After its release in the spring of 2008, the original “Iron Man” grossed a grand total of more than $98 million in more than 4,000 theaters in North America. Now, its sequel “Iron Man 2” is bringing an exciting story, a new cast of characters and a full head of steam to the box office.
Robert Downey, Jr. is reprising his role as Tony Stark, the eccentric billionaire who in the first movie becomes Iron Man. Also making a comeback in the sequel is Gwyneth Paltrow with her role as Virginia “Pepper” Potts, the personal assistant and love interest to Tony Stark.
While the film returns Downey, Jr. and Paltrow, it also brings three new big name actors, one as a replacement and the other two as new villains to the film. In the first “Iron Man,” crowds saw Terrence Howard portray the role of Stark’s good friend and military buddy, Lt. Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes. In the new film, the role of Rhodes is portrayed by Oscar-nominated actor Don Cheadle. Two of the movie’s biggest additions are villains Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer, played by Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell, respectively.
“It’s fun to play bad guys,” said Rockwell, 41. “You get to break all the rules and stuff, it’s a fun challenge.”
Many of the scenes between the two new villains were shot together.
“The scenes with Mickey Rourke were very fun for me to do,” Rockwell said. “It was a lot for me to do in scenes. It was a good time.”
Even for a polished actor such as Rockwell, he said that coming into the film knowing very little about the comic book and the character he was playing.
“I knew nothing,” Rockwell said. “I got the comics books as soon as I got the part and looked at them for a little bit and it was described to me by Justin Theroux and Jon Favreau.”
Despite being such a big-budget flick, Rockwell said that the process of shooting the film did not always feel that way.
“This movie just felt like an indie a lot of times,” said Rockwell, who in 2009 worked on one of the year’s most successful indie films, “Moon.” “It was a really actor-friendly set. It didn’t feel like a big-budget movie, it actually felt like a lot of fun.”
The first “Iron Man” dealt with the origins of the character and Stark’s battle with the film’s antagonist Obadiah Stane, the sequel deals with Stark’s character being pushed by the government to hand over the Iron Man technology and Rourke’s character trying to reproduce his own version of the suit. Rockwell’s character of Justin Hammer is one of Stark’s business rivals.
As of Sunday, the film received its share of polarizing reviews. For the most part, feedback has been positive. The film received a 75 percent from critics on the review-aggregation website, Rotten Tomatoes. It also grossed a total of $50 million in the box office on its opening Friday.
