Movies: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 was a decent movie, not a bad sequel but not quite what I had hoped for. If there's one general criticism I have for the movie is that I wish things had been more developed. Every time something came up I wanted it to be more developed. I wanted character changes to be explored in more depth, I wanted dialogues to be expanded, and I wanted actions sequences to be longer. However I realize that might be a bit much to ask for from an action movie that's already 2 hours along.

Anyway, besides a general desire for more I had two other complaints. First of all, having Don Cheadle replace Terrence Howard as Rhodes was distracting for me. I lost sense of Rhodes' character and his relationship with Stark which is a shame because Rhodes was featured a lot more in this film, having many more pivotal scenes than in the first movie.

Secondly, the introduction of SHIELD as a major plot element slowed the plot and made it feel very clumsy. Just as Tony Stark is left in the dark about what SHIELD is all about, so is the audience, and it all feels like a diversion from what's actually going on.

I had high hopes for the additional emotional content and conflict in this movie that would build off the first, but I was disappointed. Though the film depicts a dying Stark grappling with his mission and legacy the film fails to effectively capture the pathos and gravity of the situation, in my eyes. However, that being said it wasn't a bad movie, with some solid action sequences and a few good laughs to boot.