Is this a sequel or a prequel?

Rating: 6/10 (20 June 2010)

Robert Downey Jr's performance as the billionaire industrialist Tony Stark might actually be better than the original. He seems comfortable with his role and a lot of time is spent on his character development as Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts also delivers a better performance as Tony's assistant and love interest. The interaction between these two is better than ever. This is a much faster-paced superhero film than the original. The introduction of Stark as Iron Man is over and we are in the middle of his growing up. Throw into this mix Lt. Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes (Don Cheadle) suiting up as War Machine for the first time and Mickey Rourke playing the vengeful villain Ivan Vanko, hell-bent on destroying Tony Stark, and you might think you have a better film than the original. A rarity in the film business.
Unfortunately, the writers did not stop there. Much of this movie is spent on setting up an upcoming Avengers movie. This turned Iron Man from a sequel into an combination sequel/prequel. Samuel L. Jackson is brought in as Nick Fury, a name you will know if you are an Avengers fan. He first played this role in the Incredible Hulk. Now you must see two movies and have some concept of the Avengers before you can follow this movie. Fury's scenes are few and confusing. They break up the rhythm of the film and make the film incoherent. Introduce into this equation Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff and your Avengers prequel is complete. There is no doubt this movie is talent packed.
They do not go seamlessly from one story concept to the other. A lot of focus seems to be on trying to force some cohesion between the two. The writing seems more focused on making sure we all know that there will be an Avengers movie. Tony Stark, however, has much worse lines in this movie than in the first. Instead of being self-confident and smooth with the ladies and press, he lacks any real social skill that would lead us to believe he's capable of impressing anybody. His character is really obnoxious at times in this movie.
The action scenes show Romanoff as an incredible martial artist with what might be considered superhuman butt-kicking capabilities. Iron Man's fight scenes were rather anti-climatic. Iron Man has a power source more powerful than nuclear energy and the 100 pound girl is the tough one?
They had a great sequel for Iron Man and then destroyed it. Oddly enough, this movie is still worth watching. This proves that, with enough talent and money, Hollywood can polish a turd. Wait for the DVD. I rate this six out of ten.