Iron Man 2

I went into this movie with average expectations. Not because I thought it would be a bad movie, but because I didn't think it could live up to the original. In the end, it didn't. It was still a great movie though, with some improvements. My main complaint of the movie was the plausibility of some of the events. There's genius inventor and then there's a fucking miracle worker. My other complaint is that it felt more like an Avengers prequel than it did an Iron Man sequel.

The story was the weakest part of the movie. It just didn't flow together very well like the original. Some of the scenes felt forced. Minus one scene, I never sensed an alcohol problem with Stark. I was hoping it would be explored more and they could do the story arc where War Machine takes over.

The acting was great for the most part. Robert Downey Jr. was born to play Tony Stark/Iron Man and continues to show this. The movie has a long list of supporting cast so I can't really go through them all, but the villains, Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell, were great. Gwyneth Paltrow was great, once again, as Pepper Pots. The director himself even has a bigger role than he did in the original. The other person worth mentioning is Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. She was the perfect femme fatale .

The action has vastly improved since the original. There are more action sequences overall, and they were shot much better. The climatic battle was a little disappointing considering the huge buildup throughout the movie. The sequel also had a few aerial battles which were very impressive and well shot.

The music was very good this time around. I actually felt intimidated by the villains theme, thanks to some amazing guitar work by Tom Morello. It had a very heavy guitar riff to it along with some great choir work.

Overall it wasn't as good as Iron Man, but it was still a very fun movie and I highly recommend it. oh, and stay through the credits.