A very fun and exciting superhero film

Rating: Null/10 (15 September 2015)

The first entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this is a very fun and exciting superhero film which served as a great introduction to the title character. Although there are some pacing problems, the script is generally strong and it is well directed by Jon Favreau. I have been planning to watch the MCU films and TV series in full from the beginning for the ages and I finally took the plunge today. The only entry in the franchise that I have previously seen is "Captain America: The First Avenger" when it was first released in 2011. First of all, I should say that I have never really been terribly interested in Marvel and my knowledge of its characters comes almost exclusively through adaptations and by osmosis. I say "almost" since I think that I have read three Marvel comics in my life. As an indication of my Marvel ignorance, I had never even heard of their version of Thor or the Guardians of the Galaxy before their films were released. As such, I will be reviewing these films on their own merits since that it is all I can do, really.
Robert Downey, Jr. gives a wonderful performance as Tony Stark, a playboy genius industrialist whose hugely successful company has made weapons for the US government for decades. He is dismissive of any suggestion that his work is in any way immoral. However, after being severely wounded by one of his own weapons and escaping from the clutches of an Afghani terrorist group called the Ten Rings, he sees things from a different perspective and announces that Stark Industries will no longer manufacture weapons. Over the course of the film, Tony goes from being a self-obsessed businessman primarily concerned with drinking and gambling to a true hero of the old mould. However, the characterisation is so good that this transition seems entirely realistic, even with all the sci-fi trappings. I think that Tony was always a very good man. He just needed his eyes to be opened to the problems of the world around him and what he could do to fix them. He finally realised that creating weapons of mass destruction was not the way to solve said problems. Downey is never less than entirely convincing as Tony, who manages to keep his composure when others would be in a state of panic and has a sardonic remark for most situations. I love quirky, self-deprecating, conflicted characters and he is a great example of that.
Gwyneth Paltrow is a good actress but she has certainly been better in other films where she had more interesting characters. Pepper Potts is in the film to be Stark's love interest and that's about it. She doesn't have many characteristics beyond the fact that she loves him and her major contribution to the plot is the requisite, though very entertaining, damsel in distress scenes. She is not a very strong character, I'm afraid, which is a shame as she is the only female character who appears in more than a few scenes. Theirs is also a pretty tepid romance. Jeff Bridges is excellent as Obadiah Stane, bringing his great talent to bear as the Stark Industries manager. While much of Stane's storyline was admittedly predictable, it was handled extremely well and there is a terrific sense of tension between Downey and Bridges for most of the film. Terrence Howard is great as Tony's best friend and military liaison Colonel James Rhodes and it is a shame that he did not return for any of the sequels. Shaun Toub gives one of the best performances in the film as Stark's fellow captive Yinsen - I thought that the character would be a villain when he was introduced but he turns out to be one of the most honest, decent characters in the film - while Farah Tahir is suitably creepy as the Ten Rings' leader Raza. As the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S., Paul Bettany has some great lines and his wry wit is a nice complement to Stark's. I loved the Stan Lee and Samuel L. Jackson cameos. Lee is such a legend that I have great affection for him even though I don't read Marvel Comics!
The strongest scenes in the film are the ones in which Tony is held captive by the Ten Rings in Afghanistan and creates a rudimentary Iron Man suit out of scrap. I loved these scenes both because they were the perfect illustration of Tony's intelligence and resourcefulness and because Tony and Yinsen worked so well together. Speaking of Afghanistan, I really liked the manner in which the film handled the War on Terror. Its exploration of the morality of Tony's weapon systems was also very good. On the negative side, the film has some pretty serious pacing issues which last from Tony's rescue until his return to Afghanistan as Iron Man, which is about half an hour. Admittedly, these scenes were necessary for later on in the film but they were not terribly good or interesting. I often found myself bored during them, if I'm honest. However, the film rollicks along at a great pace from then until the end of the film. The battle scenes are hugely impressive, "edge of your seat" stuff, which is exactly what I want from a superhero film.
Overall, this is an extremely good film which could have been an excellent one if it had not been for the aforementioned problems. I look forward to watching the rest of the films in the series.