After the success of 'Iron Man,' it was inevitable that a sequel would arrive, especially since Marvel Entertainment plans to make 'The Avengers,' which involves characters from this franchise, as well as other comic books films that have yet to be released.

With Robert Downey, Jr. returning to reprise his role as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Don Cheadle replacing Terrence Howard in the role of Jim Rhodes, 'Iron Man 2' starts off avoiding the pitfalls of sequels, but gets convoluted and cumbersome.

When last seen, Tony Stark (Downey) just revealed to the world that he is Iron Man. Although comfortable with the fact that he can fly anywhere and save anyone in distress, he still has to deal with the senator (Garry Shandling) who wants to know the components that make up the Iron Man suit so the government can make use of its technology. Even his best bud, Lt. Jim "Rhody" Rhodes (Cheadle) is encouraging Stark to share the wealth for the greater good.

While at the Grand Prix de Monte Carlo, Tony comes into contact with Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), a bitter Russian physicist who has a vendetta against the Stark family, which dates back to Tony's deceased father, the founder of Stark Industries. Taking note that Ivan, in the form of Whiplash, has created a similar weapon suit capable of combating Iron Man is Justin Hammer ( Sam Rockwell), Tony's rival in arms manufacturing.

As Tony's behavior causes him to lose his composure, Rhody has no choice but to "borrow" one of Tony's iron suits to keep him in control as well as give it to the military for its own use.

Through the help of Potts and her assistant Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson), who's actually working with S.H.I.E.L.D head Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Tony has to get his focus back now that Whiplash and Hammer have joined forces to seek and destroy Iron Man.

As fun and informative as the first film was, this sequel tacks on one too many plot devices that is never fully developed. Unless you are a fan of the comic book and know exactly where the franchise is headed next, you are left clueless as to who and why some of these characters exist in the film.

Rourke's character takes a back seat to Rockwell's and becomes less interesting as the film goes on. Much was made on the casting of Johansson, but her role as well as Paltrow's, was wasted and served as a moving prop, probably to keep some young lads distracted. Part of the success of 'Iron Man' was the chemistry between Tony and Pepper. In this film, there's no growth, the film falls flat.

As the new Jim Rhodes/ War Machine, Cheadle has more to do than Howard was given in the original and he doesn't disappoint. Too bad the rest of the film is plagued with the troubles that affected 'Batman and Robin,' and 'Spider-Man 3.' Having less characters and less subplots add to cohesiveness.