So-so follow up. Impress me more.

Rating: 5/10 (16 July 2010)

We all cry out for "next episode" films when we've loved the first one; but like naughty children, we shouldn't always be indulged in our desires. Iron Man II's Goliath has made a David out of the funny, quirky first film.
Poor old messianic Iron Man. Even Robert Downey Jr's considerable charm couldn't quite overcome the pointlessness of this film, which is a pity: Favreau had a ready-made audience, eager for more; he could have taken chances, had a really punchy script and dealt with something bigger and nastier than Iron Man's glimpse of his own mortality. One newspaper review commented on how "Stark arrogantly states 'I've successfully privatised world peace'", and I agree: it's monstrously arrogant. Whoever wants world peace privatised anyway? Isn't it a civic, national and international duty to help keep the peace? Or is this another illustration of the US's pathological hatred of "central" governance? Yawn. Or perhaps it's just go-it-alone isolationism? Double yawn.
Elsewhere the film was teeming with underused but well-played characters: Mickey Rourke's surprisingly effective villain, hamstrung by his crude and ultimately ineffective weapon not once but twice (a scary whip? Again?!); Scarlett Johansson doing a pretty good job considering her "reveal" doesn't really go anywhere (and reviews that say she's just there as eye candy are unfair, she has at least one good fight scene); Gwyneth Paltrow's cute Pepper Potts gone all shrewish – why?; Don Cheadle and Samuel L, serious acting talent, with nothing much to do - what are Shield doing in this anyway? Much of the story was crowded, boring and inexplicable, and I count it as a bad thing when I find myself actually welcoming another brainless action sequence.
I once heard Paul Hogan touting "Crocodile Dundee II", and his use of the expression "it's a good product", was like a death knell. Well, when I heard Jon Favreau talking about this film, although to be fair these press things must be mind-numbingly awful – he made it sound like just an item on his CV: another death knell. Without passion, "Iron Man II" was always just going to be just a day at the office. Maybe we all expect too much; here's hoping number three just goes back to being good, simple entertainment.