Review: It's Good To Be Back!

Well, today is the premiere of Iron Man 2, me and Atles go to Penang to watch it... If you are in the US, sorry, you guys have to wait until 7th of May... HAHAHA!!!

I love the first Iron Man, it ranked 2nd in my list after The Dark Knight, replace my old time favourite, Spider-man 2. The first Iron Man is a surprise hit, when I walked into the theaters I was like, meh. But after come out, I actually like it a lot.

After the unexpected success of Iron Man, in 2010, there's a sequel to Iron Man, called Iron Man 2 (duh!)

Actually for me, this movie is better than the first one, but just a bit... The director, Jon Favreau played safe using the same formula, playboy lifestyle of Tony Stark, lots of Iron Man, lots of action and rock music! But I guess the formula works for me.

The story is ok, it's just the simple plot you expect from a popcorn. The story is about Tony Stark's struggles after he announced he is the Iron Man. Then there are copycats and those who wants him to fall from grace and those want to be on his side. But I don't expect the story to be a blast, considering that the first one didn't have a good story at the first place. The humours are very smart and very funny, Atles and I actually spent more time laughing than quietly sit down. Maybe it was those other viewers don't understand those jokes (practice your English man!!!)

The visual effects is a small leap from the first one. Kudos to people at ILM at this department, the graphics are so seamlessly fused into the real world that you rarely recognized any flaws of the visual. It is that good and flawless. Combining those graphics with action sequences, stunts and the whooshing sound effect, I had a blast and totally entertained...

The new characters like the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and the new Lt. Colonel James Rhodes/War Machine (played by Don Cheadle after Terence Howard left the role) is blended in perfectly into the movie, so they won't feel alienated, which is smart, consider that many movie failed to do that...

In the end, Iron Man 2 is a good popcorn movie with good pacing of story, nice visual effects, stunts and sound effects keep audience entertained and remind people how good is the first movie. And, I want to defend the movie against the critics that say the story is boring and stupid, Consider this critics, don't ever compare Iron Man to The Dark Knight, those two are different movies even though it is the same genre. The Dark Knight is artistic, dark and smart plot, Iron Man 2 is light-hearted, funny, and it is all about entertainment. So stop saying Iron Man 2 plot is rubbish, because it is simple and is not written to be good and smart at the first place.

Pros: Easy to follow plot and have a very good pacing, visual effect is seamless, great sound effects, more actions (YAY!!!), new characters don't feel alienated.

Cons: Although fun, the surprise factor from the first movie is lost, due to we watched the first movie...

Verdict: 4.8/5

P.S.: Don't leave the cinema until the end of the credits, there is a small clip setting up for a potential sequel to Iron Man 3!!!