A familiar successor

Rating: 6/10 (4 January 2020)

This review contains spoilers.
Iron Man 2 is a superhero action movie that premiered in 2010. The movie is directed Jon Favreau, with screenplay by Justin Theroux. The movie is based on the character Iron Man by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby. The movie stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and Scarlett Johansson. Iron Man 2 is the sequel to 2008's Iron Man and takes place sometime after the conclusion of the first movie.
Iron Man 2 follows the same formula and procedure as the first Iron Man movie. It is an incredibly familiar sequel and it does not stray from the overall formula that the first movie set out. Iron Man 2 follows Tony Stark with Robert Downey Jr. reprising the role. Robert Downey Jr. continues his great performance of the billionaire inventor and watching him in the role is always welcome. The movie focuses more on the supporting cast much more than the first movie does. There is an emphasis on Pepper Potts, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, and Natasha Romanov in this movie.
The story of this movie is fairly generic. I felt that the movie's main purpose was to introduce more of the Marvel characters to the audience rather than crafting a satisfying movie. The universe is interesting with its massive potential scope but it came at the cost of making the villains in this movie interesting. The main villain in this movie is Ivan Vanko played by Mickey Rourke. Besides some incredibly select scenes, Ivan Vanko is not allowed much room to develop as a character. The backstory of the villain is interesting as a person that was wronged by Stark industries in the past. This however is the only mileage that the villain gets. Mickey Rourke did an admirable job but the script was simply not there for the character to thrive. There is too much to get done in the 125 minutes of running time of this movie.
The movie does setup the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe by the end of the movie. This was absolutely Iron Man 2's goal as they wanted more characters and heroes to be known by the audience. The movie attempts to do too much in the story. The movie had to craft a compelling villain, a continuation of Tony Stark's story and also an expansion into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All of these does not bear fruit at the same time and it shows in this movie. The great action and effects that audiences enjoyed in the first movie is still here. The full package of story and narrative is not.
I would still recommend 'Iron Man 2' despite its story problems.
Grade: C