We're not reviewing the right stuff...

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 2008)

I walked into the movie with low expectations for the record. Comic book movies this day and age are alright, and there are definitely titles I enjoyed and proudly adorn among my DVD collection - but there's a lot of hit and miss in the field and not a lot of movies in general seem comfortable with themselves these days. So the movie starts... And it's loud, flashy, the action scene editing is too quick to take it all in, the main character is a prick, the film has a lot of cheap jokes and gags, some of the dialog is corny, the plot is so predictable you can see the ending coming from a mile away, the actors and typecast, John Favreau is not an insane action director, there's too many characters and there's more vfx shots than in Spiderman. - wow, it sounds like this movie stinks... but if you pay attention to the subject heading you'll see what I'm getting at. The things we'd normally find flaws in these kinds of movies make this one fun and excel and, as one of my friends said, "I haven't been this excited about a movie in a long time." I can cop out and try and solve why all this works by hailing Favreau's superb direction, the all-star cast for their strong performances, ILM for the great work they brought to the table... but all these just enhance it and take it from being a good movie to an excellent movie. I have to credit the writers first and foremost for the fact they made a solid and tight script with just enough humor, just enough action and just enough drama that you don't notice anything else but that you are having a good time. The true villain is very predictable, which normally irritates me - but it's not building up to an "aha" moment in any sense of the term, so they aren't wasting time trying to keep it mysterious and failing. Iron Man also is subject to some very cheap humor, but it pushes it further and actually causes you to burst out in laughter (something most good comedies fail). The story is tight, the characters are fun, the action feels good and rough, and for all the reasons we rip other films to pieces, Iron Man makes you want to see it again... and again... and again. Which brings me to question... then what exactly is wrong with the movies that we find so terrible. I submit it's the script, the backbone of any film story - and Iron Man has a great script, everything else just becomes icing on the cake.