Sam Rockwell

Two years ago I saw Iron Man and loved it. It was fast, sharp and utterly enjoyable. It was also not a well-known comicbook character to rival the likes of Batman and Captain America, but it had a steady fanbase so overall it felt like the audience were starting out on the same level. It also ended up surpassing everyone's expectations and grossing over $100million during its first weekend at the US Box Office. It also didn't harm it to have Robert Downey Jr., long been one of the most exciting and talented actors of his generation, positively nail the role of narcissistic entrepreneur, Tony Stark.

So comes the sequel and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, it hasn't left me proclaiming it to be my favourite movie of the year like I did with the last one. If anything, it suffered from "Spiderman 3 Syndrome", that is to say that two many subplots spoiled the broth. I think the first one worked because people weren't expecting it to but this one had so much pressure riding on it that perhaps the producers felt they had to give the audience more bang for their buck. Thankfully, Jon Favreau, the director a.k.a Pete from Friends (am I the only one who cannot believe they are same person??) still maintained Downey Jr's cheeky spirit and the fight scenes are exciting but for me, what totally stole the show was Sam Rockwell.

After Lawn Dogs, The Green Mile and the criminally underrated Moon, it's refreshing to see him play a relatively cleancut character and by that I mean that it was good to see him look dapper in a sharp suit. During the film and his relatively short screen time, this suit (much like Iron Man's itself) masked a second personality; a personality which harboured a deep insecurity that he just wasn't as good as Tony Stark. AsJustin Hammer, he has the money and he has the status but ultimately, he doesn't have the brains and so he took to saving Ivan Vanko (a creepy Mickey Rourke) in order to create a copycat suit which he could then sell to the American Military and hopefully outdo Stark's alterego. He's only in the film for a total of about 40minutes but his scenes bristle with a desperation and an almost sleaziness which, for me, stole the show from Downey Jr.



He doesn't look much like Hammer in the comic books but who cares? When you have Rockwell in your movie, you're sure to have the best acting one man can produce. I read somewhere that he was originally the first choice to play Stark himself but the studio wasn't confident enough with his status (their loss) so it is good to see him in these movies if the lasting thought is wondering just how good it could have been with him. That isn't to take anything away from Downey Jr., but still...this is Sam Rockwell and he is in a class of his own.

So I am now waiting on two movies of his (Gentlemen Broncos and Choke) and will probably go for a few more as well (did you know he was in Frost/Nixon? I didn't...) but I already know how this will end. He's up there with John Cusack and Mark Wahlberg for me. And you know how much I love those guys...