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Movie Monday: Iron Man 2

Ironman2.JPGDon’t mess with a guy in a metal suit.

Iron Man 2 clanked to the top of the box office this weekend, blasting its way to a $133.6 million take and humiliating arch-villains and opposing moviemakers alike. Iron Man‘s closest competition was Freddy from the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. But the burned-and-bladed one still had a bad dream of a weekend, earning just $9.2 million and falling a precipitous 72% from the previous week.

Iron Man’s triumph surprised absolutely no one, of course. The movie had about as much chance of not winning as Kobe Bryant if I challenged him to a game of “HORSE.” The flick was released in a record 4,380 theaters, and Paramount Pictures spent $100 million on marketing. If Iron Man 2 had made less than $120 million opening weekend, some Paramount execs would surely be on their way to Hollywood gulags in Death Valley.

I thought the film was successful, for what it tried to be. But it didn’t feel as strong as the first Iron Man. Maybe it’s because the original one took me a bit by surprise, so the wow factor was gone. Or perhaps Iron Man 2 just wasn’t as strong. Stephanie Zacharek of Movieline said that, “The big problem with Iron Man 2, maybe, is that it so dutifully gives the people what they want, instead of giving them what they didn’t know they wanted.” I agree with that.

But what do you think? Did Iron Man 2 rocket its way into your heart? Or did it clang on its face?