FILM REVIEW: IRON MAN 2

Paramount Pictures
Now Showing

If the Transformers films have taught us nothing else (and they haven't), it's that nothing makes for duller cinema than robots hammering on each other. Sadly, the producers of Iron Man have failed to heed that lesson and following on from the robot-on-robot finale of the first film (my only quibble with it), the sequel's finale is given over to a flurry of indistinguishable metal men. Apparently, more is more, and in this instance that means more iron, less man.

That man is Tony Stark, billionaire weapons manufacturer and playboy who dons the technologically advanced suit he created to become the titular hero. Robert Downey Jnr,'s portrayal was the main factor for the success of the first Iron Man, certainly the reason why I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

He's equally as good here but returning director, Jon Favreau (who also appears as Stark's bodyguard, Happy), and the screenwriters, have decided to focus more on the action than the man. That not only means less Downey Jnr but also Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's super-efficient PA, Pepper Potts. These two have real chemistry and spark off each with their verbal repartee; somebody write them a screwball comedy stat.

Mickey Rourke, as Ivan Vanko, a Russian with an axe to grind, and Scarlett Johansson, as Natalie Rushman, a paralegal with a secret, aren't given an awful lot to do either. Rourke's Vanko is set-up as a major threat to Stark's Iron Man but is dispensed in the film's climax with relative ease. Natalie Rushman, on the otherhand, seems to have been written with one major character trait: to look good in a cat suit. And while Johansson certainly fits that bill nicely, she deserves better.

Only Sam Rockwell, as Stark's rival weapons manufacturer, Justin Hammer, makes an impression and that's mostly because he seems to be channeling the dark side of Downey Jnr's Stark. I see your kooky and raise you some crazy-scary.

In its favour, Iron Man 2 is not being released in 3D, real or faux (it is releasing in an IMAX format, but why you'd bother I don't know). Is Iron Man 2 as good as the first? No, but that's to be expected. Is it a bad film? No. Admittedly I was disappointed but as far as popcorn and superhero movies go, you could do a lot worse – a lot worse.

And unlike the aforementioned Transformers, it doesn't bludgeon you into submission with its stupidity. Iron Man 2 isn't stupid, he's just less brilliant the second time around.

DVD REVIEW: AVATAR

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Available now on DVD and Blu-ray

If you're one of the few people who have yet to see James Cameron's sci-fi epic, than you really have no excuse with its release on DVD and Blu-ray*. And while Blu-ray may be the best format in which to view it (I'm yet to convert: while they keep making DVDs, I'll keep buying them!), I'd suggest that the visual impact of Avatar can be enjoyed regardless of format so long as you have a widescreen TV – the bigger the better.

For the power of Cameron's tale, of modern day environmental and military concerns on a future and distant moon, lies in its visuals: the creation of said moon, Pandora, its exotic flora and fauna, and its indigenous people, the Na'vi.

The story itself – a US Marine (Sam Worthington), enlisted by military and corporate concerns to use his Na'vi avatar to gain the natives' trust and move them on from the rich mineral deposit their village rests on, falls for their environmental ways and the chief's daughter, Natyri (Zoe Saldana), deciding he'd rather go native than sell them out – is not overly complex but is suitably involving with its dramatic, action and romantic elements. I was certainly no less impressed the second time around.

But it's the visuals that inspire awe and wonder, and even if not in 3D (that version will be released at a later date), Avatar is still a spectacle to behold.

*In its first four days of US release, Avatar sold a staggering 6.7 million copies, 2.7 million of which were Blu-ray, making it the highest selling movie in that format. Man, I wish I had shares in this film!

DVD REVIEW: BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS

Roadshow Entertainment
Available now on DVD and Blu-ray

Neither a remake or sequel to Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant (1992), starring Harvey Keitel, Werner Herzog's film seems to exist solely for one reason: the off-kilter, manic and ultimately fascinating performance by Nicolas Cage.

Cage plays Terence McDonagh, a cop with the New Orleans police department who is promoted to Lieutenant following an act of bravery during Hurricane Katrina. That act – diving into a flooded police cell to release a prisoner – resulted in a back injury which has, six months later, left him with a permanent semi hunch.

It has also left him with chronic pain which he sees fit to treat not just with prescribed painkillers but any form of illegal substance he can get his hands on. If that means busting suspects on the street, but without arrest, or raiding the police evidence lock-up then so be it.

There's also a homicide investigation, the execution-style murders of five Senegalese illegals, but that seems to be of minor consideration for Herzog who is more interested in focusing on McDonagh as he spirals out of control. And Cage certainly gives him something to focus on, chewing scenery with mad-eyed abandon, so much so that most of the other cast (including Eva Mendes and Val Kilmer) barely register.

Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant, as I understand (I've not seen it), has become somewhat of a cult classic; I have a feeling that Herzog's film will find a similar following. It wasn't released in cinemas in Australia but word of mouth, and some positive reviews overseas (Ebert thought Cage's performance was worthy of Oscar consideration) will have it discovered gradually.

DVD REVIEW: STRENGTH AND HONOUR

Vendetta Films
Available now on DVD

Not quite an Irish Rocky, Strength and Honour is a boxing film that, like all boxing films, has its protagonist come back from the bottom to achieve a shot at the championship. In this instance the pugilist is Sean Kelleher (Michael Madsen), who retired from the sport after accidentally killing a sparring partner. The illness of his young son is the reason for his once more returning to the ring.

The championship he enters is not an internationally recognised event but one held annually by the Traveller (gypsy) population of Ireland. It's also a bare-knuckle, no-holds barred event and usually only open to members of the Traveller community.

Sean is not a Traveller but finds himself living amongst their community when medical costs have him move out of his house and into a caravan. The Council of this community reluctantly allow him to fight as one of them, partly because of his dying son and also because the reigning champion, Smasher O'Driscoll (played by former soccer star, Vinnie Jones), is a boorish thug whom nobody much likes.

The events in writer-director Mark Mahon's film play out exactly as you'd expect but that didn't prevent it winning several festival awards, including Best Director and Feature at the 2008 New York International Film Festival. And while Madsen gives a solid low key performance the film never reaches any great dramatic (or boxing) heights. The lilting, Enya-esque music which plays over training montages, there to remind us that we are indeed in Ireland, is more annoying than evocative.