Iron Man 2 is of course the sequel to Iron Man.  It stars Robert Downey Jr. as the titular Marvel comics hero who also goes by Tony Stark, eccentric billionaire and head of a leading tech company.  It’s directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Elf) and written by Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder).  This time around we find Stark dealing with his own mortality and how that relates to the past as well as dealing with the US government and enemies he never knew he even had.

Iron Man 2 doesn’t deviate much from Iron Man.  If you liked that movie, you’ll enjoy this one as well.  I personally thought the first movie was quite flawed and those same flaws are here, although downgraded a bit.  Basically my complaint about the first movie was it was fine but it was very bland and by the book sort of cookie cutter superhero movie that was only not horrible and boring because of Downey Jr.’s scenery chewing.  This time it’s pretty much the same but it seemed like the script was just a little more fine tuned to each actor therefore giving everyone a little bit more to work with.

The plot is pretty dull overall.  At least the action-y superhero stuff.  All the action pieces just put me to sleep.  But the movie really shined when it wasn’t worrying about being a big action movie and just having some fun.  While Paltrow and Downey Jr. don’t really have any chemistry, she still puts in an admirable performance, however Scarlett Johansson pretty much steals the entire movie away from her.

I had thought that Mickey Rourke as the main villain of the film would be a great match to Downey Jr. but as it turned out he was just way too vanilla.  I heard he tried to spice his character up a bit, but he already was working with too little to really make anything out of.  It turns out that Sam Rockwell is the foil I’d hoped Rourke to be.  Rockwell shines in his role as a competitor of Stark’s.

But overall I just found this to be an ok movie.  It’s a fun diversion with friends but it’s not going to change the world, or even make you feel an emotion.

Iron Man 2 opens in the US on Friday May 7th.  Buy your tickets using the link below.