I didn't know what to expect, I wasn't a fan of Iron Man comics...

Rating: 7/10 (13 May 2008)

Marvel, creator of the best superheroes. Surely that can be debated but it's my blog and so my opinion is correct. Anyway, so Marvel have created my favourite superheroes (and villains) - Spiderman, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer, Nick Fury and many more. But I've never really been one for Iron Man, he just never appealed to me so I went into the cinema knowing next to nothing about the character or the comic.
So I sat down eating my tub of Malteasers and the first thing I heard is AC/DC blasting through the speakers - that is when I knew this had to be a good film, but would that first impression last on me? So the scene takes place in Afghanistan where our main character Tony Stark, famous for building technology (mostly weapons) he's a pretty realistic character I would say, he's hard working but always has his eye out for the ladies and is quite the comedian. So as he's being driven, the characters have a few jokes and laughs which leads you into a false sense of security as something attacks. The next thing we know, Tony is being held captive but we don't know by who or why, but we can safely assume that in this period of time he is close to becoming Iron Man.
Then we have a flashback, I thought this was very clever. The writer had taken into account that the first in superhero films lose attention from the audience when taking too long to unleash the superhero in our characters so this flashback held the attention of the audience. A smart move indeed.
We now see an insight into the rather carefree world of Tony Stark and meet a few of the charatcers (Tony's friends and assistants) and learn how they act and what they are like. I'd like to point out that it is here that we start to see the realism in the character of Tony Stark.
Eventually we get back (or forward) to the time when Tony Stark is kidnapped. It appears his kidnappers wanted him to re-make the most powerful weapon - The Jericho. Tony has no choice but to agree, but what a man says and what a man does are two different things...
Throughout this film there are actually three Iron Man's. Mark I, Mark II and Mark III, the latter which is the most famous and the one Tony Stark dons permanently. Now, this being an origin superhero movie this would naturally mean there isn't as much time to develop a villain and they're objective for doing what evil they are doing so unfortunately this leaves the rest of the film from after he makes Mark III a little rushed.
Now I'm not gonna reveal anymore of the story in detail but I will now focus on the aspects of the film. I've never really seen Robert Downey Jr as a valued actor before but this film really shined a new light on him, he actually kind of reminded me of Johnny Depp both looks wise and expression wise. Gwenyth Paltrow didn't give such a satisfying performance unfortunately, but after reading why she took the job I can perhaps she why (she only accepted the role because the studio was 15 minutes away from her house).
This is a film I think you should definitely go and see, it's fun and entertaining. And for those big Marvel fanboy geeks, such as myself, then stay after the credits as they'll be a clip that should either erect you out of excitement or just make it hard to wait for a film coming out in 2011...