IRON MAN 2

Does IRON MAN 2 suck?  The film does have some issues but to say it sucks I think is a tad harsh.  Under close observation one can tell the film was rushed to avoid the writers strike. On second thought it might have been in production during the writers strike? Who knows? All I know is, is that I like it. What keeps me coming back to IRON MAN 2 is the films fun irreverence. Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark and it'll be big shoes to fill after the Avengers sequel. Early word is that IRON MAN 3 fixes all the problems with IRON MAN 2. I'm expecting the new film to be far superior, so more than likely IRON MAN 2 might become a distant memory like STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK and not the worst thing ever like STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER.

I have a love hate relationship with the Avengers Initiative sub plot in the Phase One Marvel movies. I love the sub plot because I was a huge comic book geek back in the day and seeing this stuff unfold on the silver screen and done correctly mind you is a dream come true. What I hate is that the so called sub plot feels more like 'the plot' and these Phase One films tend to feel too much like advertisements for MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS. What if MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS had ended up sucking?

My only other problem with the movie is Micky Rourke. Great actor but in this he looks asleep half of the time. I don't think he wanted to be in the movie. I have no clue but in some scenes it really feels like he is just improvising most of the time probably because he doesn't give a crap.

My final nit pick is that the movie only has 3 or 4 action scenes in it. Isn't it movie law that a sequel must have at least twice the amount of action as the original?

Despite all that I love the humor in the movie. From the beginning at Capitol Hill till the end with Pepper Potts getting on to Tony for not telling her that he might be dying. Good Stuff.

In conclusion I think IRON MAN 2 holds up significantly well if you're a fan of the Tony Stark character and the rest of the Iron Man universe. But if you take that aspect away from it then yeah it's not that great of a movie with it's rushed production and pacing issues.

So far I love the Marvel cinematic universe and that's what's going to keep me coming back to this film. Maybe not as much as the other films in the series, but I'll likely never write it off as an epic fail.

Tomorrow I see IRON MAN 3 which kicks off Phase Two of the Marvel cinematic universe! I cannot wait!