stark contrast

Couldn't wait to get to the cinema to see Iron Man 2 this week. Ok, I knew it wouldn't be, like, Oscar material or anything, but I'd mostly enjoyed the original, and I expected that this would be good too, and besides, there's been *nothing* of interest to me out of Hollywood in more weeks than I can recall.

I settled on the 11am session at the George. It was a mad rush to get there, 'coz I'm not the earliest riser on a Sunday, but we made it just in time. It was worth the effort, because, aside from the 3 of us, there were only about 4 or 5 other people in a huge cinema, so it was a very comfortable experience, and *much* better then slumming it at the over-crowded Jam Factory.

The movie itself was a delight! Robert Downey Jr brings a light-hearted touch that absolutely makes these movies, and makes them stand out from many of the other comic-based films of the past decade or so. Gwyneth Paltrow and Jon Favreau nicely reprise their roles as Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan respectively. Don Cheadle makes a fine replacement as War Machine, Mickey Rourke is excellent as Whiplash, and then there's one of my favourite modern film stars, Scarlett Johansson, as the Black Widow. Truthfully, she's the only let-down in the cast; not through any fault of hers, but because she doesn't get anywhere near enough to contribute in any meaningful way to the story. I know that she isn't meant to be the star attraction of the film, but I would have liked to have seen her role expanded considerably.

The plot is pretty basic, the action hard and loud (like the soundtrack music by AC/DC!). The battle at the Monaco Grand Prix was fun, as was the climactic fight at the Stark Expo. I enjoyed this film more than the first one, largely because they left out the politics this time - no Muslim terror groups threatening American interests this time around, just good old-fashioned bad guys causing trouble to Tony and the gang. Good stuff! I'd give this film 4 stars, for pure entertainment value.