A look back at this movie...

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2014)

It's actually pretty good. I LOVED the first Iron Man movie, it became my favorite comic-book movie after its release in 2008 (Even Dark Knight didn't beat it. I know, but my opinion, yo.)
When I saw this for the first time, I remember it having a lot of flaws, and overall wasn't as up to the mark as the stellar, fast, fun, and clever first movie. But now that I look back at it, it's actually kinda good. Nothing to write home about, but it is a solid piece of entertainment, and a pretty good sequel.
Robert Downey Jr.'s performance was more comic in this one, but actually better than the first (Then again, his performance as Tony Stark always gets better with more films). However, the supporting cast does not disappoint as well. Mickey Rourke's villain Whiplash IS kinda pointless, but Rourke plays it well, and is a good villain with a neat grudge.
Sam Rockwell especially stood out as Stark's rival in business, Justin Hammer. He's a very underrated actor, and played this character flawlessly. I don't really know why Rhodes was recast by Don Cheadle from this movie on, but he's really good in his role as well. Sam Jackson is awesome in this movie as Nick Fury, in my opinion a bit better than in The Avengers.
This movie was supposed to introduce the Avengers initiative, and does it, never straying from the main plot of Stark trying to save himself from dying, and defeating Whiplash and his army of drones. The whole Black Widow/Stark's assistant thing was kinda lame and pointless though.
Overall, this is a neat sequel to Iron Man. It's not the BEST of the Marvel films, but hey, if you like Iron Man, like me, you can definitely enjoy this flick.