"Iron Man 2"

With an opening weekend of just over $128 million in sales, Iron Man 2 eclipsed it's predecessor by $28 million. However, where Iron Man 2 makes up in sales, it lacks in ingenuity.

Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark the boyishly narcissistic CEO of the military contracting company, Stark Industries and Gwyneth Paltrow, his reluctant assistant, returns as Pepper Potts. Unfortunately, other than the director Jon Favreau (in a supporting role), Downey Jr. and Paltrow are the only two carry overs from the first installment. This is significant as Don Cheadle now replaces Terrance Howard as Stark's confidant, Lt. Colonel James Rhodes/War Machine. Unfortunately, Cheadle's acting makes certain scenes in Iron Man 2 laughable (when they are not supposed to be). During Stark's birthday party (donning the Iron Man suit sans helmet) an inebriated Stark's is confronted by Rhodes and who has just broken into Stark's secure basement suite that contains all the "spare" Iron Man uniforms and thrown on the "War Machine" version. The two suit bearing warriors precede to throw each other around Stark's mansion while an aghast crowd watches in disbelief, even though they seemed to be enjoying the boozed up billionaire exploding watermelons over their heads five minutes previous to the confrontation. This fight scene could have been enjoyable if it wasn't paused every seven seconds with the obligatory "Tony, you have to stop this!" said by Rhodes. If Paramount had swallowed its pride and paid the man (Terrance Howard) his money, I believe this would have been a much more enjoyable scene and even movie.

However, it was not all doom, gloom, and bad Don Cheadle quotes. The chemistry between Downey Jr. and Paltrow has obviously carried over from the first installment and is quite enjoyable to watch. Sam Rockwell as rival weapons manufacturer Justin Hammer is phenomenal as always; Mickey Rourke as Stark's primary antagonist, Ivan Vanko, is enjoyable with his constant Russian snickers; and Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff the undercover spy from S.H.I.E.L.D. is not only aesthetically wonderful but definitely fit perfectly into her leather suit errr role.

The cast as an ensemble was excellent (other than Cheadle); however, Favreau took away from the believabilty that was present in the first. Unlike the first Iron Man where Favreau mixed in the right amount of humor with the right amount of drama and action, he barrages the viewer with an overabundance of uneccessary action/fight scenes. Despite its weaknesses, Iron Man 2 is worth watching in theaters once, if not only for Downey Jr., Johansson, and Stan Lee's "Where's Waldo" impression that he seems to be doing in all the new breed of Marvel produced movies.

6/10 (see it)

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