Iron Man 2: AWESOME.

The only part of the movie for which I could not suspend my disbelief -- and I say that as someone who willingly believed that Tony Stark could build a particle accelerator by hand (and that scene was stolen straight from Real Genius, BTW), was the part where Mickey Rourke was a fricking PHYSICIST. Just...no.

There was also no reason for Tony Stark to have his shirt off when he was building the particle accelerator, and yet the lack of reason bothers me not at all.

Also? Iron Man and War Machine? Best. Duo. EVAR.

Finally, I didn't expect so much Nick Fury, so I was SUPER happy about that.

I love watching RDJ's face as he reacts to things. I feel like he's almost (BUT NOT QUITE) wasted in a comic-book movie, because he's got such amazing nuance in his facial expressions.

To sum up: I suppose it could have been a little tighter as a movie, but on the whole, it was nicely awesome.

I'm still not sure how I feel about Don Cheadle as Rhodey, though he is quite pleasant to look upon.

ALSO HOWARD STARK

amych, whyfore?

Oh, and Happy is awesome.

The part of Iron Man that I couldn't really suspend my disbelief for was that Scarlett Johansen was necessary. Unfortunately. THe movie would not really have been damaged if she hadn't been in it, and Pepper could have had more to do.

But, you know, RDJ. And shit blew up. I'm a happy girl.

Tep, sheer unadulterated actorlove.

Dana, yeah, I didn't object to Johansen being there, but I really didn't like how they underused and underawesomed Pepper in this one. It was my biggest complaint with the movie.

amych, I had to just look him up on IMDB. No clue who he is, but I liked him.

Notes in Teppy's file: not a Mad Men fan.

I was not a fan of Scarlett. Some of it was the writing: "Ooooh, she's hot! And smart! And can kick ass! And has no other definable character development! Ummmm...

I was a fan of the movie as a whole.

Was the presentation with the Hammerdrones supposed to be unsettling? I'm not sure if that was text or me projecting.

Which reminds me: throughout my entire childhood, my grandfather and uncle worked at the eponymous family company. This is my mother's side of the family (no, I never use it as a security question, so it's safe to tell this story). In fact, there was even a company softball team. I have a hat and everything. How does this relate, you may ask? (Motherfucking) Hammer Industries. Srsly.

Story that might actually be funny to other people. We pointed out to the teenagers getting ready to leave to us that they might want to stay through the credits, and one of them says, "Yeah, my friend told me that," and they sit back down. After said credits, one of the girls says, "There's going to be another one?" As I commented to my BF, I forget that not everyone is like us.

I...mostly liked Iron Man 2.

I just don't get Scarlett Johannson, and don't get a single bit of competency whiff off of her. I thought she completely lacked credibility, especially when she was trying to act badass. Just a big zero.

Also have difficulty with Mickey Rourke. As a nutbar badguy, great. But he fails for me where he fails for Steph.

Took Don Cheadle a bit to warm up, I thought, but by the end I totally preferred him to Terrence Howard. Great pair. And I have a bit of a weakness (okay, a lot) for scenes where the good guys try and beat the shit out of each other, so that was more than pleasant.

Thought it suffered from pacing issues--the middle section lacked enough action for me.

And I did not want Pepper to get together with Tony. Not sure why I was so adamant about that, but I found the end disappointing.

Sam Rockwell was great too--he had a lot of lines that amused me. But the movie didn't make me laugh out loud as much as the first one. And I didn't get glee-face off it as much as I'd hoped.

Still glad I went out for it, though.

Amych, your squee is my squee when it comes to John Slattery. He's just so YAY.