Almost a flop if not for a few good scenes...

Rating: 5/10 (21 May 2010)

Before I get to the review itself, the first Iron Man was a big surprise for me. The first movie had a good balance of action and drama. The pacing of the movie was good. It didn't slow down drastically and neither was it rushed. It was a good character story as well.
Sadly, Iron Man 2 fails where the first succeeded. There are 2 epic battle scenes in IM2, as many have mentioned, the Monaco scene and the final epic battle. Both were a joy to watch but if removed from the movie, IM2 would be a failure. Scarlett Johansson had an action scene of her own, as evidenced in the trailer, which was pretty cool as well.
What really ticks me off about the movie is how much hype was built around certain characters and how miserable the final outcome turned out.
It's no exaggeration that War Machine is a major factor in promoting the film. But the manner in which he is introduced is just silly. And it doesn't get any better for him. War Machine really was a waste, even in the final battle it's Iron Man who steals the limelight. No doubt it IS a movie about Iron Man but why throw in a big name hero if he ends up being pathetic sidekick? And it felt to me that War Machine really was nothing more than pathetic.
And Olivia Munn's role is just plain stupid. All the talk from Favreau about Iron Man heading in a serious direction and needing her to re-shoot her scenes... So much hype and you probably won't even notice her in the movie.
Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan) has more lines in this film and so does Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury). Again, nothing noteworthy.
The saddest part for me was how Mickey Rourke was criminally underused. His acting was superb but his character itself came across as an introverted man with harboring much hatred and hellbent on revenge. Which is probably what he was meant to be but when played out on screen he wasn't as interesting as I thought he would be.
Now for the good points of the film. There's quite a bit of comedy in it. And it's pretty funny stuff too. Sometimes really silly but still tolerably. And while many think Sam Rockwell's portrayal of Justin Hammer was annoying, I thought it was brilliant. At least he added some sort of vibe to the film. And the Monaco and final battle scenes alone are worth sitting through the film.
I've probably come across as being overly critical of the film but IM2 is not as bad as I make it to be. It's frustrating because it doesn't follow in the footsteps of the first, which on the other hand was a very good movie.