Iron Man 2

The summer movie season is here with the opening of Iron Man 2. A few summers ago, Iron Man became a huge, surprise hit. Robert Downey Jr. is back this year to reprise his role as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. The same cast returns with one change and a few editions. Terrance Howard, who played Col. James Rhodes, is replaced by Don Cheadle, and Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, and Sam Rockwell are among the new cast members.

There are big expectations for this movie considering the first one was such a big hit. However, the story is nothing new. And Wes said it best when he said it's basically the same movie: Tony Stark has to deal with saving his life and he fights another Iron-Man-machine-wanna-be. Yes, the movie was entertaining, but I felt the story wasn't as developed as the first. There were so many new characters and story lines to deal with, the movie didn't get to delve very deep and all the actors had to share screen time which meant very little acting necessary.

Wes and I were probably most interested in how Don Cheadle would do as Rhodey. We both agreed, that while replacing an actor for a character is a bit weird, Terrance Howard didn't have the action chops for this role. Don Cheadle is a bit more believable as an action figure and he didn't disappoint. It would be hard to imagine Terrance Howard as War Machine, fighting with Iron Man.

I'm sure a lot of fan boys also flocked to the theatre to see Scarlett Johansson kick some butt. But it was very obvious in her one fighting scene that it wasn't her, but a stunt double. Here's how the fighting scene went: Scarlett walks up to a bad guy, cut to stunt double kicking butt in some very cool moves, cut back to a close-up of Scarlett Johansson posing like she did the scene. Repeat about five times. She succeeded as eye candy, but failed in the action genre. Maybe she should stick to dramas and indies.

The one thing I did miss most about this movie was the banter between Tony and Pepper. They're both so stressed out in this movie, that their playfulness from the first movie gets lost. It's redeemed a little in the end, but doesn't satisfy. I think that was one thing I enjoyed most about the first one, the playful banter between those two characters.

Overall, a fun movie to go see. Not a have-to-go-see-it-in-the-theatre-movie, but definitely rent it at least. Personally, I liked the first one more and I liked the sneak peek in the first one WAY better than the teaser in the end of this one. So if you go see it in the theatre, stay to the end for a sneak peek.