Downey owns this solid, if uncreative, origin story

Rating: 8/10 (29 April 2008)

The summer blockbuster season has indeed come and "Iron Man" is a fine film that provides a solid diversion through the course of its running time - at least for the first hour. But it's always good to see Robert Downey Jr. and it goes without saying that, despite equally impressive performances from the supporting cast, he owns this movie.
Based from yet another Marvel comic book superhero, Downey is Tony Stark, a genius billionaire industrialist who has amassed his great fortune by developing weapons for the US military. On a trip to Afghanistan he is captured by terrorists, is held hostage and forced to build a weapon for his captors. He instead secretly builds a power armor that would help him escape and keep him alive from a shrapnel that has been embedded in his heart.
He escapes and upon his return to America, he develops a more advanced suit, giving him superhuman strength, capable of flying and firing missiles among others, whereupon he is dubbed as the Iron Man.
While the movie begins interestingly with glimpses of Stark's confused character, it stalls during the second part where the uncreative riffs of an origin movie seems like obligatory parts director Jon Favreau and the screenwriters are too eager to be done with. Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's PA Pepper Potts is charming, but Paltrow doesn't exactly have chemistry with Stark. Terrence Howard as Stark's best bud Jim Rhodes is slightly underused and one wishes there would be more of him in case a few more sequels are underway.
As for the obligatory villain, a bald and bearded Jeff Bridges effectively plays an otherwise drab villain on Stark's teacher and business partner Obadiah Stane. There's no depth in his character and he's about as cartoonish as a villain can get, so to speak. The climactic battle between him and Iron Man isn't that exciting either.
Retconned to modern times, it's not just about some teenager with personal vendetta to deal with; it's about a man riddled with guilt and a global issue to deal with. It's just disappointing that Favreau would bypass Stark's conflicts for the obvious and less trappings of a summer blockbuster.
Still for the most part, the movie's entertaining. There's some great CGI, some humor all around - mostly from Downey - and a couple of action sequences that are better handled than the climactic one. Plus it's pretty easy to cheer for the hero even if for most of the time he's battling enemies who have no chance of winning.
So while "Iron Man" isn't a lock on achieving an A-list status in terms of superhero movies, it gets its job done and leaves one hoping it earns enough at the box office so we'll get to see more of Downey as the eponymous superhero, and crossing our fingers it will be better now the conventional part's done with.