Nothing new here but done oh so well

Rating: 7/10 (12 March 2009)

Over the past decade or so, the superhero movie genre has been a mixed bag of sorts. Ranging from the awful 'Spiderman 3' culminating in Christopher Nolan's gloriously brilliant Batman films. 'Iron Man' was released in the same summer as 'The Dark Knight' and while nobody (especially myself) expected it to succeed I am please to reveal that Jon Favreau has produced a fine film that achieves everything it should. For anyone not familiar with the plot of Iron Man (such as myself, having never seen the comic books), it revolves around Tony Stark, a military arms dealer building a robotic suit to combat the problems his previously designed weapons have caused. The narrative is quickly established and the suits origination is revealed from an early stage, however the film does take a while to get going and the action sequences don't kick in until much into the film. This is not to say that 'Iron man' is dull, in fact it is far from it. The script is quick and snappy, Robert Downey Jnr delivering his witty lines well and setting up a tensional relationship with his assistant Gwyneth Paltrow which becomes a vital subplot throughout. Comedy is also used to great effect here, always noticeable in a light-hearted superhero film but perhaps more evident here; the laughs churned out frequently keep the film moving at a fast tempo. When the action does begin though it does not disappoint, the special effects and explosions are magnificent and are in keeping with the grand scale of the film. The latter fight sequences are also a joy to behold, bearing quite a resemblance to 'Transformers'. More impressively, the performances of the actors are excellent. The aforementioned Robert Downey Jnr gets most of the gags, but nevertheless Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard all put in good performances.
Iron man is a definite hit, but not quite perfect. As with most superhero movies the narrative is predictable and the villain of the movie is not a well kept secret. There is also a lack of substance beneath all the gloss and a few of the characters are 2-D and given little time to develop. The finale is also a little weak and feels rushed and finally you will need to suspend disbelief an awful lot if you want to take certain events seriously.
Overall though,'Iron Man' is the surprise of 2008, a well made, well produced film that pushes all the right buttons. With a great soundtrack and terrific effects, 'Iron Man' is nothing new but everything we've seen before done really very well.
7 out of 10