Big spoilers here…I mean the film has been out for six years now.

Unfortunately, Iron Man 2 undoes a lot of the good will the Tony Stark character developed in Iron Man 1. That’s probably my best explanation. There’s two stories going on concurrently in Iron Man 2 and they’re both quite weak with little payoffs. Story #1: After developing the Iron Man “weapon”, Tony Stark is forced to testify in Congress about possession of such weapon and whether or not it should be turned over to the American people. The big argument going for Stark is that no one else in the world is even close to developing the technology that powers the Iron Man suit. Of course, someone has (Whiplash). Instead of going toward a direction that focuses on the character who has built the tech, he’s overshadowed by Stark’s rival Justin Hammer and story #2.

Story #2 revolves around Tony Stark dealing with his mortality as the chest piece that powers the Iron Man suit is also killing him. This is the weakest story in the entire MCU, as this makes Stark regress from a maturity standpoint. He becomes reckless and endangers others. While becoming reckless to a point is fine from a character standpoint (justifying the race car part), becoming drunk in the Iron Man suit during a party is embarrassing and disappointing. After seeing what Tony Stark went through and overcame in Iron Man 1, I expect more from Stark. I don’t really care to see a mirror image of who he was before Iron Man 1, but for some reason we see it here.

Worst yet, story #2 comes to lame end as Nick Fury and the Black Widow cure (or help Stark find the cure, same idea) Stark and get him back on track as Iron Man. Overall this story arc led to several embarrassing moments and a less than stellar reason for Fury and Widow to be involved. It all feels forced, although Black Widow definitely has her moments here.

The conclusion to all of this is quite disappointing too, as Tony Stark accepts Col. Rhodes as his partner in what’s basically a throw away scene. They dispatch the drones Ivan Vanko had been working on in relative ease, then dispatch Vanko himself in a couple of minutes afterwards. It’s all a let down.

The biggest shame is that I think the actors do a great job overall with the limited material they are given. It’s probably not Robert Downey’s strongest performance, but it works. Mickey Rourke is pretty much wasted as Whiplash. Don Cheadle is an improvement over Terrence Howard as Rhodey. I really liked Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts here too and her role as someone trying to keep the spiraling Stark in check is a highlight. Sam Rockwell makes the most out of what otherwise would have just been an annoying character in Justin Hammer. Scarlett Johansson doesn’t show much emotion here, but that might have been the intent. I always get a kick out of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury though. The performances in this film save an otherwise weak film.

Pros:

+Performances from the actors are very good all around and make the most out of poorly drawn characters.

+A really good first half hour or so, it basically goes downhill once Vanko survives a car to the groin.

Cons:

-We went from believing in Tony Stark to being stupid we did so. Getting drunk in the Iron Man suit? Really?

-Whiplash is wasted.

-Avengers tie in is a bit forced.

A huge step back from Iron Man 1, but nothing Marvel couldn’t come back from.

Grade: C