Iron Man 2

A major issue with popcorn movies right now is the industry's addiction to sequels. As long as the first movie does well both at the box office and with the critics, producers will pump out half-hearted sequels, prequels and spin-offs to make more money. However, some companies actually care about their work, and make excellent sequels like The Dark Knight, Spider-man 2 and Hellboy 2.

While the first Iron Man movie was a surprising hit, Iron Man 2 would best be described as a respectable, yet failed attempt to match its predecessor. While Iron Man was great, Iron Man 2 was only good.

The film takes place six months after the first movie, when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is caught between the U.S. government trying to take his Iron Man suit, and his artificial heart poisoning his body and mind. Meanwhile, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), son of Stark's father's business partner, joins forces with Stark's rival, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), after a failed assassination attempt as Whiplash. Hammer promises to financially back Whiplash if he builds him an army of Iron Man suits.

Unfortunately, like Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane in the first film, the villains feel a bit underused in this movie. In fact, there was one scene when Hammer and Whiplash begin feuding with each other that seems to overshadow anything else they do on screen. Even the final showdown with Whiplash was incredibly short and disappointing.

The movie also felt a bit longer than it actually was. It's a little over two hours long, but a few scenes feel dragged out and boring after a while.

Having said that, this movie was still wasn't bad. Director Jon Favreau did a descent job of balancing action with comedy and character development. I especially liked what happened with Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) first puts on the War Machine suit. (You'll get what I mean when you see it.)

The cast, overall, gives a great performance as well. In fact, there's tons of celebrity cameos to keep an eye out for, from TV journalists, to musicians, to Favreau and Stan Lee (who constantly appear in their movies).

Overall, I think this movie was just OK at best. See a matinee showing or wait for the DVD. If you only want to see the secret ending after the credits, just look for it on YouTube.