Iron Man An Entertaining Comic Book Movie

Rating: 9/10 (9 May 2009)

When I went to see Iron Man I wasn't expecting much but this film surpassed my expectations thanks to a knock out the park performance by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. In tradition of "Batman Begins" this movie tells the story of how billionaire industrialist and genius inventor Tony Stark becomes the high tech armored superhero Iron Man. Downey Jr. delivers a great performance and he owns the role from his very first scene just as Christian Bale did as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Begins and the late Heath Ledger did as Batman's arch nemesis the Joker in the sequel The Dark Knight. He's perfect for the role of Stark making you believe a man like him could really exist. The rest of the cast also turn in terrific performances including Terrence Howard as Tony's best friend Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane and later Iron's Man nemesis known as Iron Monger, and Gwenyth Paltrow as Tony's loyal assistant Pepper Potts. The film may be a bit light on action but what it does have is character development plus lots of humor, drama, some suspense, and thrills. The action sequences are well choreographed and most of them happen toward the second half of the film. The special effects are fantastic especially when Tony puts on the suit and becomes Iron Man. Jon Favreau the director and actor did a great job of bringing the character of Tony Stark and Iron Man to the big screen. The battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger at the end did feel a bit anti-climatic and a bit rushed but fortunately the good more than outweighs the films tiny flaws. Because other then that Iron Man was definitely much better than I thought it would be and now I'm looking forward to see what they have in stored for the sequel. If you haven't seen Iron Man yet then go see it. You'll be glad you did.