Iron Man 2

The trouble with a sequel to a film that is a surprisingly enjoyable success is that the expectations bar gets raised. Iron Man 2 is probably as good a film as its predecessor, but where the first one was a pleasant surprise, this one feels slightly disappointing at times.

To deal with the positives first - Robert Downey Jr clearly revels in this role and his enjoyment is infectious. He makes this superhero film fun rather than dark and moody. There is still chemistry between him and Gwyneth Paltrow although it zings slightly less than in part 1. Don Cheadle is an improvement on Terence Howard in all respects and Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell make entertaining bad guys. There's also gratuitous deployment of Scarlett Johansson - you can decide for yourself whether that's a good thing or not.

On the down side, some of the special effects really look bad and the final showdown with all the robots almost falls into Transformers 2 style of bad and confusing. The script also flirts with some interesting ideas in terms of motivation and parental relationships, but doesn't have the courage to fully go there.

OVerall - 7/10. Its fun and entertaining, but maybe a little disappointing after the promise of Iron Man.