"I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY privatized world peace!" kazillionaire industrialist/superhero Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) proclaims early in Iron Man 2—and for at least a few minutes, he's right. Picking up right where Iron Man left off, part two offers everything that made its predecessor work: Robert Downey Jr., just as before, is charming and cocky and witty and great. The film's tone is light and confident. And Tony Stark remains as likeable and cool of a superhero as there ever was; in refusing to give up his Iron Man armor to the government (embodied by a pissy senator played by Garry Shandling) and handily dispatching any low-rent rivals who attempt to build their own (embodied by a douchey entrepreneur played by Sam Rockwell), Stark isn't just privatizing world peace, he's reminding those of us in the real world how much fun superhero movies can be.

And fun is what matters here. Iron Man 2 isn't as well made as its predecessor—it's noisier, sillier, clumsier, and a bit less clever—but it's just as enjoyable. Everything important gets checked off: Robert Downey Jr. being awesome? Check. Iron Man being superheroic and getting amusingly drunk? Check. Mickey Rourke as Whiplash, a ridiculous Russian villain who looks like an extra from Eastern Promises? Check. Scarlett Johansson as a spy/the hottest woman of all time? Check. AC/DC blaring on the soundtrack? Check. Roger from Mad Men playing Tony Stark's dad, thus indisputably proving that coolness is hereditary? Check.

The plot's where most of that aforementioned clumsiness comes in—like most superhero sequels, Iron Man 2 tries to do too much in too little time. (When Samuel L. Jackson shows up as superhero wrangler/professional badass Nick Fury, it's not so much to be a professional badass as it is to deliver chunks of exposition.) But aside from a few rough patches, director Jon Favreau keeps things steadily rolling, along the way getting fantastic performances out of his cast. (Everyone looks like they're having a blast—aside from poor Gwyneth Paltrow, who's given little to do but scowl while everyone else gets to play.) As Tony faces threats from within his Iron Man suit and without, there's a mess of other stuff going on, from his pal Rhodey (Don Cheadle, replacing an ousted Terrence Howard) getting an armored suit of his own, to a chaotic attack by rioting killer robots, to daddy issues popping up all over the place. Messy, yes. Bloated, sure. Still fun? Definitely.