The "2" is very much apparent

Rating: 6/10 (8 October 2010)

I understand that this was a big hit in theaters, and it is very well made and you couldn't have put together a better cast. The story is clever and there are a few twists that I did find amusing and surprising.
That said, I got kind of bored by the revelry in Tony Stark's self destructive behavior. Okay, you need a hook that seems new and interesting but I thought I was going to see a fun action movie. This seems more lifted out of a Scorsese movie. The first one was a of corse a brand new discovery for me, but it seems that it had more of the wiseass humour, that I like so much. Not so here. The laughs are of the "I like to see people in pain" variety.
The action scenes, although well made, seems too reliant on CG. The talking computer drives me crazy. It's good its voice is absent from the most part at the end.
Now for the good parts: The scene at the hearing. Hilarious. Not just from Downey Jr, but also Sam Rockwell and of all people, Garry Shandling. It's a bit of an odd opening, but it's clever. Using the Iron Man technology as a parody of the world's fear of nuclear bombs was inspired. Think the second Iraq and North Korea. North Korea actually got slammed pretty badly here. Lucky, they can't sue.
The Mickey Rourke character? Is it just me or does he get uglier and uglier every year. That's a compliment. His duplicity and abilities comes as a complete surprise, when finally revealed at the Stark Expo.
They found a suitable replacement for Terrence Howard, although Don Cheadle is probably better suited for high drama. His character's IQ seems to have dropped a few points as well.
One thing, though. What's with the Audi plug? Tony Stark's car and the big sign at the Expo.