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Sharp, but 2/5?
July 06, 2010 | 04:25 AM

Maybe we have different rating systems, because I agree with the main points of the review: characters needed more time, there was too much to do, neither Rourke nor Rockwell got to be credible villains, etc. But there was a serviceable story here. The man revealed as Iron Man was being unraveled by health issues, job pressures, and active attempts to destroy both his company (Rockwell) and his life (Rourke). All of that flows directly from his final dialogue in the first movie, and both he and the audience are struggling to stay ahead of the consequences of that revelation. No wonder we're both exhausted! A narrower story would have remained in continuity with the first story's character strengths by giving more time to the principal actors, but this is a movie about Stark isolated. Its best moment is when he begins to reconnect with the relationships he's neglected under duress. With a not-so-gentle push from SLJ as a chessmaster (whose reasons for doing so are entirely his own), Stark reconnects with his father, his best friend, and finally, his girl. He's not good at that stuff, but I found myself beginning to smile when Stark finally had his "ah ha" moment with the tech that was killing him, and saw in it something of his father.

So yes, three stars I say, too much to ask?

Ben