Iron Man 2

I had mixed feelings about the first Iron Man film.  Sure it was flashy, and there's something fresh in a superhero who unabashedly admits his identity to the world.  But I knew this second film was leading somewhere (namely, to the Avengers movie), and films with intentionally unresolved plot elements are frustrating.

Sure enough, this was a bridge film in every sense.  Picking up shortly after the first film ends, it has the hero grappling with the newly-found fame and controversy of his hero identity, while suffering the usual personal setbacks in his health and social life.  A bad guy is introduced to instigate action and be dealt with, while a larger nemesis goes free*.  Meanwhile half the characters just appear from nowhere, unless you happen to have sat through the credits of the first film like I did

If I were to sit down for a weekend and watch the entire Avengers cycle, this would be a decent, flashy connection between the first film and the celebrity-packed sequel.  Alas, as that sequel as yet does not exist, it just fell short.

Scarlett Johansson seemed - wrong - for her role, somehow.  I just didn't work for me.  And I'm disappointed Gwyneth Paltrow didn't maintain her hair red as it was in the first film.

Iron Man 2
2010, 124 minutes, directed by Jon Favreau

* well, he lives