Iron Man 2

The lights dimmed down, the sound blasted and the screen came to life. Iron Man 2 was making its debut in theaters around the globe. Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr, is a billionaire who had his secret identity exposed. He was Iron Man. A super smart billionaire, what could go wrong? He builds his own metal suites that make him virtually untouchable and he is quick witted and charming. It sounds like a pretty great movie, but it really was not all that it was hyped up to be.

After a big birthday bash, Tony Stark got himself into a metal-crunching fight with his long time friend and assistant James Rhodes, played by Don Cheadle. While the fight scene was exciting, it was also very loud and quite long. It could have been shorted and still been as effective. After the two friends mended ties, they became a duo not to be messed with. Both men had their Iron Man suites on, and were ready to slay all of the other Iron Men that were built by the Russian villain who was rescued from jail by Tony's jealous competitor Justin Hammer. This battle scene was much better than the first one, but was still pretty long.

Iron Man won the hearts of many, by becoming the fifth-largest opening weekend hit. It earned $133.6 million over the weekend, surpassing the first Iron Man by $35 million. The sequel was not only loved by my fellow Americans, it also took in $194 million overseas, bringing its worldwide grand total to $327 million. It sure took in a whole lot of money for a two hour metal-crunching fight scene.

A box office analysts for Hollywood.com said, "It's a perfect kickoff to the summer of 2010, it literally sets the tone for the entire summer movie season. To have the fifth biggest opening week of all time certainly sends a message that this summer season is going to make its mark. Audiences really do get caught up in that." I really hope that the box office analyst is wrong. If that is what summer is going to bring, I won't be seeing any movies this summer.

I really expected Iron Man 2 to be much better. The trailer has been on since who knows when and all of the morning talk shows have been talking it up. It seemed like a good idea and plot, but it just did not quite work out for them. But, evidently I was the only one thinking this, since it has made over $300 million.