Noise, neon, and nuclear fun

Too many villains. Too many superhero suits. There's no denying that Iron Man 2 is just too too. At its best, it's shaggily enjoyable and enjoyably shaggy. It's like steroids on steroids with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, disarming arms industrialist, tossing off one-liners like comic grenades.

Stark sees no conflict in taking government subsidies while retaining private ownership of bleeding-edge weaponry. Nor does IM2, directed by Jon Favreau and written by Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder), see inconsistency in making its hero care about both the profits from - and human consequences of - his weapons. War is Tony's business and peace his profession.

Tony Stark (a good name for a swank, stark-raving egotist) is a warmonger and a peacemaker who has fitted himself with a nuclear-powered pacemaker that makes him a one-man superpower. Tony's a maverick who boasts that he "successfully privatized world peace!"

IM2 positively revels in its hero's contradictions, chief among them that the device keeping him alive is slowly killing him. Does Tony have sufficient power to fight his enemies, reap billions from war machines, bed every babe in his path, and amuse himself with his own wit?

Not really, though he muddles through with an engaging blend of self-deprecation and self-regard. Often the film follows the predictable cha-cha of superhero conventions (triumph, reversal, glory - plus the daddy issues that dogged Spider-Man 2) when it would have been so much more fun simply to watch the unpredictable Downey tango with his costars without having to don the iron suit.

Favreau's cluttered movie has the noise and neon of a rave on a casino floor.

It presents not one but four villains who successively threaten to neutralize Tony's nuclear ticker:

Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), son of a Russian arms designer betrayed by Tony's father, arms himself for a showdown.

Hammer (Sam Rockwell), rival weapons manufacturer grandstanding for government contracts, schemes to drive a flamethrower through Tony's heart.

U.S. Sen. Stern (Garry Shandling), Pennsylvania lawmaker, wants Tony prosecuted for crimes against the state.

Lt. Colonel Rhodes (Don Cheadle), Tony's friend in the Pentagon, behaves more like Tony's foe.

And then there's Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson), Tony's mysterious new assistant, who insinuates herself deep in his business. Is her intent seduction - catch her in a Lycra catsuit! - or sucker punch?