Summer Blockbusters are a strange breed. They’re different from each other in many ways, yet precisely similar in many many more. During the watching of Iron Man 2, it becomes clear that it’s a very summer film, busting blocks from here to New York, to Serbia. The first word I’d employ to describe such a huge budget films like Iron Man 2, Iron Man, the Transformers duo, or any others of the same ilk. Silliness.

Yes yes yes... the it’s always a lot of fun isn’t it? Lots of guns, car chases, people running, things exploding, good guys with good guy grins dodging bullets, and kissing nice looking ladies, before shouting an hilarious quip back at their enemy’s dead body. All very lovely. But is it? This sort of film isn’t terribly intellectual, and thus not thoroughly respected within most film-going circles.

“I saw Iron Man 2 at the weekend?”

“*audible scoff*”

“It was all right actually.”

“*the same audible scoff, twice as loud to make sure you realise they don’t just have a cold*”

“Have you seen it?”

“...”

I’m not defending the genre don’t get me wrong. These films are full of ludicrous events so far from real life they might as well stamp the front of the script with [Liberal Democrats Manifesto – N.B if by the time of reading, Liberal Democrats are in power, then, well... good]. For me, the line at which you can judge how good a blockbuster film actually is... is the line of silliness.

Iron Man 2 includes the U.S. Army handing over all of its weapons contracts to an incredibly obviously dodgy company, without wanting to check up on what they come up with. Tony Stark racing in a Grand Prix at Monaco. And silliest of all, Jon Favreau winning a fight. Does all this silliness take away from the film? Yes. Does it take away so much that it becomes too silly and simply not enjoyable to watch? No.

A lot of credit has to go to Director Jon Favreau. If you compare his second helping of Tony Stark (the first sequel of his short directorial career) to the seconds of say... Michael Bay’s Transformers, he does seriously seem to have spent a large majority of his time attempting to keep the thing as serious as possible. He let Mickey Rourke piss about in Russia for a few months, getting to know some prisoners out there, inking himself head to foot in gang tats, and donning a Slav accent. This was all upon Rourke’s recommendation yes, but even when he strayed from the original comic text, he did it for a good reason.

For example, in the comic there’s a suitcase Faveau’s character Happy Hogan carries around chained to his wrist. That suitcase contains a mobile suit, which Stark can open, take out and slip into. Perhaps in a shower cubicle somewhere. Had he unquestionably gone with that, Favreau would have been faced with silly problems in two forms. Firstly, if it’s a mobile suit, in case of emergency situations, how is he going to find time to get it out and get into it himself (he’s usually aided by robots). Second (and something I considered before the trick was revealed), how does his suit fit inside that tiny case? Yes the suit’s hollow, but I could barely fit a pair of jeans and one of my tank tops in that thing. The Fav has solved both problems by making the case into the suit. Stark simply pushes a button, grabs onto the suddenly protruding handles, and the suit wraps around him. Again, silly. But realistically silly. If there is such a thing.

It cuts it close. There’ll be a couple of times in the film where I guarantee, you’ll think ‘Whaaaaatttt?’ But stick with it, there’ll be a big enough explosion, or a raised Downey Jr. eyebrow close by to snap you out of it.