Action sequel fills large iron boots

Robert Downey Jr. fills the iron boots perfectly again in "Iron Man 2" to deliver a blast in theaters that leaves comic book fans amazed through a two-hour ride of excitement and action.

A couple of years ago, Marvel Comics began producing movies of their comic book characters with the first "Iron Man" movie.

With much higher expectations this time around with the sequel, Marvel succeeds in making a great comic book movie, as well as a stepping stone to assemble the world's mightiest heroes.

The movie presents a solid storyline, with great action sequences, characters and visual effects.

The only negative thing about the movie is that Mickey Rourke's character, Ivan Vanko, also known as Whiplash, only has his biggest parts at the beginning and the end of the film. He spends the middle of the film hidden and working on drones for Tony Stark's rival weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer.

And the final battle between him and Iron Man has a bit of an iffy ending, though the entire overall fight that led to it is great.

An interesting fact is that the final form of Whiplash in the movie includes an element of another Iron Man villain known as the Crimson Dynamo.

Despite the absence of Whiplash, the action is continued by a fight between Stark in his Iron Man suit against his friend Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes in Stark's Mach II suit, which ends up becoming the War Machine suit.

One noticeable change in the movie is the actor who plays Rhodes.

In the first movie, the part was played by Terrence Howard, but this time Don Cheadle takes over and adds more depth to the character.

Also, Stark faces a whole lot of problems other than Whiplash, such as pressure from the government to turn over his Iron Man suit, his rivalry with Hammer and his health condition that is deteriorating due to chemical poisoning from his arc reactor.

While fans probably would have liked to see Stark fight his alcohol addiction as he does in the comics, the fact that he is coming close to death due to his poisoning was a workable substitute for this movie.

Also, the biggest Easter egg to "The Avengers" is a scene that is shown after the ending credits finish rolling, which leaves the audience exiting the theater in awe and awaiting Marvel's next movie, "Thor."

That makes it a longer wait for May 6, 2011.

Contact Dariush Azmoudeh at dazmoudeh.advocate@gmail.com