Iron Man 2!

I went with a friend to catch this latest Marvel movie, and because of some tepid reviews I was dimming my expectations somewhat. I needed not have done that. Iron Man 2 was a pretty entertaining movie.

Now if you're steeped in Marvel lore, it makes a lot of sense, so I can't speak for folks outside the clan. But I liked the story of Anton Vanko played by Mickey Rourke and his compulsion to seek revenge on Tony Stark. That worked for me, and so fueled the rest of the movie neatly. Actually resentment of success seemed to be the motivator for both Vanko and Hammer in this one, so for once we have villains who make sense. That helps.

Tony Stark as presented here is such an ass that it's difficult not to side with the Senator played by Garry Shandling, though he himself is a complete lout. I like stories in which people do things out of duty and that is what motivated Rhodey to do what he did, a sense of responsibility to his country despite his misgivings. The government is shown as seriously flawed here, but Tony Stark is so out of control that it's hard not to see why they want the Iron Man technology out of his hands.

My favorite action sequence is the on the race track, it had a realism none of the other battle sequences had and a sense of real danger. The big battle is almost sensory overload, but in a good way.

The Black Widow is neat in this one, and I was fankly surprised at who she worked for. I expected a more retro take on her, but this worked for me.

I liked Happy and Pepper a lot in this one. Both had enough to do without overdoing their roles.

And although he's not called that, I did like that we saw some Crimson Dynamo action. Dynamo is one of my fave Shellhead villains, and the way they blended Whiplash and Dynamo worked for this fanboy at least.

So this movie did it for me. I was entertained throughout and the coda ending (stay through all the credits) was neat.

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