movie's narrative focus is promptly severed and the threat of a formidable villain fades into the background. Rockwell takes over and about 50 more subplots (okay, maybe it's more like 5) pop up and start battling for screen time. This is all in service of raising the stakes on several fronts. Tony's relationships, his company, his future, his health, his narcissism, his brilliance, his father, and even his culinary skills all play a part in this sequel. This pile of information is intended to deepen the movie's dramatic well and flesh out the world even further than before, but ironically, despite the extra narrative pounds, Iron Man 2 feels oddly empty.

Instead of upping the dramatic ante, the story hoists Iron Man himself on a pedestal so high that he becomes virtually unstoppable. Good for Tony, bad for our emotional engagement. It's tough to feel much empathy for the hero when he faces every conflict in the book and still barely breaks a sweat. Sure, part of the point is that Tony brushes things off with his trademark smarminess and it's definitely refreshing to watch a superhero whose alter ego isn't drowning in angst. But Tony (and, more specifically, Downey) isn't just making it all look easy; he's making it look sort of pointless. It's never very convincing that Tony is in danger, since he has a habit of installing fail-safe procedures in his suit that can get him out of any sticky situation with the mere push of a button.

But once you get past the lack of meaty drama, Iron Man 2 is waiting to entertain in the predictable manner of summer blockbuster cinema: by blowing a lot of stuff up and making your seat shake with dizzying vibration at the same time. The few major action sequences on display are visually robust collections of dazzling pyrotechnics and expertly rendered CGI robots. The sound effects throb with aural imagination and the well-timed explosions are certainly exciting and entertaining while in the moment. Director Jon Favreau, once again teaming with cinematographer Matthew Libatique, has a confident and concise visual style that owes more to 80s action cinema than the post-music video era that followed.

The energy with which the big set pieces unfold is pretty breathtaking at times, even if the finale sequence feels like its been cut a bit short. Watching Iron Man, now fighting alongside War Machine (Don Cheadle, somewhat awkwardly replacing Terrence Howard, who played a pre-weaponized version of Lt. Col. James Rhodes in the first movie), dispense of numerous metal bad guys in a blaze of firepower easily qualifies as enjoyable entertainment. But once the smoke clears, all of that relatively brief fun can't mask the hollow shell that is the movie's straggling story.

The screenplay is written by Justin Theroux, who deserves a pat on the back for attempting such an ambitious narrative scope. But by the time the plot threads split into countless strands and begin to unravel, you'll probably feel like reneging that friendly gesture. Theroux does deserve credit for making Iron Man 2 a fun and occasionally wild ride, but he also needs to saddle some of the blame for the movie's disappointing downfall. With so much in the narrative sights, it is frustrating that this movie ends up being so floppily forgettable. Theroux can share the blame with Favreau, who has made a watchable action flick that goes down easily, but fails to leave a satisfying aftertaste.

As far as summer blockbusters and superhero flicks go nowadays, Iron Man 2 is not bad. It's better than most of what passed for summer season fare last year and it has enough good elements to keep the whole picture from imploding. Those good elements are pretty much exclusively related to Rourke, Downey, or the CGI creations, so I'm very thankful that such a trio is present in this movie. But for all of its blockbuster brawn, Iron Man 2 is always punching at air. It never finds its footing with enough grace to stay dramatically grounded and it ultimately fails to make a solid impression. It's really just showy, flashy fluff with enough charm to make loyal fans crack a smile. The heroic superhero Iron Man may be nearly invincible, but clearly, his sequel is not.