IRON MAN II. May he rest in peace. As with so many of these Marvel Comics scripts there are so many add-on characters to disrupt the meager storyline that it seems like the studio tapped everyone who walked by the filming, gave them a few lines and a wow costume and said 'come one in.' Rating an obvious millions of dollars production such as this is duplicitous: CGI 5, acting 3, story 1. But if noise, mayhem, and electrical fires are pleasing to you, then by all means jump aboard this colorful film.

Robert Downey, Jr. is a fine actor so he puts as much as he can into the lines allotted him to read. Mickey Rourke is the bad guy with even more tattoos and longer hair than the Wrestler, and with a Russian accent to boot. Don Cheadle plays Don Cheadle, and Sam Rockwell needs a shave as a supposed wily bad guy executive. Samuel L. Jackson attempts to lend some dignity. Gwyneth Paltrow seems to be asking why she bothered until Scarlett Johansson jumps on board to give the film some much need punch. It's good guy versus bad guy - with drones create by Rourke's disenchanted character that attempt unsuccessfully to turn the tide. What's missing is some of Robert Downey, Jr.'s comedic banter and the brakes put on the destruction of the Stark Expo concept. Definitely a film for those who like this sort of high volume comic book outing.

Grady Harp