Lame follow-up to mediocre movie

Rating: 4/10 (22 November 2010)

I'm not a huge fan of this series..... the first film started out exceptionally poor with horrible racial stereotypes and ridiculous effects, then entered an interesting and entertaining middle stage that dealt with anti-hero issues, and concluded in a predictable underwhelming confrontation. The sequel has a more exciting battle at the end, but very little before it to really keep me interested. From its first moments it presents a cliché landscape of cgi robot action, PG-13 level exploitation values, and absurd character relationships.
The new writer, Justin Theroux, has produced a film that plays even more to the lowest common denominator, which is quite surprising considering his public persona as a fringe badboy in terms of acting (he's appeared in many David Lynch films, among others). The film lacks any sense that there's a larger structure hanging over the proceedings. About the only ongoing plot is the idea that Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is sick/dying and that Pepper Potts (Paltrow) doesn't know about it. Everything about the film is designed not to exceed the capacity or appetite of 14 year old boys. Theroux is clearly primarily a comedy writer, as evidenced by his only previous credit on "Tropic Thunder" (a much more entertaining Downey Jr. film and performance).
The worst thing about films such as this, and the Pirates of the Caribbean films with Johnny Depp, is that they have proved that the best actors of our generation can be debased and turned into engines for boring action franchises. There was a time when serious actors wouldn't go near a kiddie movie like this. While Downey Jr. provides much of the film's humor, you have to feel like he's wasting his own time as much as ours. Mickey Rourke, after a nice performance in "The Wrestler", reminds us once again of why he lost popularity in the first place: his performance is all smug and self-satisfied, as if it's enough to be a villain to speak in an awful Russian accent and walk around with a smirk. And what was with the bird? It was like he complained to the scriptwriter and they gave him that as a "character quirk" even though it has no meaning and does nothing for the film.
Very poorly written film executed in a highly predictable way