Great Kick Off to the Summer Lineup

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2008)

Playboy rich superheroes are in, officially. First the Dark Knight makes a splash with Batman Begins taking superheroes dark and non-super dare I venture and now we have Marvel's version which is much splashier and glamorous. Tony Stark is Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr. is both with ease and flare.
The updating of the character for Iron Man comic enthusiasts works quite well as it keeps the original gray, large, and bulky design. As well, the filmmakers threw in as much of the Marvel lore of the character as they could from SHIELD to Jarvis, not the butler but a slight variation given flare by the voice of the wonderful Paul Bettany. For those interested in more nods check out the final scene at the end of the credits.
Robert Downey Jr. is the king of the show though despite the ultra-cool and slick looking Iron Man suit and all the effects around it. He grabs hold of the spoiled rich boy persona and exudes confidence and silver tongue as the CEO of Stark Enterprises. He is a genius as well as a patriot of sorts or rather he becomes a patriot through the events of the film. His character's complexity is in the fact that despite his well-meaning attitude, the attitude, which comes across to the public, is kind one of an attention-seeking star. It is an allure of the character, but also a defect as it is hard to believe he is doing this for selfless reasons. Downey portrays all this quite well making for a well-rounded blockbuster central character.
A strong group of characters and actors surrounds Tony Stark / Robert Downey Jr. One of the top amongst them being his secretary Mrs. Pepper Potts played with charm and some sass by Gwyneth Paltrow. She is obviously the heart of Stark, his closest link to humanity up on his pedestal. Along with Potts are Jim Rhodes, and Obadiah Stane, of business relation and the only other human strings Stark has, a family of sorts for the young genius. Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges play each respective character and offer the friendship side of Stark.
Spoiler Alert Along with being, the father figure of sorts Obadiah Stane gets to play a more complex angle. He gets to play the close to the heart villain much as Ducard was in Batman Begins. He doubles to fill to voids and does so quite adequately if a bit heavy handily. The Iraq War is a dated but timely affair to trace the hero to, but it works. The villain of course is one dimensional, but that is all right for an escape film like this with far bigger than life characters.
In all the film is great kick off to the summer lineup and the best Marvel has to offer since Spider-Man 2 in 2004. The effects are pristine and the action raw and fun as well the humor is generally on target. It is safe to say this is the best fun I have had in the theater all year.