Iron Man. El Hombre de Hierro

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a hard playing billionaire genius. He is captured in Afghanistan after demonstrating his newest weapon. He is forced to create new weapons for his captor. Instead he makes an armored suit to escape. He also makes an arc reactor to keep his heart going and shrapnel from killing him. Once back in the States, he moves his company to concentrate on arc reactor technology and stop weapons manufacturing.

This is all RDJ. He and he alone makes Iron Man work. It's doubtful if anybody could have done it better. It's certain that he's made it next to impossible to replace him. Director Jon Favreau has built around him the dazzling array of tech fun, and Gwyneth Paltrow as his Girl Friday. It is RDJ's fast talking, quick wit, and personal history that makes him the perfect Tony Stark. Great character, fun movie.

With a B-list superhero, a risky lead actor, a genre that hasn't really done much other than say Nolan's Batman, this movie had a lot to prove. Wow, did it ever. It proved that superhero movies can be realistic, emotional, funny and have highly entertaining action. This is the movie to launch the MCU, and started the shared universe that DC comics and other franchises are following.

Let's start with the number one reason why this movie is so good: Robert Downey Jr. I am so glad that Jon Favreau kept pressing the studio to make sure RDJ had this role because he completely nails it. He effortlessly portrays the cool, sarcastic, alcoholic, playboy that I don't even think he's acting. He's clearly not perfect as he is the guy we think is awesome but don't necessarily want to be. This role is basically synonymous with RDJ now because you can't think of Tony Stark without immediately thinking of RDJ. Iron Man wasn't a househeld name before but thanks to RDJ's performance, it is now.

The action in this movie is incredible as you get to see him fly around, take on terrorist cells and fight the main villain. What I even found to more intriguing is Stark's entire time building his suit, both in the Afghan cave and in his garage because it is amazing to see his genius at work, while still being snarky and basically a tool.

The writing and humor is also very good in this movie. I read that a lot of the lines, especially RDJ's were improv, which is able to keep this movie very fresh, not Rotten Tomatoes style, but it helps a lot by breaking the molds of superhero movies.

A couple complaints in this film is the pacing and the final villain. The pacing starts off very well, not really rushing into him being Iron Man, establishing his character very well before his abilities. Then the final battle comes around and it's basically just an evil version of his character, which sort of works with the problem of his technology getting into wrong hands, but the fact that it's just fighting a mirror is kind of boring. The final battle comes around pretty quick and it resolved fairly quick as if they are trying to wrap it up really quickly. I did like Bridges' Obadiah Stane with his intimidating yet charming persona but in the end he was just a reverse of Iron Man, not that interesting.

+ Robert Downey Jr + Fresh, new start for superhero movies + Writing and pacing (mostly) + Action and Humor - Final Villain

Final Score: 9.3/10

Fortunately, I'm not one easily influenced by some users' negative comments. These people should try to restrain their bias opinions and try to review the movies as neutrally as possible.

Now I would say that this movie has slow but steady momentum-building. It is a movie for people who has never known Iron Man in the comic series. The characters are given names and personalities, true to their comic book counterparts.

Acting was among the best comic-turn movie I have seen so far. Effects were believable and not overwhelmingly CGI, except for the tank scene.

This movie, however, has sequel written all over it. We know that because there are many scenes that could have lead to more.

It's well worth its ticket price.

In my attempt to rewatch all the MCU-movies chronologically I began with the first Iron Man. To cut to the chase: it's still good. A couple of things astonished me, though:

First of all, a common mistake of the later Marvel-movies isn't made here. There is actually some sort of character development visible. Tony ends the movie as a totally different person. Of course, in an origin story it's easier to have your protagonist change but let's compare for a second: Is Ant-man really a changed man at the end of the movie? What about Star Lord? What about Thor? Black Widow? Hawkeye?

Then again, you have to give it to the director that he really made a well-paced, well-balanced movie. There is action, humour, drama, world establishing, all in great balance. The final fight isn't stretched too long and therefore doesn't get boring. You can't underestimate this in our age of 45 mins battles at the end of movies.

During my re-watch I also noticed how 'down to earth' this movie is if you compare it to some of the more recent MCU-entries. It just looks more real than them. It's set in a world that at least COULD be real which makes us care more for the characters and their actions. More explosions and obvious cgi-effects don't improve a movie. So the movie doesn't feel as bloated as some other superhero flicks.

Finally, Iron Man is still fun to watch and not just a vehicle to set up a franchise. If you've spent the last couple of years on the moon and haven't seen any of the MCU-movies, give this a try.

So the world premier of Iron man to regular movie going audiences happened to be here in Seoul Korea on an army installation. I got to check it out and I was delightfully surprised.

Much against the hype, I thought this movie would have been torrid trash acting mingled with cheesy fight scenes. I mean Robert Downey Jr as an action superhero? But I am glad to admit that I misjudged the movie completely. Downey played a very good Tony Stark, in generally every way. From his jokes to his obnoxious lifestyle he looked and walked the part very well. His banter with his right hand assistant Ms. Pepper Potts isn't mind numbing and actually found myself laughing aloud at some of the wit.

The movie itself moved at a very good pace. Mixing action, comedy and some drama to just about the right proportions. As with most superhero movies, its rather predictable, but in all the right ways you'd want a superhero movie to be. The animation used was almost seamless, and of course the Iron Man costume was kicking major ass.

My only gripe with the movie was the fact that several characters were thrown into the mix with little behind them other than 2D character attributes. Leslie Bibb's character, Christine Everhart, is pretty useless other than the two or three lines she has. Hardly worth a hardbody like Leslie Bibb to play. Several other characters didn't feel fleshed out at all. Raza (Faran Tahir), Obediah Stone (Jeff Bridges) , and even Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard) feel hollow in the fact that they have little justification for many of their actions.

So All in all, I'd give this movie an 8.3. Fun for the whole family, great pacing, and a Superhero movie to give the next Batman movie a run for its money.