Pretty good the second time around.

Rating: Null/10 (23 December 2010)

Rating: *** out of 4.
If the first IRON MAN was the origin story, than naturally its sequel would throw in the consequences. That doesn't make it a better film; in fact it's too much of it actually. But with the right balance of humor, thrills, special effects gimmicks, and more of Robert Downey Jr. as the narcissistic Stark, IRON MAN 2 is an adequate follow-up, even if it goes wildly out of control as it makes like SPIDER-MAN 3 and throws in as many subplots than it can handle.
But unlike the latter, director Jon Favreau and writer Justin Theroux (TROPIC THUNDER) keeps things better in balance and some of the sub-stories don't come quite as pointless as the one's in SPIDER-MAN 3. Still, if your gonna put Mickey Rourke as a cool bad guy named Ivan Vanko, you might as well give him better use than a filler for the grand finale. Vanko is the son of a disgraced Russian physicist who once collaborated with Tony Stark's father. Now, Vank demands revenge to lift his father's legacy. But the movie seems more interested in Stark's own problems with his life as mankind savior. A US senator (played hilariously by Garry Shandling) argues that Stark should hand over his technology to the US Military. Stark declines, taking him one step further to competitor Justin Hammer, who has tried endlessly to apply his own technological breakthroughs akin to Stark's and failing miserably. He now recruited Vanko, who failed in his first attempt to assassinate Stark, to build him a new breakthrough that would rival Stark and shame him in his own "Stark Expo" - Stark's annual unfoldment of his latest inventions. This gives more time for Rourke to play Ivan, not as a kick-ass bad guy, but as a comic relief spending time conversing with his pet Cockatoo. There's yet more plot: Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets a promotion as new CEO of Stark Industries, she gets a new assistant named Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson) who's really more than who she is. Plus Stark is being considered to be a part of the Avengers Initiative by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, who extends his after-credit cameo in the first as a full-time role), and Stark's buddy Lt. Col. "Rhodey" Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle) gets his hands on one Stark's earlier Iron Man suit that gets a few modifications. Did I miss anything? Is IRON MAN 2 a crowded movie? Yes. It's not only over-plotted, it's cast reads like a who's who of who would people want to see in the latest Hollywood blockbuster (You want Scarlett Johannson in a tight rubber suit kicking butt? You got it!). But hey! In the heat of summer time, boredom can easily be cured by some explosive blockbuster fun, and IRON MAN 2 works fine.
It's not as great as the first (which I never thought of as great as others think), and too much of it is a bid distracting (Stark is still front-and-center, but sometimes they tend to put him aside, then bring him back, and set him aside again), but it's a certified fun movie on a boring day.