Bigger, louder and dumber but still worth it

Rating: 6/10 (13 May 2010)

Minor Spoilers Follow
After witnessing Iron Man back 2008, Iron Man 2 was met with lots of high hopes and people got what you usually get to MOST sequels of superhero movies (The Dark Knight and X2 are exceptions); a very entertaining follow-up but with story sacrificed for more action.
From the battles between Iron Man and his new villain to scenes meant for showcasing Tony Stark's uber-awesome tech, pretty much everything in the original Iron Man that involved special effects was increased in the sequel. The movie does not fail to entertain with its well executed action scenes that end with explosions blowing scrap metal all over the scenery. Word of advise about those action scenes; while very cool, be prepared if you're not used to heavy gunfire and the crunching of metal. This movie is VERY NOISY.
But metal suits, bullets and lasers aside, not much is left. The script is still as funny and witty as the original but in terms of depth, Iron Man 2 loses the substance that made the first Iron Man more than just a superhero film.
New characters like a well played Whiplash and Black Widow (who was more of a waste of time and eye candy) are introduced but without much character in them, rendering them forgettable. Hammers and Nick Fury are cool but a little more screen time would've helped. The recurring characters don't do much in the sequel either; Pepper Potts' and Rhodes' roles have both been shrunk to almost irrelevant until the final parts of the film. Actually, the entire movie seems to be more of a one man show for Robert Downey Jr. Majority of the story involves him talking to or talking back at people or doing some bad-ass fighting while doing all those mentioned before. While RDJ does another great job as Stark, everyone else has been pretty much forgotten, which isn't fair.
The story, on the other hand is a bit of a mess. Characters are introduced with little to no concrete motive at all, especially on the part of the villains. While they have the usual motives (revenge, greed, etc.), these are too simple or badly explained to be able to relate with. Speaking about motive, Tony Stark's motive has got to be the most messed up one of all in the movie. While in part one, the whole "Iron Man" thing was Tony Stark's redemption as an arms dealer, in part two, well, I don't really know what he was fighting for. You've got daddy issues, Tony's coming death, redeeming himself for going wild on his party, fixing a busted reputation, stopping Hammers because he's a complete idiot and stopping Whiplash's revenge scheme. Really, it was such a mess that you wouldn't really remember what Tony really was fighting for.
So yeah, Iron Man 2 is definitely more shallow and messed up compared to its predecessor but unlike most summer films, it's still worth watching.Just don't go in expecting it to be the sequel that everyone wants; this is just a simpler version of part one with a LOT of special effects thrown in. And if you want to know, keep watching as there is a very interesting scene after the credits roll.
And a minor complaint about Hammers from my friends and I: How could a nerdy arms dealer named Hammers not use any references to MC Hammer after acting like a retard on the stage of the Stark Expo (the dancing entrance)?? Seriously, it would've been kinda funny if he was yelling "HAMMER TIME" or something when showcasing his Hammer-Drones.