"Drop your socks and grab your Crocs. We're about to get wet on this ride"!

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2011)

Depending on your point of view, my summary line by Iron Man/Tony Stark either describes the picture pretty well or not at all. That would have been the best line of the picture if Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) hadn't of come up with "This is a kinetic-kill, side-winder vehicle with a secondary cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine RDX burst". And I always though antidisestablishmentarianism was the longest word in the English language.
I'm echoing a lot of viewers who thought more of the first Iron Man flick than this one. Too much emphasis on the special effects and blow 'em up action and not enough on character development and motivation. At least they mentioned War Machine by name, or I should say Don Cheadle mentioned it. But how does anyone know who Black Widow is unless you follow the comic book series? Mickey Rourke looks every bit like he might have just stepped off the set of "The Wrestler", and as I think about it now, I don't think there ever was a pro grappler named Whiplash. I wonder why.
The one thing I always look forward to in my Marvel Comics films is the manner in which writer and comic book legend Stan Lee shows up. Just as in the first Iron Man picture, Mister Lee is credited as himself, but is actually shown and introduced portraying Larry King in a quick early scene. The first time around he was doing the Hugh Hefner thing.
The Fox News Network's Bill O'Reilly also gets some face time here in a background sequence doing one of his Talking Points Memos on Pepper Potts. I'm thinking about that now, and how his appearance neatly ties into the pro-American, patriotic stance the picture takes with Iron Man's character and Tony Stark's refusal to give up his personal private property, both very conservative viewpoints. O'Reilly goes after Pepper Potts' inexperience in being named the head of Stark Enterprises, and it seems I've heard that argument before about a certain President.
Hopefully the Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) appearance makes the wait for The Avengers film something to look forward to and not a disappointment. The Fantastic Four films were only nominally successful, and I look for something bigger and better from the next Marvel movie franchise.