Pointless sequel.

Rating: 5/10 (8 December 2013)

After the tour de force that was Iron Man, a sequel was always going to be hard pressed to live up to the expectation. The writers and director of Iron Man 2 apparently decided to go in a totally different direction and create a movie that does nothing and goes no where. Tony's alcoholism is given a sorry turn in the film, there is little build up to this. Black Widow is introduced ...her Avengers introduction is much better. Whiplash is great, as is Justin Hammer but both villains are poorly used in a film that stumbles from one set piece, through a series of sitcom gags, to the next set piece. The film culminates in a giant special effects sprawl and at the end it pretty much resets the ongoing plot to the end of Iron Man. It does the job as a blockbuster popcorn movie but is far below the standards set by Marvel.