Is 'Iron Man 2' 'unwatchable'?

As films inspired by comic books go, 2008's Iron Man was a rare win-win success, scoring both critical raves and $100 million in its opening weekend alone. But, if some early reviews are any indication, its sequel, Iron Man 2 (opening May 7) is a mess. "Iron Man 2 is a travesty," says David Edwards in the Mirror U.K., "a mind-numbingly dull, chaotic and often unwatchable muddle." Is the film that bad? (Watch the Iron Man 2 trailer)

How profoundly disappointing: "Everything fun and terrific about Iron Man," says Kirk Honeycutt in The Hollywood Reporter, "has vanished." Robert Downey Jr.'s charmingly anarchic superhero Tony Stark has become a "borderline psychotic." And worst of all, the whole film "seems to pivot around who will win a new Defense contract" — not exactly an "emotional grabber."

"Iron Man 2 — film review"

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Actually, it's awesome: Unwatchable? Not the film I saw, says Neil Miller in Film School Rejects. The movie successfully expands "the world of everyone’s new favorite hero" and delivers "some of the best action you’re going to see on screen all year."

"Review: Iron Man 2"

Either way, everyone's going to see this movie: With it's $200 million price tag, says Tim Robey in the London Telegraph, Iron Man 2, "like Stark Industries, [is] simply too big to fail." Considering Tony Stark's "inexhaustible passion" for all things over-the-top, "it's no surprise that 'more is more' is the governing principle of this unrestrained sequel." And most of the time it works. Annoyingly, though, the film is really "one long, high-fiving in-joke about its own sure-fire success."

"Iron Man 2, review"