Iron Man 2

Much like the first Iron Man film, the sequel is one of those unique superhero films where I was much more interested in the main character when he was out of the suit. Its no secret that Downey is the entire franchise, and the film's best moments just involve him riffing and interacting with the other characters. When the film gets into the action sequences (which are nicely put together) I found myself getting antsy and wanting to get back to the bickering. Thankfully I think the makers realize this and a good 2/3rds of the film has Downey just doing his thing . Even in the two big set pieces they allow him to liberally engage in dialougue and not just grunt and yell.

The film also manages to utilize a loaded cast (Gwenyth Platrow, Jon Favreau, Scarlett Johanssen, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L Jackson, Mickey Rourke, and Paul Bettany's voice (unlike legion which starred Paul bettany's abs)) with a minimal amount of confusion. Rockwell in particular is entertaining as a rival arms dealer. The biggest problem is that the main villain, player by Rourke, isn't that interesting. He spends most of the film grunting, and making another Iron Man Esque suit so that there can be another big fight between Iron Man and slightly bigger Iron Man like in the first film. I don't demand that all villains be as interesting as the ones in the Dark Knight but it would be nice to have something more than the equivalent of robots hitting each other once in awhile.

Thankfully most of the time Downey is allowed to do his thing which is enough. These may not be the deepest films but they seem to have a good sense of what they want to deliver and do it in an entertaining manner, which is more than I can say about say...Green Zone.

Also only stick around for the scene after the end credits if you're familiar the whole comic book universe that Iron Man exists in (which I am not). Otherwise you'll just feel like you wasted valuable time that could have been spent reading Nicholas Sparks novels sitting through ten minutes of tech credits (though I did learn that the best boy gets his own grip and MS. Paltrow has two credited assistants) for no payoff.