All I can say is Marvel has redeemed itself!!!

Rating: 8/10 (29 April 2008)

Spider-Man 3 and Ghost Rider SUCKED to the highest extent of the comic-to-movie craze of the millennium. 2007 was a bad year for superhero movies so I came in with low expectations to see Iron Man. The previews looked good but I feared I will be disappointed again and suspect that Marvel has lost its touch after the first two Spider-Man and X-Men films. Well, to be honest I was THOROUGHLY impressed and ENTERTAINED at the same time!!! This film EASILY blows those two crapfests mentioned earlier out of the water completely with an intelligent and well written plot, good acting, action, special effects and most importantly character development, something Sider-Man 3 completely neglected to do. The less said about Ghost Rider the better. But the real star of the show is no doubt the unlikely casting choice of Mr. Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man. His performance really caught me off guard in almost every aspect as a charming, no-nonsense, weapons-making womanizer whose at first glance "imbeded" with man's destructive nature but ultimately rises with a heart of gold. Gwyneth Paltow is both sexy and sweet as Stark's secretary who keeps him from slipping further; nice to see a woman whose smart and sexy with real depth in a comic book movie. Jon Favreau's direction is top-notch and knows the material well; moreover, this is the first Marvel film made independently of any major studio. I also like that the Iron Man armor is a combination of CGI and practical effects, helped along by Stan Winston, the king of practical movie effects and his work and attention to detail is very impressive as shown in the past. Though there's lots of humor in Iron Man, it never becomes overbearing and OTT like Spider-Man 3 whose idea of humor is more on the lines of an SNL sketch. My only negatives are some underdeveloped characters and the liberties taken with the Iron Man comics (Tony Stark being captured in Afghanistan rather than Vietnam, not delving into his alcoholism) but those are miner hiccups in an otherwise stellar movie.
In conclusion: Iron Man is the best Marvel movie made and I'm eagerly awaiting future installments and after seeing this awesome film I can say wholeheartedly and sincerely that Marvel has truly redeemed itself. See it and be blown away!!!