Post by Heineken Skywalker on May 5, 2008 9:28:20 GMT -5
I say this with no exaggeration, this is one of the best superhero comic book movies ever made.
As far as casting, story, effects, action and a nice merger of drama and humor, it's probably on par with Marvel Comics' best movies, the first couple of SPIDER-MAN and X-MEN movies. It's a little better than the BLADE trilogy and definitely better than DAREDEVIL, FANTASTIC FOUR, GHOST RIDER, HULK and ELEKTRA, but ELEKTRA was shit, so that's no huge accomplishment.
I've always thought of Iron Man as one of Marvel's third-tier heroes in the heirarchy of their characters. Spider-Man, The Hulk and The X-Men are the A-List, followed by The Fantastic Four and Captain America and then just below them would be Iron Man, Thor and Daredevil. But I'll be damned if IRON MAN, the movie, hasn't elevated his status to an A-lister.
Robert Downey Jr. is spot-on perfect as Tony Stark, billionaire industrialist/weapons manufacturer, who, after a near-death experience, has a "change of heart" and is reborn as the armored title character. He plays the character as aloof and kind of a wise-ass and Downey is so good at playing this type of personality, as we've seen in the past, that it feels like he's barely acting. And that's a total compliment. It also helps that besides the personality and attitude, he looks totally right for the part. From the physique to the facial hair, Downey appears to have walked off the comic book pages and onto the set of the film.
The supporting cast is made up of bonafide movie stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard and all do a fine job of lending dramatic weight to the project, but never get in the way of why we're all really there: Tony Stark in the Iron Man costume.
The suit is absolutely perfect and looks every bit as impressive and fantastic as comic book fans always imagined it might if Ol' Shell Head ever made the leap to the live-action big screen.
The sequences of Stark learning to use the suit, and things going horribly wrong, are some of the funniest and most entertaining "training scenes" since Toby Maguire first learned how to use his spider powers in the original SPIDER-MAN.
Which also brings me to a couple of plot holes that kind of bugged me.
SPOILERS!!!!
We see Stark spend considerable time learning how to use and perfect the various abilities of the suit, especially hovering and flying. But when the villain steps into an even larger and more impressive mechanical suit, there is no learning curve period for him. He can immediately operate his suit, including flying, to the point of giving Stark a good thrashing. One or two scenes of the villain "practicing" a little bit with his suit might've helped, but I guess that would've ruined the surprise of who the real villain is. But to be honest, it's really no surprise at all as you pretty much know this guy is up to no good the minute he appears on screen.
Also, the villain is brilliant enough to build a suit based on Stark's design, make modifications and improvements to it, but can't "power it up" without stealing Tony's power source instead of creating his own?
END SPOILERS!!!!
That's a bit of a defect in logic, but whatcha gonna do? It's a freakin' superhero movie where the main character wears a suit of armor and kicks some major bad guy ass!
Those are quibbles in a movie that is so full of great moments that I can't get too hung up on one or two little things.
Kudos to director Jon Favreau for creating a superhero movie that will probably please everyone from people who have never even picked up a comic to the most extreme Comic Book Fanboy. It walks a fine line of deadly seriousness and laugh-out-loud moments, but never goes too far in either direction, and it all pretty much works. There are none of the goofball moments that came out of left field in the last SPIDER-MAN film and Favreau doesn't bog his main character down in angst like Bryan Singer made the mistake of doing with Superman.
Oh, and stick around until the very end of the credits for some bonus goodness.
9/10
As far as casting, story, effects, action and a nice merger of drama and humor, it's probably on par with Marvel Comics' best movies, the first couple of SPIDER-MAN and X-MEN movies. It's a little better than the BLADE trilogy and definitely better than DAREDEVIL, FANTASTIC FOUR, GHOST RIDER, HULK and ELEKTRA, but ELEKTRA was shit, so that's no huge accomplishment.
I've always thought of Iron Man as one of Marvel's third-tier heroes in the heirarchy of their characters. Spider-Man, The Hulk and The X-Men are the A-List, followed by The Fantastic Four and Captain America and then just below them would be Iron Man, Thor and Daredevil. But I'll be damned if IRON MAN, the movie, hasn't elevated his status to an A-lister.
Robert Downey Jr. is spot-on perfect as Tony Stark, billionaire industrialist/weapons manufacturer, who, after a near-death experience, has a "change of heart" and is reborn as the armored title character. He plays the character as aloof and kind of a wise-ass and Downey is so good at playing this type of personality, as we've seen in the past, that it feels like he's barely acting. And that's a total compliment. It also helps that besides the personality and attitude, he looks totally right for the part. From the physique to the facial hair, Downey appears to have walked off the comic book pages and onto the set of the film.
The supporting cast is made up of bonafide movie stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard and all do a fine job of lending dramatic weight to the project, but never get in the way of why we're all really there: Tony Stark in the Iron Man costume.
The suit is absolutely perfect and looks every bit as impressive and fantastic as comic book fans always imagined it might if Ol' Shell Head ever made the leap to the live-action big screen.
The sequences of Stark learning to use the suit, and things going horribly wrong, are some of the funniest and most entertaining "training scenes" since Toby Maguire first learned how to use his spider powers in the original SPIDER-MAN.
Which also brings me to a couple of plot holes that kind of bugged me.
SPOILERS!!!!
We see Stark spend considerable time learning how to use and perfect the various abilities of the suit, especially hovering and flying. But when the villain steps into an even larger and more impressive mechanical suit, there is no learning curve period for him. He can immediately operate his suit, including flying, to the point of giving Stark a good thrashing. One or two scenes of the villain "practicing" a little bit with his suit might've helped, but I guess that would've ruined the surprise of who the real villain is. But to be honest, it's really no surprise at all as you pretty much know this guy is up to no good the minute he appears on screen.
Also, the villain is brilliant enough to build a suit based on Stark's design, make modifications and improvements to it, but can't "power it up" without stealing Tony's power source instead of creating his own?
END SPOILERS!!!!
That's a bit of a defect in logic, but whatcha gonna do? It's a freakin' superhero movie where the main character wears a suit of armor and kicks some major bad guy ass!
Those are quibbles in a movie that is so full of great moments that I can't get too hung up on one or two little things.
Kudos to director Jon Favreau for creating a superhero movie that will probably please everyone from people who have never even picked up a comic to the most extreme Comic Book Fanboy. It walks a fine line of deadly seriousness and laugh-out-loud moments, but never goes too far in either direction, and it all pretty much works. There are none of the goofball moments that came out of left field in the last SPIDER-MAN film and Favreau doesn't bog his main character down in angst like Bryan Singer made the mistake of doing with Superman.
Oh, and stick around until the very end of the credits for some bonus goodness.
9/10
