Iron Man 2

I left the theater wondering to myself if perhaps this film was better than it's predecessor much I like I remember leaving Ocean's 12 feeling the same way. But unlike Ocean's 12 which required repeat viewings for me to realize the superiority of the original (in this case the original Clooney version), this one merely required thirty minutes of conversation with a good buddy to acknowledge it's inferiority.
Now let me be clear about one thing, I did enjoy the film. I was in a theater full of nearly 500 people and I can assure you that the majority of the patrons seated were laughing along with every joke the film threw at them. And I was right there with them laughing along. In fact the film even received a round of applause from the majority in attendance prompting me to wonder if someone from the cast or crew was in attendance (otherwise there is no point in applauding in a movie theater, ever!).
So I called my buddy afterwords to discuss the film and his response view of the film was considerably lower. Among his primary beefs were the fact that he had to watch Sam Jackson play the same character he has played for 15 years, the jokes were more grown worthy when watching it in theater of a dozen or so people and that future plots were sacrificed for the sake of making a safe film.
Those weren't his only faults he found but those were the major ones I can recall. In regards to Sam, I am still a sucker for his characters and I have no personal expectation for how Nick Furry should be portrayed so no harm done. Regarding the jokes, I make it a point to avoid sitcoms with laugh tracks because I find the laugh track often distracts from how not funny they are and the same could be said here that perhaps it was only funny because several hundred others were laughing too. I will be interested to see if I find it funny on DVD.
My friends third point though carries the most weight. In the wake of the Dark Knight I was curious to see how the film makers would approach this film. We have already seen pathetic studio executives pull the plug on Spiderman in favor of a darker reboot, so I wondered if this one would favor a darker approach too.
It didn't, in fact it was decidedly lighter. While the first one dealt with terrorism and gun trades this one was completely void of any overarching real-to-life subplots. Instead the film gives us a ridiculous scenario's about Tony Stark "dieing" and having daddy issues. In my opinion these are very lazy story telling techniques as there never really is a sense of either being true.
Now it's worth noting that none of this is a surprise to me. After the first Iron Man was a hit I remember reading about director Jon Favreau wanted a release date of May 2011 for the sequel and how Marvel pushed it up to May 2010 in order to get all of their ducks in a row for an eventual Avengers film. From that moment on I think I always knew that Iron Man 2 would be a play it safe sequel.
Now it should be noted that the film does carry a tremendous supporting cast with it. Everyone is great here from Downey Jr. on down with Scarlett Johanson perhaps providing the most scene stealing moments and Sam Rockwell having fun as Tony Stark's industrial rival Justin Hammer. Mickey Rourke is great as whiplash although he is sadly under used and Don Cheadle steps in seamlessly as Rhodey. You can add Paltrow, Favreau, Clark Gregg and Gary Shandling to the list of actors who provide performances that focus on their strengths and are all entertaining in their own right.
At the end of the day the question is what how do you feel about a play it safe sequel that doesn't take the same risks the original did? For some I have no doubt that there will be a sense of disappointment. But for me thinking about Iron Man 2 I feel the same way I do about Ocean's 12. It may fall considerably short of it's predecessor, but I can still enjoy watching it if for no other reason than the fact that I can tell that these people were having fun making it and I had fun watching it.