Iron Man 2 - out of...?

OK, so it's not that bad.

But it's not that good either.

After the romp of the first film, Iron Man 2 falls a little flat. There's nothing truly bad about it, not Wolverine-bad, certainly not Ghost Rider-bad... but maybe we were all just spoilt by the first one. It tries hard. It makes all the right noises. It just doesn't make them with half as much wit or style as its predecessor. The script is weaker, the banter contrived, some of the comedy verges on slapstick, the main plot resolution involves some of most laughable comic book science you'll ever see... and I use the word 'comic book' reluctantly, since no comic writer worth his salt these days would deliver a payoff that amounts to little more than squaring (or at least triangulating) the circle. Meanwhile, the final armour-clad scrap is just a big pile of CGI clanking, but then I felt that about the Stark / Stane showdown in the first film too. At least you can tell the good guys from the bad guys - so it's not Transformers.

For all that, there is some fun to be had in Iron Man 2. Downey Jr. delivers once again as Stark, though he doesn't get half as many killer lines and those he does get are often lost as the actors talk over each other. Sam Rockwell puts the ham into Justin Hammer, but it's a tasty kind of ham, with relish. Mickey Rourke growls in Russian a lot, but just about manages to make Whiplash cool (a bloody miracle, considering). The stand out action sequence is the one heavily promoted in the trailer, set at the Monaco Grand Prix... that can't have been cheap. Scarlett Johansson brings the wood as always. A very expensive, very beautiful kind of wood - walnut or sandalwood, say - but wood all the same. Yes, I'm sure all those tight-fitting outfits also brought wood to a large swathe of the audience, but it doesn't mean she can act, does it? At least Gwyneth Paltrow achieves a staggering two-film record of being not-at-all-annoying, which frankly, given her previous form, is an achievement of epic proportions. Worthy of an Oscar. Or at least a new song from her wet hubby. Nice to see Roger from Mad Men pop up as Tony's dad too - perfect casting.

Iron Man 2 then - the booster jets are firing at half power. Which is a disappointment, but not a catastrophe. There were enough geeky moments to please my inner fanboy, and even those in the audience who didn't stick around for a glimpse of Mjolnir seemed to enjoy themselves... at times. At least I didn't hate it as much as shellhead's Number One Fan. Though I do have to agree with him about SLJ's eyepatch...