Iron Man 2 (7/10)

The first Iron Man movie was both a work of genius and the sequel's curse. OK, that may be a bit more dramatic than it really was but Iron Man 2 bordered on boredom. Maybe Justin Theroux, while great writing for Tropic Thunder, wasn't a great choice because he couldn't bring something fresher for Iron Man 2.The problem, I feel, was really on its storyline and progression. Watching Tony Stark making mistake after mistake in his life was uninteresting. And it all culminated at his birthday party ending with a showdown between Iron Man and War Machine. Not sure how others viewed that head-to-head but I particularly was not interested nor impressed with what Jon Favreau had done.Sure he kept up the explosions and all the eye-candy when it came to gadgets and all other tech related stuff but while the first movie had the novelty factor going for it, this one didn't.Another issue was that this movie followed directly after Kick-Ass which was one of the most refreshing movies for this ear, the characters of Iron Man like those portrayed by from Sam Rockwell and Mickey Rourke were very generic. Even Rockwell's flamboyant acting was almost expected. And the last fight between Rourke and Robert Downey Jr. was an anti-climax. When it ended I thought to myself, no that can't be it - Favreau wouldn't do that to us. But he did.Even Scarlett Johansson, though looking hot as hell, was too deadpan for the Black Widow. But her entrance into the boxing ring was too sexy. As for Don Cheadle taking over, he was unconvincing as James Rhodes. But a baffling issue was how did he know how to operate the War Machine when Tony Stark never let anyone near one of his work?