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Dishing Robert Downey Jr. and Iron Man 2 on Fox News' Lips & Ears

"Iron Man 2" is a Little Clunkier

What do you get when you take a relatively inexperienced director, a recovering train wreck of an actor and an under-the-radar superhero?

$585 million at the box office, glowing reviews and a career renaissance, that's what.

So what do you do for an encore?

In 2008, when the first "Iron Man" film headed into theaters, few expected it to create the tidal wave of success which followed. Two years later, hottest commodity on the block, Robert Downey Jr. is back as Iron Man/Tony Stark with some familiar faces and a few new playmates in tow, including director Jon Favreau with an expanded role as Stark's chauffeur Happy Hogan, Gwyneth Paltrow as his long-suffering assistant and love interest Pepper Potts, Don Cheadle, Terrence Howard's well publicized replacement, in the role of James Rhodes, Mickey Rourke taking up the resident baddy role of Ivan Vanko/Whiplash, Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow.

Phew. Overwhelmed? Apparently so were the filmmakers.

Whether the problem was a lack of focus or your typical sophomore slump, "Iron Man 2" is the tired, rusty, older sibling of its gleaming predecessor.

It could be argued that the first "Iron Man" was so spectacular and unexpected, it's an impossible act to follow. Or, it might be that the production crumbled under its own hype.

Whatever the reason, "Iron Man 2" fails to recreate the boisterous, combustible surge audiences were expecting.

Actor-turned-writer Justin Theroux, who co-wrote "Tropic Thunder," lost the fun this time around, filling the sequel with too many building montages and not enough of RDJ's riffing. Not that Downey Jr. can do any wrong, but you wonder if the best bits of his performance might have been left for the DVD special features. Meanwhile Rockwell, a chronically underrated actor, is the film's secret weapon, subtlety drawing humor from even his briefest moments on screen.

It's not that "Iron Man 2" is a bad movie, it's simply a "good enough" movie to kick off summer blockbuster season with a few cheap thrill but which fails to reach the stratosphere of the first film.

May Movie Predictions

May kicks off Summer Blockbuster Season with some of this year’s biggest tentpole offerings including the return of Iron Man, Carrie Bradshaw and Robin Hood minus the tights.

Here are my predictions for which films will rock and which will suck so you don’t go wastin’ your $15 bucks.

See It:

May 7-Iron Man 2 (Paramount)

You know him, you love him, and this time he’s rocking out to the sounds of AC/DC. Robert Downey Jr. is back as everyone’s favorite billionaire inventor turned superhero, Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow also returns as Pepper Potts, while Don Cheadle steps into Terrence Howard’s role after some well-publicized bad blood. Filling in the role of resident baddie is Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko/Whiplash who’s out to destroy Iron Man. That is, if the US military doesn’t get to him first. It’s not quite as rollicking as the first one, but whenever you can spend two hours in the dark with RDJ, it’s a good time.

May 21-Shrek Forever After (Dreamworks Animation)

The fourth Shrek installment, this time in 3D, finds Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) sick of domestic life with Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and their kids. After asking bamboozling Rumpelstiltskin to help him get back to feeling like a real ogre again, he finds himself in an alternate version of Far Far Away where Rumpelstiltskin is king, ogres are hunted, and he and Fiona have never met. All alone once again, he sets out to restore his world.

May 27-Sex and the City 2 (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Bust out your Manolos, Carrie Bradshaw is back. And, this time, so is Aidan! That’s right, Sex fans, John Corbett’s beloved character returns in this sequel to the hugely successful 2008 film adaptation of the HBO show starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon. This time the ladies leave Manhattan (gasp) and head to Abu Dhabi for some R & R. Although the first film was so terrible, I call it “The Godfather III for Women,” redemption is just a cosmo sip away.

May 28-Micmacs (Sony Pictures Classics)

From the director of Amelie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, comes another fantastical, breathtaking jaunt. Bazil (Dany Boon) is the son of a bomb disposal expert who died on a job in Morocco. Years later, after he’s struck by a stray bullet which remains lodged in his head, him assembles a motley crew to exact revenge on the two weapons manufacturers who made the bullet that almost killed him. No one does magical realism like Jeunet.

See It…If Everything Else is Sold Out:

May 21-MacGruber (Rogue Pictures)

It’s not often a Saturday Night Live sketch successfully survives the trip from small to big screen. With the exception of The Blues Brothers and Wayne’s World, most attempts have been disastrous (Superstar, A Night at the Roxbury, It’s Pat: The Movie). With any luck, Macgruber will join the leagues of the former, rather than the later. First time director Jorma Taccone has been very successful with SNL Digital Shorts, but will that translate to this rip off of MacGyver starring Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer and Ryan Philippe?

Be Warned:

May 14-Robin Hood (Universal Pictures)

Sherwood Forest just got a little grittier. Don’t expect any merry men in tights or Bryan Adams power ballads now that Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe have arrived in Nottingham. Robin Hood gets the Gladiator treatment in this retelling of the expert archer (Crowe) toward the end of the 12th century who assembles a gang of mercenaries to rise up against a tyrannical sheriff (Matthew Macfadyen) and the ruling class. The rumblings I hear around town say it’s skip-able at best, laughable at worst.

Jon Favreau's No Iron Man According to Robert Downey Jr.

In "Iron Man 2," Jon Favreau’s character, Happy Hogan, Tony Stark’s chauffeur and assistant, has a greatly expanded role. But it wasn’t just his role that was expanding during filming. According to Robert Downey Jr, it was his waistline.

“There’s three Happy Hogans in the movie,” Robert begins, grinning wickedly. “There’s the Jon Favreau who was in excellent shape, boxing every day, and made it into the ring for the scene where he gets his ass handed to him by Scarlett [Johansson]. Then, midway, he’s struggling with a MediFast but occasionally binging on pizza and saying, ‘This is crazy, I gotta get back to the gym.’ By the time we were doing reshoots, they were framing him out of shoots,” he hoots. “Here’s the thing though--”

“Oh! Here we go,” Favreau interjects, laughing. “Now the nice [stuff]. Kiss me on the cheek after you’re done with me. Throw me a dollar and a towel.”

Way to keep it classy, gentlemen. "Iron Man 2" opens May 7th.

Iron Man 2 Nerves Keep Robert Downey Jr. Up at Night

What do you get when you take a relatively inexperienced director, a recovering train wreck of an actor and an under-the-radar superhero?

$585 million at the box office, glowing reviews, a career renaissance and a highly-anticipated sequel, that’s what.

In 2008, when the first "Iron Man" film headed into theaters, few expected it to create such a tidal wave of success. After all, it wasn’t Superman or Spiderman or even The Hulk, and it was directed by a guy best known for the indie cred of writing and starring in Swingers. Two years later, after the stellar performance of the first film, hottest commodity on the block, Robert Downey Jr., who plays Tony Stark/Iron Man, and director Jon Favreau are decidedly anxious about the expectations of "Iron Man 2," arriving in theaters May 7th.

At the press conference promoting the film, Downey Jr. scoffs when asked if he feels pressure about the release of the sequel. “You mean ‘feel,’ like its past tense? I didn’t sleep last night. I didn’t sleep last night! Jon?” he quips, shucking the question off to the director.

“I’ve never done a sequel before,” Favreau replies earnestly, “unless you count me [having less than five lines] on 'Batman Forever.' For me, there wasn’t the same pressure that you’re used to feeling, especially coming up with smaller movies where you’re throwing a party and you don’t know if people are going to show up. Here, we knew people were going to show up, we just wanted to make sure everybody had a good time and this was going to be as fun, or more fun, than the last party.”

More "Iron Man 2" coverage to come soon...