SPOILER WARNING! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM YET, DON'T READ THIS REVIEW!
As a huge fan of the first Iron Man, I was eagerly waiting the next chapter. First reviews were not so good. I watched the film twice already and I gotta say that the film is pretty good.
THE GOOD:
I will start with the characters. Once again Robert Downey Jr. is amazing as Tony Stark. He is somehow even better than in the first film. He has some great one liners, big sense of humor and when it comes to emotions and action, Downey knows his job. Even though I wasn't that thrilled when Don Cheadle signed to play Rhodey/War Machine, I got to say that he is really good.
He has a lot more screen time and he is involved in almost every action scene that is in the film. Mickey Rourke was great. He played Ivan Vanko, the main villain in the film and his character is very dark and emotional, but in the same time he is very funny. Scarlett Johansson was awesome as Natasha Romanova. She was perfect. Even though she doesn't speak Russian in the film (since she works as a spy) she does say one line in Latin. So the fans will definitely recognize her personality that she has, just like in the comics. Sam Rockwell was funny as Justin Hammer. For the most part he played this jealous and funny character, but near the end it's like his part was not even necessary. Gwyneth Paltrow was good ,nothing worth talking about. I really liked that film captured some big problems of the main character. You will see some daddy issues between Tony and Vanko and their big fights. Effects were amazing, maybe one or two bad animation. This time there is much more action and fight scenes than in the first one. Also there are couple of stuff regarding the Avengers,Captain America and Thor, especially the after-credits scene.
THE BAD:
Let me say this; the script is kinda weak. In the film Johansson plays Black Widow. But nobody in the film calls her by that name. It's either Romanova or S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
Same thing is with Whiplash(correct me if I'm wrong here) but he wasn't introduced as Whiplash like in the marketing. I know Favreau didn't go with the "Demon in the bottle" storyline, but he did put some scenes were Stark has a drinking problem and I just thought they were there just to put something in the film. Black Widow is nearly 5 minutes in her outfit and kicking ass. I gotta tell you they made that character pretty bad ass put she didn't have enough screen time which is too bad. One more thing to say here. There is a scene where Stark is making problems and then Rhodey comes to stop him. Tony was in his suit, drunk and did not listen what anyone had to say. So Rhodey goes down to take the Mark 2 suit and somehow he already knows how to use it, how to fly and everything. Those are not some big things but if you look carefully it does reflect to the film.
So overall, Iron Man 2 is a pretty good sequel. It's not Spider-Man 3, it just needs a little improvement. Film was enjoyable, action packed, the characters were great and I hope they will do even better job on the third one.
MY RATING: 7.5/10