Iron Man 2

Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man) teams up with screenwriter Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) in one of this year's most anticipated movies.
The question is, was it worth the wait?
Mostly hell yeah.
It's been six months since Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) came out of the metal closet and declared to the world, 'I am Iron Man,' and things have been going pretty well. International conflicts are at an all time low, Stark renovated his laboratory after he trashed it in the last movie, and his good friend Lt. Col. James Rhodes has been replaced by Don Cheadle (Ocean's 11-13).
But, things don't stay good for long.
The palladium in the miniature arc reactor Stark created to stop shrapnel from entering his heart is poisoning him. He needs another energy source and fast. However that's not enough to stop Stark from being the dare devilish billionaire that he is. On a trip to Monaco for the Grand Prix, Stark ducks out of a meeting and slips into his company sponsored formula one car to drive the race himself.
Enter Whiplash and his slice 'n' dice electric whips.
Played by a seriously buff Mickey Rourke (Angel Heart), Russian physicist Ivan Vanko is fuelled with revenge after the death of his father. Vanko thinks that Tony's dad Howard (John Slattery - Mad Men) stole his future. Vanko's father Anton (Yevgeni Lazarev) used to work with Howard but it seems that Howard got all the credit. After causing a ruckus at the race Vanko gets locked up in prison.
In a U.S Senate hearing Senator Stern (Garry Shandling - The Larry Sanders Show) wants Tony Stark to hand over his Iron Man suit to the U.S Government ultimately so they can study it and make more. Tony ain't too happy about this. His rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell - Moon) wants in on it too so he can upstage Tony at his own convention.
In a jailbreak that would make MacGyver jealous involving mashed potatoes and a key, Vanko is set free and starts working on making Hammer's vision a reality. Only Vanko has a vision of his own.
There's a whole bunch of other stuff going on that will take forever to write about. Stuff with love interest/assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), sexy notary Natalie Rushman (Scarlette Johansson), patch-wearing Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) and the always watching S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg). It is a lot to keep track of but Favreau (who has also cast himself in the flick as Stark's pal Happy Hogan) manages to keep it all together... at a cost.
Apart from the script being fantastic, the witty dialogue superb - there's not a whole lot of action this time around. Most of the time is spent acquainting oneself with all these new characters and not much time is spent on the fight scenes. Maybe that's just me but I wanted to see more biffo!
DJ AM fans will recognise Adam Goldstein playing himself in a really funny scene at Tony's house. The film was dedicated to Goldstein after he died in a plane crash last year.
Much like the first movie, Iron Man 2 is a lot of fun. Seeing RDJ in anything is worthwhile. His performance is again, flawless. The man is a wonder.
I hope someone gives the makeup department a years worth of detention. What on earth was going on there? RDJ looked almost orange and Sam Rockwell had fake tan stains all over his neck and hands! Blend people, BLEND!
Make sure you stick around till the end of the credits and keep your eyes peeled for a few easter eggs from the up and coming The Avengers movie throughout the flick! Also keep an eye out for Iron Man creator Stan Lee in on of his famous split second cameos.
Eight out of ten.