Iron Man 2 (2010)

Rating: 7/10 (30 December 2011)

Overall a huge disappointment, but still a rather exciting and exhilarating ride. The main problem with Iron Man 2 is that it does too much in the most complicated of ways and yet misses obvious ways to tie the plot together in a more condensed form. Tony Stark is dying because of his Iron Man suit. Ivan Vanko wants revenge on Stark because Stark's father ran his father out of the country and stole his idea. The American government wants the Iron Man suit. These are the main three plots going down. After a great set-up the film is all ready to roar into action when SUDDENLY the antagonists spend the second act delegating their work. The American government hires Justin Hammer to build a suit, Hammer can't build a suit, Hammer springs Vanko from prison etc. And it goes on. The villains all need someone else to do a part of their plan which makes for a lot of talk and not a lot of action. Keep in mind, all this is going on without any involvement from Stark/Iron Man. He's searching for some unknown element to stop his suit from killing him, whilst setting up a spin-off (The Avengers). I appreciate what Marvel are trying to do, but the film was all foreplay and then a quick handjob. Couldn't Vanko have had some clues towards Tony's cure? At least then these plot strands could have been linked in some way. Still, it's enough to leave me wanting more.