Iron Man 2

To put it in the parlance of contemporary superhero movies, the Iron Man franchise has leapt right over Spider-Man 2 and landed directly on Spider-Man 3. That is to say, Jon Favreau’s irredeemably insipid sequel Iron Man 2 fails to build on the promise of its flawed but entertaining original, instead constructing a flat, jokey, schizophrenic franchise killer for a follow-up. As billionaire gadfly/souped-up superhero Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. elevated the first Iron Man with a surprisingly personal performance; here, he contentedly sinks into the mire of Justin Theroux’s adolescent script. In its defense, there are a few cool action shots, the occasional twinkle from Downey, Scarlett Johansson in black leather and a couple of sly winks to the Marvel geeks. That should give you an idea of the level of rubble sifting required for Iron Man 2.