Iron Man 2

Two days after watching it, the only memories left in my head were strawberries, great actors, and a lot of missed chances (for everyone - Scarlett's absolutely tragic fight in the corridor, like the rest of the action). Even the first film wasn't particularly perennial, but this is a pretty sad downgrade. (09/11/2010)

This doesn’t work, man. A by-the-numbers comic book movie with zero interesting scenes. I wasn’t particularly thrilled by the first Iron Man, either, but I had no trouble watching it as a mind breather. What I liked the most were the dialogues and the interactions among the characters, something that unfortunately I can’t say about the second one, and thus the lower rating. And the worst is that when there finally was some action, it only took a moment for me to long for it to finish quickly. Bland, without any spark or ideas. (09/04/2010)

A demonic Mickey Rourke, a captivating Robert Downey Jr., and three monumental and magnificently shot action scenes. You can see the budget, the big picture looks good, and so do the details, everything is sleek in this über fucking cool blockbuster. But I think that one installment was more than enough, this sequel reeks of milking money for as long as possible. That said, it is evident that Robert enjoyed the role. (09/18/2010)

This is a film where you can see the high budget in every shot, with a polished visual, and lots of digital effects, so it's nice to watch as things explode, fly around, and shocking technological inventions and cute robots appear. Many stars parade on the screen, mostly unused and only used as decorations, and when they do appear, they don't have much to do because the story itself is a broken mess. It's the type of film for the whole family, which my 8-year-old son could consume without any problems because the world and events it shows are either directly childish or desperately immature. When you want to cater to the market to maximize profits and attract as many viewers as possible, you inevitably have to lower the content demands. Because I've been eight years old a few times already, I lost interest in the plot quickly, and the fate of the heroes was as meaningless to me as a grain of sand in the Sahara. Overall impression: 40%. (10/22/2010)

Considering that in terms of Robert Downey Jr.'s current characters, I tolerate Iron Man more than his version of Sherlock Holmes, I can have more fun with this sequel than with A Game of Shadows. The second film is funnier and more straightforward because Iron Man is already defined, but on the other hand, the primary fun is hampered a bit by Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell, or dumb and dumber. Scarlett Johansson is also very weak, but the main aspects still work. Gwyneth Paltrow has managed to stop aging and I'm actually quite looking forward to the third film mainly because of her. I probably won't see anything as stupid as Stark Expo 1974 again, but why not? And yes, Stan Lee is still with us. (05/02/2013)