'Iron Man 2' offers some fun, but isn't as sleek as the original

Two years ago, moviegoers were introduced to Iron Man, one of Marvel Comics' lesser-known superheroes. After that, we were all on board for this new and very exciting franchise. Just like the reporters at the end of the first installment wanted to know more about Iron Man after Tony Stark revealed himself, so did the audience want to see more from this hero's story. The original presented Tony Stark as a comical, fast-talking, and slightly egotistical weapons-dealer with a heart of gold (um...paladium to be exact), and Robert Downey Jr. played it to fun and near-perfection. It was a superhero movie that emphasized that you don't need ongoing action scenes to make a fantastic, heroic story. Most of the time, engaging characters and sharp dialogue will mean the difference between good and bad; and that was just what the first installment had, along with a few winning action sequences. As for the much-anticipated sequel, the opposite seems to be in order. While most of the leads are enjoyable, some of the characters aren't used to their greatest ability; the dialogue still retains some of its cleverness, though some of it's weak; and the story tends to sometimes go in more places than once.

It is now six months after Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has disclosed himself as Iron Man. He is enjoying the fruits of his labor and is claiming he "privitized world peace." He is the world's newest celebrity and knight-in-shining-armor, and is enjoying having it all. Soon, he comes up against his latest foe Ivan Vanko, or Whiplash (Mickey Rourke). He's aching from the fame and fortune that escaped him after his father and Tony's father worked on scientific breakthroughs, with Mr. Stark ending up with everything later on.

The story also gives us a second villain in Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), who is a corporate rival of Tony's, and has the annoying habit of saying things more than once. His issue with Stark has him trying to persuade Tony to hand over his technology to the government. In the meantime, Hammer is trying to build bigger and better iron suits to show-up Stark, and hires Ivan Vanko to assist him.

Away from that, some of the movie involves Tony trying to find a substitute element for paladium, the element that's keeping our iron-clad hero alive, but is also slowly killing him.

And yet, ANOTHER story thread involves the development of the superhero group, the Avengers. Samuel L. Jackson has an amusing role as Avengers leader Nick Fury. Although this is an interesting plotline, it takes up a lot of the film's second act and doesn't allow the film to stand on its own as an Iron Man film, since the Avengers are also fighting for the spotlight.

Both Iron Man films have terrific actors playing the main villains. While Jeff Bridges was used to his full potential in the first movie, Mickey Rourke seemed to be underused. That's kind of ironic, seeing that he was offered this role in the midst of his critically-acclaimed performance in 2008's The Wrestler. Between the sequel's two villains, Whiplash is by far the more interesting one with his emotional baggage and vendetta against Iron Man. Although Justin Hammer is a passable villain, he unfortunately gets more screentime than Whiplash.

In a superhero film, we want to see a relationship between the hero and villain. In Iron Man, Robert Downey and Jeff Bridges shared many scenes that hepled build the hero-villain relationship and the tension that accompanied it. In Iron Man 2, Downey and Rourke share one meaningful scene together, then everything else between them are just the rock 'em-sock 'em fights, not leaving any time for the characters to build a good vs. evil connection for us to care about.

As for both the new and returning characters, Gwyneth Paltrow is just as feisty reprising her role as Stark's assistant Pepper Potts; Scarlett Johansson is a welcome addition to the franchise as the charming and alluring Natalie Rushman, a.k.a Black Widow; and of course, Robert Downey Jr. is still humorous and quick-witted, but a little too egotistical this time around. Terrance Howard was greatly missed as Stark's military pal, James Rhodes. While Howard's portrayal of James Rhodes possessed a tough exterior equal to Tony Starks's, Don Cheadle (while a good actor) downgraded the character and made him seem weak and uninteresting.

While Iron Man 2 offers some passable Summer entertainment, it couldn't reach the realm of superior comic-book sequels such as X-Men 2, Spider-Man 2, and The Dark Knight. The acting is up-to-par, and the action scenes offer some neat visuals; but one of the main problems is the replacement of dialogue with more action, as well as multiple plots. Sure, we all want action in our superhero movies, but there isn't a point to it if it's going to eclipse true character interaction. And if you have one or two good central plots to work with, you can make a terrifc movie; instead of having too many and making a mediocre one. Here's hoping for a better third installment.

Final grade: C+