Iron Man

There was a big question mark looming over the theatrical adaptation of Marvel's Iron Man property. It was in the guise of director Jon Favreau. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the Favs, but when I heard he was helming a big budget comic book flick…let's just say I was a little worried. Once his cast was set and the fanboys started humming across the internet I started to ease into the decision with high anticipation. Thankfully, after finally seeing the finished product, I was not disappointed in the least. With a great mix of the professionalism and stakes seen in both Spider-Man and X-Men and the comic wit and sheer fun of Fantastic Four, Iron Man shows how a comic can be brought to the screen successfully without all the added drama and weight. We finally have a film with the essence of what makes these picture books so popular, the action and mythology along with a sense of adventure and humor. Favreau never bogs us down with overwrought emotions nor speaks down to us with gags and poorly written jokes. Instead he delivers on his promises and gives us a solid initiation into what could be a great trilogy or more.

Favreau seems to have had an idea to get an origin story out while not boring us with long drawn out backstory. His ability to give us dual information at once is nicely orchestrated, showing Tony Stark in his basement creating while the TV in the background explains what is happening in the outside world of the Middle East and inside his own company. We as an audience are allowed to put the pieces together amidst the witty banter of Stark and the wonderful special effects. By the end of the film it is quite amazing how much information you will realize you now know, all culminating in a decent final battle, but more importantly a segue into the inevitable sequel. We are allowed entrance into the character evolution of Stark as he goes from war profiteer to man of action and cause, all while seeing the technology improve and advance before our eyes. Much like Batman, we have a hero here that needs help in fighting crime. He has no superhuman abilities besides his brain and being able to see his thoughts go from paper to reality is a feat of magic. Every stage is shown, every failure and success. It's quite the ride in and of itself, but when you add onto it the threat of global war and destruction, it can only get better.

The real success here is in the bold move of casting an actor over-40 to be a superhero. This takes guts, because no matter how appropriate it is, most studios would have said, "no, change the story and make him younger so we can churn out as many of these babies as we can." I don't know how he did it, but Favreau got Marvel to get Robert Downey Jr. to play Stark, a sarcastic lothario with the brain capacity of Einstein. I truly can't think of anyone better suited to the role and he proves it by nailing every single scene. I'm sure there was some ad-libbing, but even if not, his comic delivery and ability to switch on a dime to a sincere seriousness at will shows his masterful craft.

As for the rest of the cast, they all do well. Jeff Bridges plays the bombastic creature of villainy over-the-top, but appropriately so; Terrence Howard is nice as the friend and military liason, not given much to do, but definitely sowing seeds for the future; and Gwyneth Paltrow is good as the sweet assistant Pepper Potts who at times seems a little underwritten and more female prop than anything else, but comes through with some nice moments in a very comic sort of way. I also really liked Shaun Toub as Yinsen, Stark's savior, and Clark Gregg as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Good to see Favreau giving another actor turned director props, (Gregg's directorial debut comes out later this year in the form of Chuck Palahniuk's Choke). I just wish he would have shied away from putting himself in the film. It's one thing to be seen split-second, (like Stan Lee), but its another to give yourself a thankless role with multiple scenes, just adding fuel to the fire on people's opinions of egotism stemming from the drinking game created off of the TV show "Dinner for Five" and how many references to Swingers was made each episode. I'll forgive, though, because, once again, I'm a big fan.

One can't forget that this is an action film above all else, so we can't just praise the actors; every effect is also quite brilliant. Those scenes of Iron Man flying amongst fighter jets in the trailer seemed really lame, but when in context they deliver. The suit itself is amazing as well, through every mach stage right to the end. My main highlight, however, was with the computer systems that Stark utilizes. The multiple screens, instant holographic reproductions, and ability to actually interact with those 3D representations is stunning. We can create them in fantasy, but it's just too bad we can't yet in real life.

Now Iron Man is not a perfect film, nor even a perfect comic book adaptation. What it is, though, is a fun, comic actioner that should light up the box office. The final showdown is a bit of a whimper in comparison to the backstory and machine creation; a crucial element is saved from destruction in the one contrived bit of screen writing, (not quite utilized in the way I thought, although still for the same means); and some moments seem a tad campy rather than witty, but otherwise this is some topnotch cinema that should definitely be seen on the big screen. I can't wait to see how the story progresses in a couple years.

MCU 2021 Marathon

MCU #1:

Iron Man was my favorite Marvel hero. As a teen I collected 1-150 with the main series. I doodled the Iron Man helmet during class at high school when bored.

So it was a huge surprise when this came out in 2008 and it was so freaking GOOD! Jon Favreau, the guy that had done Elf and Zathura (the Zumanji sequel) had just started a cinematic revolution? What!?!? (And Favreau is doing it again with The Mandalorian).

Robert Downey Jr. was made for the part of Tony Stark. The origin story was modernized and handled well. They included most of the early Iron Man suits from the comics. They took the time showing the more modern invention of the suit and the challenges of making it work (e.g. maneuvering with the repulsors).

I finally understood what Spiderman's fans felt like when Sam Raimi's Spiderman series became a massive pop culture sensation years earlier. Fantastic!

There are issues. Pacing mostly. Jeff Bridges is too much the stereotypical villain with an over-the-top fight scene at the end.

This was the beginning of the MCU world building effort which was more "slight-of-hand" in the earlier movies -- Stark's OCD making itself evident, that Shield guy at the party, and Samuel Jackson pinging Stark about Avengers in the end credits.

It began and ended with Iron Man. That makes me happy.

"I am Iron Man"

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.

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.

When it comes to ranking the Marvel superhero(live action) films, Iron Man is for me up there with the better ones. It looks fabulous, the whole film is very slickly made with top-notch special effects(which look like time and effort was really put into it), awesome-looking futuristic gadgets and Iron Man's suit will be a guaranteed delight to anybody who is familiar or loves anything to do with the superhero. There is a pulsating soundtrack that adds much to the tension of the first half of the story and the enormously fun action sequences, which are exciting and tense with expertly choreography. The script crackles with smart humour that doesn't go overload, all of which is laugh-out-loud funny, yet the hostage plotting that takes up the first part of the film is intelligently written and somehow avoids being over-serious or over-familiar. The story has enough to allow you to emotionally connect with Iron Man(who I've always considered one of Marvel's most interesting and multi-faceted characters) and has a clever mix of the comic's 1960s origins and the effects of contemporary war, which will provide plenty of nostalgia while also feeling relevant. Jon Favreau does a great job directing, he never loses control of the story and he doesn't do anything too fussy. Robert Downey Jnr's performance as Tony Stark/Iron Man is a power-house and one of his best, doing much with the smart dialogue while making the emotional side of the characters wholly believable. Gwyneth Paltrow is a good, loyal side-kick with wise-cracks that don't come across as annoying and Jeff Bridges is surprisingly very good in an against-type role. Personally, the only disappointments were the useless character of Christine Everheart and the somewhat rushed and over-blown finale that wasn't quite as thrilling as it could have been, other than that Iron Man was a classy addition to the Marvel cannon and a great film on its own. 9/10 Bethany Cox