Good Action - but overall - very lacking

Rating: Null/10 (8 July 2011)

Everything that made the first Iron Man film so good is attempted in this sequel but for the most part, falls short - the film looks lazy - as if it is simply living off the first film's success.
Despite this the film still has merit. I particularly liked the part of the story that included the Howard Stark flashback and that tie-in to the story. Robert Downey Jr. is still good in most of his scenes - especially the quiet, calm moments where he is in a way being re-introduced to his late father - these scenes are good - but the scene where he is intoxicated and entertaining a bunch of party animals is ridiculous and no doubt, rolled several pairs of eyes in the cinema, including mine. Anyone who read the Iron Man stories, knows full well that Tony Stark had his inner-demons and had a drinking problem for a while but this part of the character could have been handled in a much more effective way in the film. The Pepper Potts character is already getting stale. Nick Fury scenes are intriguing but pretty much just set up material for the up-coming Avengers movie and though the post credits cameo of a certain thunder god's hammer found in the NM desert tantalizes the Marvelites, so many of the performances simply looked uninspired.
The film is still entertaining and the action scenes do not disappoint - especially the scene at the race track involving Whiplash and the final scene where Iron Man and War Machine are facing off against the deadly drones. Scarlett Johannson did a commendable job as Black Widow her scenes are good but they are rushed - hope to see more of this character's development in The Avengers movie. The Justin Hammer character brought a few laughs as well as Happy Hogan, but if there is to be another Iron Man film - they need to inject it with the same elements that made the first film such a hit and then take it to the next level as we saw in X-Men 2.