A big let down compared to the first movie

Rating: 6/10 (26 May 2013)

I loved the first Iron Man movie, I must have watched it at least 20 times, maybe more. The story was well written and covered life, death, self exploration and rebirth. It was an action movie that took the time to build the story and not rely solely on slam-bam action to keep the audience's attention. Anyone who tells you that they were not moved by Yinsen's death scene is most likely not telling the truth. The audience got to know two Starks, the self indulging, selfish person and a morally correct one.
With these points of reference in place, let's talk about Iron Man 2.
In a nutshell, Slam, bam, thank you.
What a departure from the original story. This time around, they focused on putting as much action in as possible and did as little story as possible. In fact, what little story there is insults the audience's intelligence. For example, Stark's Mark II armor is taken by Rhodey and they fight a battle to a stand still.
First of all, Rhodey does not have an arc reactor chest piece. What is he using to power the suit? Second, Stark is wearing at least a Mark IV generation suit. Rhodey with a Mark II suit would have had no chance against it. Third, how did Rhodey get to be an expert using the suit? Fourth, how was a third party organization able to reverse engineer the suit so quickly and integrate other weapons?
This crazy lack of logic is present throughout the story and really killed the movie for me. If you are looking for action, you will not be disappointed. The action comes on early and continues until the end. However, if you want a complete story such as with the original movie, you will probably be somewhat disappointed.