Robert Downey Jr. is again brilliant as Tony Stark in Iron Man 2. While not as fresh or interesting as the first Iron Man this movie has much to recommend. The pacing is good and the characters are brought to life with some very good acting.

Gwyneth Paltrow reprises her role has Pepper Potts and has a love/loathing relationship with Tony. Again there is a list of bad guys Ivan Vanko(Mickey Rourke)who plays the main antagonist. His main beef with Tony is that his father was cheated by Tonies father. The other bad guy is Tonies industrial rival Justin Hammer(Sam Rockwell) who wants to get his hands on either Ivan(who has the knowledge to build an Iron Man suit) or one of Tonies Iron man suits to sell to the military. There is also a secret organization the Avengers headed by Colonel Nick Fury(Samuel L. Jackson)who sends Natalie Rushman(Scarlett Johansson)to protect him. This is the basic set up of the film.

What works well in this movie are good special effects and solid acting on all parts. The fact that Iron Man is vulnerable and actually getting sick from the poisons of being Iron man makes Tony act with abandonment which helps move the film along. Some of the disappointing parts of the film is that transitions seem unnatural and some of the charm that endeared us to Tony in the first film.

Overall grade B.