I absolutely loved the first Iron Man. It looked silly in the previews, but it turned out to an almost perfect mix of comedy, action and story/character development. With great anticipation I awaited this second installment..only to be mildly disappointed.

Iron Man 2 doesn't stray too far from the successful formula of its predecessor, but for some reason it doesn't really add up.

At least I am sure that the action is not to blame; there is a lot more of it this time around, and for the most part it is spectacular.

There is still plenty of humor around as well, but Iron Man 2's track record isn't flawless here. While most of the jokes are pretty good, a significant portion does fall flat. Robert Downey still does a brilliant job, but Sam Rockwell's character, while well-acted, is annoying in a very non-funny way.

But the biggest problem this time around is that all the jokes and the action don't really add up til a memorable tale. You never really get the idea that there is much at stake or that the narrative is going anywhere. The plot jumps through all the familiar hoops but nothing is really fleshed out. As a case in point, Mickey Rourke is totally wasted as the bad guy.

Also, I am getting really tired of the phenomenon that a movie seems to exist solely as a commercial for the next installment in the series....half of the running time of Iron Man seems to be a commercial for the upcoming Avengers movie.

Iron Man 2 offers enough action and jokes to provide two hours of fairly solid entertainment..but unlike the first part, it's not more than the sum of its parts. Not all of the humor works, and in terms of characters and story it feels lazy.