Iron Man 2 Review – part 2 -

Thankfully, Tony isn’t alone in this journey.

Pepper Potts (wonderfully played by Gwyneth Paltrow) steps up her ante, and proves to be more than just Mr. Stark’s secretary/love interest. Their on-screen dynamic simply works.

The good thing about their relationship is they really compliment each other. Pepper makes sense out of Stark’s eccentric ways, and Stark on the other hand, simply works as that guy who annoys the hell out of Pepper with his impulsiveness. And there’s something endearing with Pepper whenever Tony Stark’s gets caught up in his own mess.

Aside from Ms. Potts, there’s also Lt. Col. James Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle) who is Tony Stark’s military liason, and best friend.

Now truth be told, I was actually worried about this particular character, due to the fact that in the first movie, he was played by Terrence Howard, who I believed to have done the character justice. However, due to some problems with negotiation, he was taken out of the sequel, and was replaced by Cheadle.

Now before I saw the movie, I had some lingering fears that he may not do the character justice. I mean the only film I’ve seen him in is Hotel Rwanda, and I just can’t imagine him kicking some butt and being a bad-ass, unlike Terrence Howard.

But after watching the film, I’m convinced. Not only did he filled in the shoes of Howard Terrence quite nicely, he stepped it up and gave the character much more depth. He doesn’t just let Tony steal the show, he literally stepped toe-to-toe with the guy. They were more like brothers, than just friends, and Cheadle relays that sense of brotherhood throughout. And when he suited up as War Machine, (not really a spoiler since its been in the trailers) he nails it to the “T” and brings his game-on. This was one film where Don Cheadle convinced me he can be caring AND bad-ass at the same time.