Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 is about product. A considerable amount of the film's jeopardy revolves around dictating trends and poaching brand identity. Drama moves on trade show presentations, screamed at docile audiences. In Iron Man 2, Tony Stark is the brand. He's configured his own hyper-armour and won't let anyone else play. Off-screen he's vapourised terror-cells and halted uprisings, instituting a privatised US centric world peace. Stark's non-profit tax write-off is an enforced global stability, not sanctioned by any recognised international authority. No-one can compete with Stark, he is alone.

Iron Man 2 muddles around with the madness of this super-idea, hitting on a fracturing hero and an army of bitter imitators. Stark's industrialised peace doesn't make these people happy, it makes them envious. In this sequel Stark must battle a Soviet era reflection and a tan-hand impressionist, both figures corrupt recalculations of Stark's good fortune. They amount to minor distractions though, Iron Man 2's biggest enemy is the self-destruction reflex. Stark's power is physically poisoning him. Lacking any appropriate equal to confide in, Stark retreats to microfilm of his father. Sensing an end he goes about driving away those close to him, secretly equipping them to continue his ideal. Iron Man 2 is messy, frequently resembling a tangle of vaguely connected improv duels. Equally though, it is frequently about a bored, stupored superman. Stark's is a personality founded on drives, struggling for a challenge. This world conquered, what next? A post-credits clip hints at a cosmic stage for the eventual Avengers tie-in. There's that product again.