Yes, it kicks ass. And yes, you should stay after the credits. (Full review after the jump)

Like the last film, there are quite a few Easter Eggs for fans of the book, which I won't spoil here. That's the purpose of an Easter Egg, right? Finding it? Anyway. IM2 opens about six-months after Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) revels to the world his identity as Iron Man and now the govt. wants a piece of the action. In a masterful move by director John Favreau, Gary Shandling, a comic actor with no love for our government, is cast as the slimy Senator Stern, who during one of the funnier scenes in the film, confronts Stark at a Senate hearing about obtaining the Iron Man suit. 

At the top of his game in his professional life and being successful at "privatizing world peace", which he announces to the shocked members of Congress, Stark is about to take on the sins of the fathers. Behind the playboy mask and the Iron armor, Stark is being eaten away from the inside. Literally. As his arc light system in his chest is killing him from the inside. No pun intended, but in order to survive mentally and physically Stark needs to get a number of things off his chest. 

Though there's a lag in the middle of the film, called character development in the pre-Transformers days, director Jon Favreau masterfully builds Stark's breakdown both inside and outside of the armor. He's a drunk, a lout and a womanizer. And that's IN the suit. It's a great role for Downey (who OWNS Stark now. There's no going back) as he's clearly pulling traits of the character from his tumultuous personal life. 

And thanks to a pissed off Russian, things are about to get worse. Stark, the iron God will bleed. A lot. After the clunky battle scene (and motives) in the first film, this one has some pretty realistic looking ones which start off on a race track in Monaco. 

Mickey Rourke plays Ivan Vanko, genius son of Anton Vanko who co-created the arc light tech with Stark's father (played with a wink by Mad Man's John Slatterly) but was deported after Stark took the technology. 

OK. a quick geek digression. In the Iron Man books, Anton Vanko was the original Crimson Dynamo, who was created by the USSR to combat Iron Man. Rourke's Ivan Vanko, is a combination of the Dynamo AND the villain Whiplash, whose name was Mark Scarlotti a spurned Stark employee who created electrified whips. Geek moment over...for now.

The interesting thing about Rourke's Vanko is that he's not interested in killing Stark outright. He, like Russia itself tries, wants to show the the big powerful American machine is nothing more than a man in a suit. After the Monaco fight, where the Iron Man briefcase armor is reveled, Stark starts to feel what it's like to be afraid. During the Senate hearings, he snarked that the arc light tech was decades away from getting into the hands of the bad guys. Well Tony. Here it is. 

Waiting to embrace Venko and his angry brilliance is Justin Hammer (the always awesome Sam Rockwell), a rival industrialist who is taking aim at Stark's reign. Unfortunately, Hammer trusts Venko too much and the mad Russian uses the tech and money thrown at him to shape his final revenge on Stark. 

Rourke could have been heavy handed with his role, but like everyone else in this franchise, he owns it. A method actor, Rourke spent time in a Russian prison to prepare for this role and it shows. He's scary as fuck. The perfect foil for Stark's shiny happy image. 

The sub-plot that should have been stronger (and there are several, make that too many, in this film) and wasn't, was the SHIELD/AVENGERS story that's playing out over several Marvel films at the moment. While we get to see Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) in action (she's smokin' hot BTW) and a few Fury scenes, it would have been more interesting to see how and what SHIELD wants from Stark. This Avengers plot line mingles the Ultimates line of books and the "regular" 616 Marvel Universe. The black Nick Fury, the over-the-top womanizing Tony Stark are characters in that series. The film also integrated bits from an 80s comic book arc called "Demon in a Bottle" which confronts Tony's hard drinking lifestyle (you should really read this in trade. Great stuff)

The third act of the film is just spectacular. After Tony and Pepper Potts (Gweneth Paltrow, who's equally hot in a nice girl kind of way) get the company, whose image was damaged due to Stark's drunken behavior, back in order Stark and James Rhodes (the much better choice Don Cheedle) in his newly minted War Machine armor get down with the Venko bots. My one quibble as a fanboy is that they could have painted Venko's final armor well...crimson. Just saying. After all the attention to detail in the film, to over look that little nod would have been awesome and kinda bugged me that it was over looked. 

In the end, the film is a perfect action film, one of the better comic movies out there and a good bridge to the upcoming Avengers flick that will prob serve as the "third" Iron Man film. 

Before I wrap it up, I want to talk a little about the armor in this film. I have to say that I've been SO impressed with the attention to detail that the filmmakers have paid to the various phases of the Iron Man gear. 

Besides the obvious addition of War Machine , the film includes the Golden Avenger armor in the first fight between Rhodey and Stark and ends up with a mix of the silver centurion (with the triangle chest light) and the traditional gold and red. Keep an eye on the background of Stark's lab and you'll see pretty much every armor except the stealth (my fav), Hulk buster (which I'll bet a $1 will premier in the Avengers) and the arctic gear. Great job all