Iron Man 2

How the creators of the “Iron Man” series could have let something so good slip from their fingers like this is beyond my comprehension. But still, it happened. “Iron Man 2” was vastly inferior to its precursor, and it was the biggest disappointment of the summer movie season. It would have been as great as the first film if it had just repeated the techniques that worked so well for it before, instead of trying to cram tons of material into it and leaving quality as an afterthought. What the first film was so careful not to do was blatantly did in the sequel: too many new characters and subplots were added, and so for the entire running length things progressed sluggishly and slowly. “Iron Man 2” was a complete dissatisfaction.

In the last movie there were only four main characters, which made for quality character development and upped their likeability factor. These characters are back with an added six main characters, all without that likeability, and fighting for attention throughout the film. And if you count the Don Cheadle actor change, there are actually seven new characters. Half of these characters are not even necessary, and it slows down the whole film with their nonstop recurrences. And it makes it feel as though this movie only exists to bridge the gap between the first film and the upcoming “Avengers” film, especially after the “Thor” teaser after the end credits.

The story in “Iron Man 2” was also overloaded and confusing. The main plot involved Iron Man struggling to deal with Whiplash, a Russian man with weaponry similar to Tony’s. The many subplots included Tony’s armor slowly killing him, his flawed relationship with his father, his involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Widow, his difficulties with his rival Justin Hammer, his difficulties with Senator Stern, his alcoholism, his faulty friendship with Rhodey, his position on the Avengers team, and the introduction of Thor. I probably missed a few, as well. This is just overwhelming, and the film is too full of all this garbage to really advance the main “Iron Man” storyline. Therefore, it also increases the feeling that the film only exists to get tons of characters and subplots introduced so that we know who and what they are when they return in future films.

It is impossible to review “Iron Man 2” without mercilessly comparing it to its predecessor, and this is why it receives such criticisms. It overworked new characters and plotlines too much, and made the whole movie seem slow and low-quality. This kept the main storyline from progressing much at all, which was what engendered a dissatisfied feeling when the film finally ended. This film is still worth seeing, but maybe not in theaters. It gets 5 out of 10 stars.