MOVIE REVIEWS: “IRON MAN 2”

Most initial reviews of Marvel Entertainment’s Iron Man 2, while not totally corrosive, are not exactly glowing either. Most critics suggest that Robert Downey Jr. delivers another splendid performance and that they would have preferred seeing more of him than the numerous heroes and villains roped into what the critics suggest is a convoluted plot. “Filmmakers often pack their movies with extra characters and scenes when they don’t have confidence in the main players. That shouldn’t be the case here, because Downey has made Iron Man his own man, and he can play him both furious and funny,” Peter Howell comments in the Toronto Star. Other critics react similarly. “Some of the subplots seem extraneous, a few come off like trailers for upcoming films, and others are just murky,” writes Claudia Puig in USA Today. Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel is already weary of the Iron Man franchise, commenting that it “is starting to feel mechanical, a piece of business Marvel needs to transact to get to that next piece of business.” And Kenneth Turan remarks dolefully in the Los Angeles Times: “As sequels go, this one is acceptable, nothing more, nothing less.” Although Lou Lumenick awarded the original 3 1/2 stars in his review in the New York Post two years ago, the sequel, he writes, “doesn’t match, let alone surpass, the heavy metal standard set by its predecessor.” (Oddly, the Post publishes a dissenting review from Lumenick’s colleague, Kyle Smith. “I couldn’t disagree more with my learned colleague,” he begins.) Roger Ebert gives it a middling review in the Chicago Sun-Times, remarking, “Iron Man 2 is a polished, high-ozone sequel, not as good as the original but building once again on a quirky performance by Robert Downey Jr.” But Joe Neumaier bestows unmitigated praise on the movie in his review in the New York Daily News, headlining his review, “Iron Man 2 sets gold standard for sequels.”