Saw Iron Man 2 last night. Two words: kinda underwhelmed. I had a feeling it would be hard to top the first one (dropped $22 bucks to see it twice in the theater a few years ago); unfortunately, my instincts served me correct. The sequel--though packed with all that Hollywood-blow-em-up glitz and glitter--was formulaic and (yawn) predictable.
Thankfully, Robert Downey Jr. didn't disappoint (he's always spot-on in practically every film). Gwyneth Paltrow did a decent job as Pepper Potts. Totally disappointed they replaced Terrence Howard with Don Cheadle (Cheadle had zero charisma or humor as Rhodey-- too bad because he's a great actor). Mickey Rourke as Russian nemesis/genius/physicist Ivan Vanko? I couldn't get images of The Wrestler out of my head. I didn't know Scarlett Johansson could kick ass as Black Widow. Her fight scene was pretty cool (showcasing a different kind of martial arts, not the cliched Kung Fu choreography spawned by the Matrix movies), but I wished there were more. Perhaps my fave character was Sam Rockwell's Justin Hammer: he nailed the role as total D-bag.
Iron Man 2 = 2 stars (out of 4). But still worth seeing in the theater.
