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Review Date: September 04, 2008
Director: Jon Favreau
Writer: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway
Producers: Avi Arad, Kevin Feige
Actors:
Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark
Terrence Howard as Rhodey
Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts
Genre: Action/Comic Book |
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A really really rich guy who runs an arms company in the United States finds himself kidnapped and stuck in a cave in Afghanistan, forced to build a weapon for some terrorists, eager to blow shit up. Instead of abiding by their request, the man builds himself an iron suit jacked up with artillery (he’s also a tech genius, by the way), bullet-proof surroundings and the ability to fly (yeah, he’s McGyver 2008). The fun continues when he returns to the United States and decides to change his company’s course… |
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A fun ride and an entertaining “origin” film that doesn’t really get going until its second half, but once it does, delivers on the goods, especially in any scene in which Robert Downey Jr. is in the Iron Man suit, or any scene in which there is a close-up of Jeff Bridges’ ingenious beard. In fact, Downey Jr. could not have been better cast in this movie as the arrogant billionaire who likes to drink and spout dry humor and sarcasm all over the place (close to his real-life persona actually, only he’s a multi-millionaire, not a billionaire). That said, I could also see how the man who was attached to this project for years before Downey, could also have been good in the role. His name? Tom Cruise. The special effects of the Iron Man suit and any scene in which it was shown kicking ass, zooming around the skies or getting jacked up, were high points in the movie for me, as were the two top relationships in Downey’s life, starting with his assistant Pepper Potts (aka Gwyneth Paltrow) and the surprisingly effective companionship that he established with his computer Jarvis. I also enjoyed Bridges’ character and his performance, which was almost a 180-degree turn from his classic turn as the Dude in THE BIG LEBOWSKI. As mentioned earlier, I also really appreciated his beard and felt the need to nuzzle with it as several points throughout the movie.
There weren’t too many things that I terribly disliked about this picture, although I thought the first hour concentrated way too much on him “becoming Iron Man”, specifically building shit and playing with his computers. We got it!! After a while, I just wanted him to get into that costume and kick arse, but thankfully once he did, I was back in the saddle again. A couple of small plot points also bothered me like how those Arabs were able to find all the pieces to his blown-to-smithereens suit, how the secondary character who also gets in a suit later on in the film is immediately an expert in terms of its functionality and at the beginning of the film…how the shit did they get electricity into those mountain caves? Small plot holes aside, I dug the film’s vibe which wasn’t too serious, and included plenty of humorous lines by Downey, loved the actual suit of armor and any scene in which it was featured (we need more of them in part 2 though) and liked pretty much all of the relationships established in the film, although Terrence Howard’s character didn’t really have much to do (I assumed they were setting him up for a greater role in part 2).
In the end, the film definitely delivers in a variety of entertainment categories including action, comedy, thrills and even some drama, thanks to Downey’s well-toned acting chops. It’s not the greatest superhero movie ever made, but it’s a damn fun ride and definitely an impressive opening round for a comic book fave that could easily become a cinematic fan-favorite in years to come (especially if they allow his drinking and womanizing to get out of hand). I suspect that the next installment will be the greater film of the two though.
(c) 2009 Berge Garabedian
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cheesydog
on Oct 24 2008, 4:51:59 AM writes:
AVERAGE
Rating: 7/10
YES! I completely agree with Joe Blo's rating and review for this film. I watched it and was entertained, but not enthralled. However in the time after the movie came out I was shocked by the praise spewing forth from everyone on this movie, how great it was, best comic book film ever and so forth. I thought I was taking crazy pills! Its a decent movie but I liken it to what I thought of Batman Begins. The amount of time to set up iron man, plus the fairly week villain (Oh Dude, where art thou) made it a passable but not incredible movie. Now having said that, if they can do what Nolan did with The Dark Knight and take it to the next level with the inevitable sequel that might be something to be excited about. Given the trend of modern comic book fimls it is usually the 2nd that is the best, after they have done away with all the setup in the first movie. Spiderman, Xmen and now the new Batman have all followed this trend. I would also put Hellboy into this category, I just wish more people had watched that movie.. |
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deathw1shzero
on Oct 6 2008, 12:27:52 AM writes:
AWESOME
Rating: 10/10
to sum it up this was a great movie.Such a fantasic ride just a must see. |
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 go2
on Oct 4 2008, 9:27:10 PM writes:
A FUN RIDE
Rating: 10/10
i thought this entertaining summer ride was better than the dark knight just because i like the character of tony stark better than bruce wayne and it had a more blockbuster summer movie fell to it. |
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Thizzel
on Sep 30 2008, 2:17:38 PM writes:
DON'T AGREE
Rating: 9/10
This is one of the first reviews in memory that I don't really agree with you on.
I've heard other people say as well, that a negative for them was the lack of action during the first half or so of this film. I highly disagree on that. I thought watching Downey's character Starks was the core entertainment of this film. Then when you combine that with how well Downey and Paltrow played off each other, there was some truely great screen play. This and TDK are the only super hereo movies where you truely believe that the leading character is a genious and is capable of doing the things they do. Then when he finally dose suit up, its almost a bonus on the already good times.
9/10 |
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 HoyleHaw
on Sep 4 2008, 4:26:14 PM writes:
WHAT THE SUMMER IS ALL ABOUT!
Rating: 9/10
This has to be one of the best first in a franchise to come out in the last...I'm willing to say twenty years. Granted, the past ten have included some great ones, but "Iron Man" knocked half of them out of the ballpark. One thing that really stuck out here was how well-established the relationship between Downey and Paltrow was. One of the much-neglected aspects of most comic-book movies was surprisingly solid here, especially surprising considering how easily they could have ignored that part. But it helps, I suppose, that Pepper Potts is a sort of Alfred Pennyworth. This movie was as much genuine popcorn fun as "The Dark Knight" was intense psychological thriller. Both films are equally good, but for almost polar opposite reasons. |
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wallcrawler383
on Sep 4 2008, 4:20:52 PM writes:
UM....
Rating: 9/10
JohnLocke2342, did you actually see how Iron Man took out the Monger? Cause I fully remember there was at least five more minutes of that fight before Iron Man finished him off.
Except for the lack of a major villain, Iron Man was awesome! Can't wait to see what's in store for the shellhead next! |
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 JohnLocke2342
on Sep 4 2008, 2:08:43 PM writes:
AGREED
Rating: 7/10
this movie was good, on the verge of becoming great but NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING like people made it out to be. The hype for this movie and the fact that people were bowing down to it and starting Iron Man parades in the street kinda threw me off. I mean, I had fun and it was one of the better comic book movies ever made but really? Was it that good?
I mean, the villian is destroyed by freezing him and tapping his head? Speaking of the villian, that's where this movie lost me. Kinda like Batman Begins.. not a solid, excellent villian and it really let me down.
Good movie but not great, so I agree 100% |
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crazy88
on Sep 4 2008, 12:59:12 PM writes:
Rating: 9/10
Wow, this is extremely old! Next month sees the release on Home Video already. Anyways a 7 out of 10? Yikes... no offense but please stick to news, reviews are not really your thing. Considering how poor your judgment towards movies are, lack of knowledge. |
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wozzy
on Sep 4 2008, 4:01:35 AM writes:
Rating: 9/10
This was a fun comic book movie of the popcorn fair rather than the dark brooding seriousness of TDK. As such a more suspension of belief is required.
The little plot holes did not make any impact into my enjoyment of the film and I was entertained throughout. |
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