Iron Man 2 movie reviews have started to pop up around the net, and so far it's not looking so good.
This review from a website called
HeyUGuys based out of the UK seems to be the kindest so far;
"Iron Man 2 thankfully just about pulls it off, but only just. It’s a strangely paced film and suffers at times from incredibly long exposition and poorly contrived story lines that seem to be added to no doubt develop the Avengers storyline rather than the Iron Man 2 story that I wanted to see. You’ll see what I mean after about 4-5 scenes throughout littered with Shield/Avengers plot developments that all seemed horribly squeezed in to setup characters for a film that will happen in 2-3 years time."
Another UK site,
The Mirror, wasn't so kind;
"What none of us realized was that another disaster was about to unfold in front of our eyes, for Iron Man 2 is a travesty – a mind-numbingly dull, chaotic and often unwatchable muddle. It might even be the ultimate masterclass in how not to make a movie."
Now my first instinct after reading these was, well what do they know over there in Europe about good old-fashioned kick-butting superhero flicks? But then this morning I saw the review from the
Hollywood Reporter;
"Well, that didn't take long. Everything fun and terrific about "Iron Man," a mere two years ago, has vanished with its sequel. In its place, "Iron Man 2" has substituted noise, confusion, multiple villains, irrelevant stunts and misguided story lines. A film series that started out with critical and commercial success will have to settle for only the latter with this sequel. Robert Downey Jr.'s return as Tony Stark/Iron Man will assure that."
Now the one constant I take away from all of these reviews is it sounds like this film suffers from a common problem many superhero films before it have suffered from - trying to have too many things going on at once with too many characters.
Not having seen the film myself as of yet I will refrain from making judgments on the actual movie, and despite the reviews I plan on going to see this one as I imagine many of you will. But if the movie bombs (if not financially but reputation-wise) much in the way last year's Transformers sequel did, you have to wonder what that will do for the future of the franchise, not just with Iron Man but with all Marvel movies?
UPDATE: Just as I posted this we did manage to find a positive review from
Ain't It Cool News that we thought we would pass on as well;
"IRON MAN was a damn good first foray into the character of Tony Stark & IRON MAN - but I think just about everybody was a tad disappointed in the Iron Monger. That last act just wasn't quite as super-awesome as the first two-thirds. In IRON MAN 2 - it kicks it up several notches across the board. "
UPDATE: Here are a few more reviews you may want to check out:
Variety
ComingSoon.net
HitFix