Weapons, Money, Politics.

Rating: 8/10 (25 May 2010)

This is a fine comic book movie that relies as much on snappy dialogue and characters as it does fight scenes and CGI. IMO, this is a good idea in that with regard to FX and CGI, we have reached the age of overkill.
Another interesting departure from modern superhero films: typically such films increase the number of supervillians with each sequel, i.e., Spidey 3 and Batman Forever having 3 supervillians. But no, Favreau wisely chooses to have 1 supervillian here.
Finally, Iron Man diverges from current trends in that he heavily relies, even depends, on his supporting cast. Rhodie, Pepper, and Happy all contribute heavily to Our Hero's eventual triumph. I find this refreshing when I contrast it with the monomania of certain popular heroes.
Also, unlike Christopher Nolan's Batman movies, there is no attempt to make Iron Man 2 more overpowering, bombastic, mindnumbing and pretentious than Iron Man 1. No, the attempt is simply to make a movie that is true to the characters and scenario of Iron Man 1, and to make the movie fun, interesting, and exciting. In this way perhaps the Iron Man franchise will be like the James Bond franchise, making each film simply another chapter in the life of our hero, rather than trying to make each film a quantum leap in intensity over the previous.
And even though Iron Man 2 does not smack you upside the head every 3 minutes trying to tell you how 'deep' and 'meaningful' it is, there is a genuine socio-political subtext to this film that is plain to see if anyone cares to look. The final message is ambiguous and open-ended, but if one follows the threads regarding the interaction between weapons, money and politics, Iron Man 2 is understatedly subversive.