The Sequel That Did Nothing

Rating: 3/10 (10 June 2010)

There are two saving graces in "Iron Man 2." The first is Gwyneth Paltrow's wondrous performance as Virginia "Pepper" Potts. Paltrow is literally stunning as Pepper and brings a warmth and depth to this character in a beautiful way.
The second is the "Easter egg" scene after the end credits in which we see S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson discover the mighty Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, in a crater in New Mexico.
That's pretty much it.
"Iron Man 2" is boring, trite, and does nothing for the character or this franchise in any meaningful way. Even the battle scenes were not entertaining. Whereas "Iron Man" was fun and exciting and interesting, "2" is the exact opposite and even borders on "Batman & Robin" embarrassing at times, which is pretty terrible.
I had low expectations for "Iron Man 2" whenever I saw the first trailer for the film, and it's safe to say that it exceeded (or whatever the opposite of "exceed" is) them in spades.
I can only hope that the "Captain America," "Thor," and "The Avengers" films are better. And a word of advice to the filmmakers, reign in Robert Downey, Jr. a little bit next time. Just say what's in the script, Robert...we didn't come to the theater to see a Second City improv performance.