By Malice Intended

Sequels inspire mixed emotions in fandom.  Advertising materials simultaneously build anticipation and foster anxiety.  We await the release date with baited breath, but we agonize over the potential fallout of a substandard follow up.  Will it tarnish the legacy established by its predecessor, or will it rise to the challenge and be a worthy successor?  The anticipation is exciting, but nerve racking.  As the release date approaches, advance buzz and early reviews from preview screenings help us to temper our expectations. 

Jon Favreau’s Iron Man opened the 2008 summer blockbuster season in a big way, living up to and even surpassing expectations in some regards.  Based on The Marvel Comics title, Iron Man was an unmitigated success that sparked a career resurgence that Robert Downey Jr. is still in the midst of.  It offered a relatively optimistic alternative to Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, giving us an eccentric protagonist that still manages to enjoy his wealth while going through a crisis of conscience.   Though The Dark Knight would ultimately surpass Iron Man in terms of box office, Iron Man made an unmistakable mark on the public consciousness.

Iron Man ended on a suitably uncertain note, throwing audiences a curve that fell right in line with the film’s characterization of Tony Stark.  Iron Man 2 finds Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) refusing requests from the government to share his technology, fearing that it might be used for less than honorable purposes.  Mickey Rourke (also enjoying a career resurgence as of late) plays the films antagonist, Ivan Vanko aka “Whiplash”.  Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Virginia “Pepper” Potts.  Sam L Jackson’s role as Sgt. Nick Fury is expanded beyond his cameo in the first film, and Don Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard as Lt. Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes aka War Machine.

The opening passages of the trailer thankfully do not abandon the colorful and snarky tone that made the first film so appealing.  Stark is shown grandstanding at a hearing and reveling in his new found popularity as Iron Man.  The same can be said for his relationship with Virginia.  Whiplash is introduced midway through, hacking Tony Stark’s race car to shreds with what appears to be whips made out of electrical currents.  The closing moments show Stark and Rhodes donning their armor and unloading on the bad guys in what looks to be one of the film’s major action set pieces.

From the looks of it, Iron Man 2 is consistent with the look and tone of the original.  It seems at ease with the world and characters established in the first film.  Everything exudes an easy familiarity.  The Trailer has a nice flow and builds up, with the first half emphasizing character moments and the second half focusing on action and FX.  The message is clear:  Iron Man 2 retains the elements that made the original a joy to behold, but it is not simply a retread.  It looks to expand on both the substantial and the superficial, offering rich and appealing characters with the expected thrills and pyrotechnics.

The summer of 2008 offered genre fans a variety of quality comic book adaptations to choose from.  The summer of 2009 was a letdown of epic proportions, offering only the hugely disappointing X-Men Origins: Wolverine.   Iron Man 2 should serve as balm for our wounds and continue Robert Downey juniors winning streak into the next decade.

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