Sublime blockbuster filmmaking

Rating: 8/10 (2 December 2010)

Man, I just flat-out love Iron Man. It's right up there with Raimi's first two Spider-Mans, X2, and The Incredibles on my list of favorite non-Christopher Nolan superhero flicks. To start out with, Robert Downey Jr. is simply one of the single most talented actors working today and has been one of my favorites since Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, and he absolutely rocks in this movie. He's alternately awesome and hilarious through the whole runtime, and no one else gives the quirky yet always entertaining line readings Downey Jr. delivers without fail. Also, after nearly a decade of dead-eyed, snooze-inducing performances, I have to say that Gwyneth Paltrow kind of shocked me here with hitherto-unprecedented sparkle and pep and energy. I guess the director promised her a cookie if she acted because she really lit up the scenes she was in and is one of the best superhero love interests I've ever seen on screen.
But more so than love interests, we go to superhero movies for action, at which Iron Man excels. Jon Favreau had a bit of special effects practice in Elf and more in Zathura, but this was his first full-blooded action flick, and I think that might be what makes the action so damn good. He's never "learned" any of the wrong, Michael Bay-esquire action tricks of cameras haphazardly swinging in the fray or ultra-spastic cutting that makes the action hard to watch by awkwardly trying to make you feel like you're in it or something, and as a result the action scenes are gorgeous and entertaining. Iron Man fights dudes, and the camera actually stays on the action in smooth noncutting wide shots that let you see and enjoy everything. Almost every action scene in the flick is like that, shot in a wide, clean way that is so very refreshing. This gets a monumental thumbs up from me.
Beyond that (this is the "checklist of other cool things" paragraph), the special effects are some of the best I've ever seen. There's nothing precisely innovative about them, but it's Industrial Light & Magic at the peak of their powers, and nothing in the whole movie made me think "fake!" at all. The Iron Man character, while I had no knowledge of him before seeing this movie, is really fun and has pretty sweet powers. And the comedy in the film is incredibly strong; this has a lot to do with how funny Downey Jr. is, but the movie has a pretty massive amount of slapstick and one-liners and other hilarity (probably even more than Spider-Man 2) that won huge and consistent laughs from me.
If the movie has any weaknesses, it's the plot and the music. Not that there's anything wrong with the plot at all, it just won't surprise you. It's a pretty basic and utilitarian superhero origin story, with most of the major goings-on in regards to the the villain and the hero's character progression pretty traditional. A montage of the hero honing / practicing his powers, the hero's love interest being threatened by the villain, and all that. It's just done exceptionally and unusually well. And the music, while again having nothing exactly wrong with it, lacks any truly memorable theme for the Iron Man character. Although I suppose it would be hard to make a theme more iconic than the Black Sabbath "Iron Man" riff, so they're excused.