 Increased public acceptance, advancements in special effects technology, a plethora of story lines to tap, and past box office success has lead to the trend of comic book heroes making their move to the big screen for live action movies. Iron Man happens to be the newest of the characters to make his big screen debut. While not as widely known among the public as the more popular Spider-man, Batman, or Superman, Iron Man has a strong comic book following, and a fairly long history to tap into, and several big name actors looking to draw a summer audience.
I should note, before I go any further, that I do not follow comics closely, and most of what I know of Iron Man is either from others, or from reading sites like Wikipedia, so I went to the movie simply expecting a good action adventure movie, and in that way the movie delivers in spades. Robert Downey Jr. plays the illustrious billionaire playboy Tony Stark, and does a fine job. Stark is believable in his motivations, his feelings, and Downey’s wonderful job brings a lot of humanity to a movie about a guy in an iron suit. He’s surrounded by a cast including Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Terrance Howard, who all make the most of their screen time. The acting is certainty a step above what is frequently given in a movie based on a comic, and the writing and directing is well done.
 It’s the little things about Iron Man that make the movie both enjoyable and believable (for a movie about a superhero in a giant suit at least). Dialog is generally well thought out and delivered, and many of the little things add to the movie as well. Romantic tension between Pepper Potts and Tony Stark is believable and very well done without slowing down the movie, and progresses at a realistic pace. Simple lines delivered by the characters shows they have lives outside of the movie, and the movie doesn’t explain it all, nor does it have to. The Iron Man suit isn’t a simple piece of machinery Stark builds in a day, and is treated as the complex piece of machinery you’d expect something like that to be, and even takes damage at times when you’d expect it to.
 The movie is well thought out, well written, well acted, and generally well paced. There is some well placed humor thrown in, but it flows with the movie and doesn’t take way from the general serious tone of the movie. From what I know, the movie is fairly accurate and true to it’s roots and source material, with a few minor changes, likely either for time or media concerns. While the bad guy in this one is the Iron Monger (Comic book followers know who he is, those who don’t, I won’t potentially spoil it for you), there are supposedly hints about The Mandarin in the movie, as well as hints about other famous Marvel Comic organizations. The special effects are very well done as well, taking nothing away from the movie itself. The only weak point of the movie is the end fight, which at times just felt a little forced, and the dialog is at its weakest here.
Ultimately, Iron Man is a very enjoyable movie, and very well done. I would highly recommend it to anyone. And make sure you stay though the end credits, there's a lovely surprise there.
Bront's Score: 8.8 out of 10. Discuss this review in the Forums |
