What made the first Iron Man great, in my opinion was the fantastic job of making a three dimensional, real, funny and engaging character out of Tony Stark. Iron Man 2 is fine if you like things blowing up, ridiculously futuristic human-computer interfaces, and guys punching each other in suits of armor. The Tony Stark I came to love in the first movie, isn't really here. It's not like he doesn't have issues to work with - he's sick, he's lovesick, his company is in trouble, and his best friend is being a dick. We just don't get to see much of Stark being Stark.
Maybe I'm being to harsh. It's just that this could have been a much better movie. Action sequences aside, the post-credits teaser to an upcoming movie is one of the most thrilling parts of this flick.