Iron Man 2 – Road to Infinity War Review

The Road to Infinity War continues with the MCU’s first sequel, Iron Man 2.

I’ve always had the opinion Iron Man 2 is the weakest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was in the worst position when I ranked the MCU. As a result I haven’t revisited it very frequently, so rewatching it this week was a good refresher.

For me, it still has problems – the first and last act work well with some decent set-up and conclusion, but the film really falls apart in the 2^nd act. Pretty much from the point of Tony’s party where he gets drunk wearing the Iron Man suit, it all becomes a bit muddled, Nick Fury turning up out of nowhere really slows the film to a halt. Yes, it helps for future films but for the purpose of this movie, it damages the experience.

There’s definitely too many story lines, you’ve got the arc reactor slowly poisoning Tony and him trying to find a cure, you’ve got Ivan Vanko vendetta, Justin Hammer as a poor man’s Tony Stark trying to keep up, the US government trying get the Iron Man tech, and then you’ve got all the SHIELD and Black Widow set-up. All of this really comes to a head in the second act and is when the film has it’s biggest problem.

The other issue is Tony Stark, he comes across as a bit of an asshole in the film, and that makes it difficult to fully sympathise with him. I get this is partly the point, and he develops over the course of the film but he’s definitely more arrogant (as opposed to charismatic and over-confident).

The supporting cast all work well with Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell and Don Cheadle putting in great performances. I also really like the Monaco and final action sequence set at the Stark Expo and War Machine, both blend CG and real world effect masterfully and it shows at this point in the MCU they weren’t overly reliant on CGI.

So Iron Man 2 has some good bits, but rewatching it hasn’t changed my opinion - it’s a fun movie but it's still the weakest film in the MCU. 

Next up on the Road to Infinity War is Thor.

Written by @RossBishop for MoviePush. Follow Ross on Twitter.