I'll recommend this one, but with reservations. The problem is that it really looks like Favreau is channeling Michael Bay; this movie is pretty much non-stop action all the way through and has very little in the way of character development - and there were a LOT of characters they could have developed! And speaking of characters, Cheadle as War Machine?! Holy cow! Why don't we get inside his head more? Scarlett Johansson as the Black Cat? Why the hell don't we get to see more of her?! What an interesting character they could have fleshed out! And what the heck is up with having Samuel L. Jackson play Nick Fury? (I have no problem with having a black guy play a role that has been a grizzled white guy since the dawn of time, but he's supposed to be a stealthy rock, not a smooth grifter -- Jackson is just the wrong guy for the role.) Overall, Downey is still solid, and I always like to watch Rockwell and Rourke, so I let it go. (Mickey Rourke has been in everything, hasn't he?) There are lot's of characters, but no depth. Seems like a really wasted opportunity.
I'm not sure this one bodes well for related movies to come. There is lots and lots of bling and a LOT of foreshadowing for upcoming Marvel movies (The Avengers, Thor and Captain America). But are we going to get anything more than explosions and flash? One movie after another just setting up the next movie in the series? That seems kind of lame.
There are some solid battlesuit combat sequences, and at least the characters are fun, if sometimes a little thin than the first movie... not that the first one was a Nabokov novel, of course. But other than eye candy, I don't think this one really offers a whole lot.
Movie to Skip: Alien Visitor
This isn't a 'terrible' movie, but it's very Australian, if you know what I mean. It's an extremely preachy pro-environment movie mixed with an awkward human/alien love story where the noble alien (the woman) allows herself to love the stupid (by her advanced civilization standards) man. I get the feeling that is how ALL women feel about the men they pair up with - or at least, that's the sense that this movie leaves you with. Overall, however, the movie is just not that interesting. It does feel like an idea that could have been better fleshed out if it wasn't so preachy, but this one just doesn't work for me (and the acting was pretty stilted too).
