Iron Man 2

Let's start with the bad news: Mickey Rourke. He killed Whiplash for me. I don't know what he was going for, I don't know what anyone around him was going for, but the character is supposed to be a problem for Tony Stark and instead he was a problem for me sitting in the theater. I briefly thought about walking out on him alone. That's not a great look for a villain in a superhero movie.

Now the good news, and there's a lot of it. Thank the Hollywood gods for Robert Downey Jr. The man IS Tony Stark, and as long as he's onscreen the movie hums. Favreau is great too. The whole RDJ-Favreau thing just works, and you can feel it.

She walks in and the movie levels up.

Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer? Good stuff. He's got the slime-and-smirk thing dialed in and he's a much more fun antagonist to watch than the guy with the whips.

But the real headline for me is Scarlett Johansson showing up as Black Widow. I'll be honest, I did not think she had this in her. The intro is perfect. Not good, not solid, perfect. She walks in and the movie levels up.

And Sam L. Jackson as Nick Fury is exactly what Sam L. Jackson as Nick Fury should be. No notes. Cast him, point him at the camera, let him cook.

Where I keep getting stuck, beyond Rourke, is Gwyneth as Pepper. Just doesn't do it for me. I don't know how else to say it. Every time the movie leans on her it loses a little altitude.

So you've got a movie where half the bench is killing it (RDJ, Favreau, Rockwell, ScarJo, Sam Jackson) and the other half is dragging (Rourke, Gwyneth). It mostly evens out into something I enjoyed, something that stuck with me, and something I'd absolutely watch again. Just don't ask me to defend every casting choice, because I won't.

About what I expected, which in this case is a compliment.