Iron Man was one of the best action films in recent years.  Downey’s megalomania fit into the skin of Tony Stark beautifully, and Paltrow’s Pepper Potts was surprisingly charming in a role that could have easily been dull as hell.  The script was fast-paced, the character development interesting, and the direction tight; it was fun to watch and delivered great action.  I walked into Iron Man 2 expecting the same, hoping this sequel to be the next Dark Knight, X-Men 2, Spider-Man 2 (all three of which had better #2s than #1s).  I walked out with my head hung, annoyed and disappointed.

The problem - and you’d think Hollywood would have learned this already from the mistakes of Spiderman 3 and all the original Batman sequels - too many new characters.  It’s a common phenomenon with comic book sequels.  I suppose that screenwriters feel they’ve fleshed out all of the principle characters - the hero himself, the love interest, etc - in the first film, so need several new characters to fill the two hours with.  Unfortunately, the result is always the same; the characters become flat, dull, and underdeveloped - and steal screen time from the further development of the more interesting characters from the original (Tony Stark, Pepper Potts).  Furthermore, the headlining villain then - an interesting and well-cast Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko - is then reduced to a weak B-storyline, competing for the audience’s attention with a stupid character like Justin Hammer or Natalie Rushman.

Even the action was disappointing.  I sat through the second act bored out of my mind, watch-glancing, holding onto the promise of an action-packed climax.  But the climax consisted of a bunch of silly flying around, and just as it got to the good part - two Iron Men in the garden - it was over forty seconds after it started!