Iron-Man 2: Stark raving mad over Favreau's folly

Rating: 4/10 (7 May 2010)

All these months of waiting on Iron Man 2 and my worst fears have been realized. You can rest assured that I am not going to glorify any of what I saw because I feel like I owe it to anyone or anything or because I was happy with at least a small part of the movie.
This was like Spider-Man 3 or Superman 4 Quest for Peace. It was only a shell of a superhero movie. Why any time was spent on Tony's ailment, is a puzzle to me. Why? Because so much time is spent showing us that no ego is stronger than his.How can anyone care that he is sick? I know I didn't. Nothing endeared him to me. His self centered, near sighted outlook on life made me sick. His overinflated ego is the near death of my interest in this franchise. It is not Downey's fault, although I still wish he had not been selected as Stark in the first place.
It had plenty of boom and bang tempered with ooh and ahh. Unfortunately for fans of the noise, it was short-lived in two different parts of the movie. For me, I don't care how loud the noise is or bright the flashes are as long as they are used intelligently. In my mind, that was the only thing that Favreau decided to give the fans, apparently not knowing we are not all like he is. To help you understand how much Favreau disappointed me, his presence on the screen repulsed me. When he decided to put his character in one fight scene, all I could think of was how little he must have understood what makes a superhero movie a good movie. I thought it was totally self indulgent and neglecting the attention the moment required. He just couldn't help but rush to a joke throughout the entire movie. Hopefully, this was his last shot at making a superhero movie. But wow, thanks for making money for the studio, eh? I give kudos to Rourke, Paltrow, Cheadle and Johannson. Paltrow's involvement was upgraded to a different level, showing her strengths just as she should have. And although they never got much of a chance to build much, Johansson and Cheadle made their presence very noticeable with hopes of more to expect in what I hope is a recoup of quality in Iron-Man 3(which would mean Favreau-less). My favorite scenes though were with Cheadle, as the denied friend and as War Machine. He was truly the best part of the movie. I hope Johansson comes back as Romanoff again, I liked her in this role. As little time she had on screen, this was one of her better roles. I think this character fits her fine.
Rourke was a great villain. But I felt he was not quite as fearsome as the trailer made me believe. I was entirely engrossed with his character until he died. While his Vanko seemed truly capable of being evil, his demise was almost anti-climatic. His leaving the story made it even more of a disappointment because Rockwell's Hammer was allowed to live. BTW, I never liked Rockwell's Hammer because his character was as much of a joke as Favreua's take on this movie.
Getting back to the loud explosions and bright lights, one scene near the end is the best example of why this Iron-Man is a great example for a weak superhero movie. While a large portion of the city is in flames, where is Iron-Man? Why, he is too busy talking to Pepper about her future. Dying children, women and men, ahhh, too busy here, folks. Iron-Man has a thing for this woman. Can't be bothered now. Give me a superhero who can't be bothered to help mankind and I give you nothing in return. I was hoping throughout the movie to see his ego fade away. Matter of fact, I had thought he learned a lesson near the end of the first Iron-Man. Guess I was wrong.
4 out of 10 - plain and simple. Suggestion: wait til the DVD hits Redbox. And disregard the positive reviews for the movie itself, it sucked.