Simply put... not as bad as the internet puts it out to be.

Rating: 8/10 (7 July 2016)

This film certainly must have been an anticipated one following the huge success of the first 'Iron Man'. And yet this is now commonly viewed as one of the weakest MCU films. Is it? Yeah kind of but it certainly isn't 'terrible'. Sure the film does suffer from a lack of focus and perhaps it tries a bit too hard to set up 'The Avengers' but it is still a pretty entertaining film throughout. Robert Downey Jr. is once again excellent as Tony Stark, even when the film makes Tony just a bit too damn arrogant. Admittedly the main villain, Whiplash, is a bit of a let-down, especially considering that he's played by Mickey Rourke, but Sam Rockwell makes up for it (for the most part) as the secondary villain, Justin Hammer. The action sequences are once again excellent, especially the finale, and the film once again maintains the MCU's trademark tone and atmosphere. In short, 'Iron Man 2' certainly isn't perfect and by no means 'better' than the first film. However, I will admit that when I first saw it, I actually did think it was better because I actually wasn't too big on the first film when I first saw it. Nowadays things have obviously changed but I still love 'Iron Man 2'. Good solid fun.