Cast Iron

Directed by JON FAVREAU

Starring ROBERT DOWNEY JR., GWENETH PALTROW, 

SCARLETT JOHANSSON, DON CHEADLE, and MICKEY ROURKE

Iron Man 2 with Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle was a good popcorn flick.  Robert Downey Jr. is such a great comeback kid.  Like the first film, his performance here is wonderfully flippant and well done.  However, like most sequels, this film is not nearly as good as the original.  The replacement of Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle was a mistake.  The actors simply don't have the same chemistry that Robert and Terrence had.  The writing was sloppy and the film felt somewhat contrived. Scarlett Johansson's tough woman was ok, but that does not make a movie. Iron Man's true villain was Mickey Rourke.  As everyone knows Mickey Rourke plays a "good" bad guy.

Plot:  Tony Stark is dying because of his heart.  If you've seen the last film, then you know what I'm talking about.  Tony is somewhat self-destructive in this film, much to the chagrin of Pepper Potts (Gweneth Paltrow), his loyal assistant and confidant.  As Tony self-destructs, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) creates a plan to create an army of iron mans to fight "The" Iron Man.  Needless to say, Tony needs a little help from his friends, including Lt. Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes (Don Cheadle), who suits up to help Tony, and Natalie aka the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).  Tony finds and creates a new element to help him fight his disease and then he defeats Mickey Rourke and the iron army. That's it. I've told you the entire story.

TWO OUT OF FIVE STARS