Iron Man 2 delivers as an exciting, action packed adventure, but what makes it most enjoyable is the cleverly funny dialogue delivered by a cast of very skilled actors.

The film picks up where Tony Stark, as Iron Man, has successfully negotiated world peace.  Now he has to contend with the government, his health, and a whole new enemy from Russia.

Not enough can be said about Robert Downey, Jr. and his brilliance in this role.  He embodies Tony Stark and he's just fun to watch.  He's not carrying the film alone though, as Mickey Rourke is chilling in his role as Ivan Vanko.  And Don Cheadle steps into the role as Rhodey perfectly.

It's hard to not compare a sequel to the original, and it's especially tough for a sequel to live up to the quality and depth of an origin story.  Iron Man 2 makes a valiant effort by juggling what feels like a dozen sub-plots, but never explores any of them deeply enough to resonate.  Ultimately the movie is a whole lot of fun to watch, and the dialogue is whitty and cleverly written, but it fails to further the character development.

So How Does It End?

While Tony thinks Ivan Vanko is no longer a threat, he has actually been building an army of drones for Tony's inadequate competition, Justin Hammer (played by the fantastic Sam Rockwell).  At the highly anticipated Stark Expo, the army of drones go into attack mode and Tony Stark finally accepts a "side kick" in Rhodey.  The drone battle is quite exciting and culminates in the stand off with Vanko as Backlash.  Disappointingly, this final battle is over way too quickly.

Tony of course wins and is no longer in danger of dying because he's discovered a new element...thanks in part to his Walt Disneyesque father.  And curiously it would seem the writers have written Iron Man out of Avengers.

I really enjoyed watching Iron Man 2 and I highly recommend it.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars.