Highest Example of Making a Great Picture and a Faithful Comics Adaptation in one Movie! See it before it's relegated to Videoland and the DVD Forever!

Rating: 9/10 (10 July 2008)

AH! A Movie Comic Book adaptation; it's one of my favourite desserts! Being both a film buff and an old Comic Book guy, dating from the olden days of 1957, this is just a perfect sort of a review for this kid. They can be so much fun; yet, such a pain in the ass!
THE latter attribute above is due mainly to the tendency of the screen writing and directorial fraternities in monkeying around with characters, identities and (so often) origins. I suppose that you could call me a sort of purist, in that sense; perhaps even a "Comicological Conservative" of sorts. Guilty, Guilty is my plea to that charge!
SO, what's my penalty, the sentence already?
TAMPERING with successful Comic Strips and Comic Books (remember, they're not exactly the same thing!) has long been a standing tradition in Hollywood; along with the same treatment applied to the Comic Strips/Books close relatives, the Pulp Magazine and Radio Series Adventure Characters. We suppose that this may be some way of justifying the writers' and directors' jobs and their oft outrageous $allarie$.
HENCE, we saw so many glaringly erroneous examples of false adaptational zeal; that indeed seemed to have been the rule, rather than the exception. The addition of characters as well as settings and names all were deemed to be fair game.
EXAMPLES abound in the Sound Serial Adaptations; such as: in DICK TRACY (Republic, 1937), the first of 4 Tracy Chapterplays, Detective Tracy's main squeeze is names Gwenn; whereas we all know that it was Tess Trueheart from day one in Chester Gould's Comic Strip. For FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (Universal, 1938), the venue was transformed to the Red Planet from the original setting in adapting the Sunday Comic Strip continuity "The Witch Queen of Mongo", featuring Queen Azura.
EVEN the best of the Comic Book Hero Serials were guilty of unnecessary variant scenarios. As case in point, we present THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (Republic, 1941); which transplanted the Comic Book Origin from a deep, dark old subway tunnel to meting the Wizard, SHAZAM, in a Tomb in a remote part of Siam (which looked suspiciously like L.A.'s Griffith Park). SPY SMASHER (Republic, 1942) gave the main character & Spy Smasher's alter-ego, Alan Armstrong, a twin brother, Jack! (Get it, Schultz, Jack Armstrong!). But these elements were easily overlooked. Because of the fine adherence to the rest of the story lines and the rendering of action and special effects; even the strictest of constructionists (like yours truly)could both forgive and overlook.
"CAMP" Humor that was injected into the BATMAN Television Series (Greenway/20th Century-Fox/ABC TV, 1966-1968) did not do as much harm; as the heart of the Batman feature was intact, the Villains were right from Comics Pages and even the best episodes were adapted right from the stories in Detective Comics and Batman Comics Magazine.
AS for our brand spankin' new IRON MAN (Dark Blade/Fairview/Road Rebel/Marvel/Paramount, 2008) accomplishes much on its own; while maintaining the original elements of Origin and the general tone of the Iron Man feature. There was no attempt to improve on the original. And yet, the feature is now over 40 years old; ergo, there would have to be some certain degree of adaptation, if only to make connection with our world of today.
IN updating the international situation of then as opposed to now, we find that the new production was wise enough to infuse the elements of the War Against the Islamic Fascist Terrorists; as that is surely the problem we face today. During Iron Man's original run, Mr. Stan Lee would most often use phrases such as ".So, Red Star, You are just another Slave to Your Kremlin Masters!" .in addressing the Enemy. The villains were tailor made to the Cold War; such as the Red Chinese super operative, as well as Road Show Fu Manchu, The Mandarin.
DIRECTOR John Favreau, who has displayed such diversity in working before and behind the camera, had the good sense to strike a fine balance between the serious and the escapist; the action scenes being punctuated by the use of great humour and fine comic relief, which hits the old funny bone of the juvenile viewer as well as the older, more sophisticated SEX AND THE CITY female set. Our favourite exponent of the smart, modern, even 'hip' humour is the super loyal (and loving) secretary Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Her explanation of her duties to the young female reporter, recently bedded by Mr. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) being "Sometimes I have to throw out the trash!"
THE villainy other than that of the Islamist Fascist Terrorists and Insurgents is provided by one of our favourite players. Jeff Bridges provides the dangerous opponent of the enemy within. As Obediah Stane/The Iron Monger, he serves up a double dose of treachery; both with unfathomable greed in the Corporate Board Room and in the Middle Eastern Theatre of War, as a sort of 5th Column Collaborator.
LET'S see, what else? Oh, yeah the original musical score by Ramin Djawadi is excellent in both the overture (theme) and the incidental music (mood & action queues). It is apparent that a lot of thought was given to the original composition as it is truly fashioned to order for the Iron Man Saga. Obviously Jon Favreau had familiarity with the character from reading the "Jokebooks" as a kid and teen.
AS for the Special Effects, what can we say? They are outstanding and speak for themselves. Their movement and the way they seamlessly are blended into the proceedings are as fine as those of any, even those of SPIDERMAN II and III. Man, those Special Flying FX sure have come a long way from Tom Tyler's CAPTAIN MARVEL or Kirk Allyn's SUPERMAN and ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN (both Columbia, 1948 and 1950 respectively).
POODLE SCHNITZ!!