Iron Man 2

A comic-book movie with a lot to live up to, Iron Man 2 doesn't quite recapture the thrill of its surprisingly triumphant predecessor, but it still serves as top-notch industrial-strength entertainment. Picking up where director Jon Favreau's initial installment left off, the sequel finds brilliant billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) reveling in the success of his Iron Man armor, but not everyone shares the feeling, including some members of the US government and, most notably, a metal-mouthed Russian thug/physicist named Ivan Vanko, played with scenery-chewing commitment by Mickey Rourke. While Rourke seems to think he's in Eastern Promises, the rest of the cast, including other series newcomers Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, and Don Cheadle (taking over for an ill-fitting Terrence Howard) have plenty of fun in their respective roles as Iron Man's rivals and/or allies. Though the film drags a bit when Stark gets into pensive daddy-issues mode (a common motif for many superhero tales), it picks up steam during its second hour, concluding in a predictably explosive, but engaging, finale. It's not rocket science, folks--well, actually it is, kind of--but it is a largely enjoyable addition to the Hollywood comic-book pantheon.