One of the better Superhero movies

Rating: 9/10 (4 May 2008)

I always liked Iron Man growing up but I thought it was ripe for having "Hollywood types" mess it up. I am very happy that this movie was not messed up and it delivered on all counts as far as I am concerned. It did not have a lot of WOW or incredible stuff but it surely met my expectations and with the movies I have been seeing lately, that is a pretty good accomplishment.
Some Superhero movies were terrific and were like watching a comic book. Spiderman had to be the best but Batman Begins was also extremely good. On the other end, you have things like Electra, Superman Returns, Ang Lee's Hulk and the other ones that seem to forget they are about a comic book character so we do not need tons of backstory. Say someone is self-centered and maybe one scene with it and it becomes a given. Don't spend valuable screen time showing us over and over or writing lengthy speeches. Film it like a comic book.
Here Robert Downey Jr. shows again that he is one of the most talented actors around and I could not imagine anyone else playing Tony Stark better. Tony's selfishness and genius combined with his desire to take nothing seriously but everything for granted just shines through. I understand that much of the dialogue was ad-libbed and if so, they did a really good job of being smart and sassy. One of the toughest things in a superhero movie is the villain because with the first movie, you have to have a villain that is quick and easy to get into action since most of your time is taken with the origin story. Superman movies keep trying to involve Lex Luthor and he is a complex villain that just begs for lots of screen time. Spiderman did great with Green Goblin and Batman Begins was brilliant to use 2 lesser known villains. Here, the Iron Monger is certainly not one of Iron Man's most notable foes but, as in Batman Begins, his motivation and story intertwines so well with the hero that you are not losing any story telling time. He was the perfect villain with the perfect motivation for this movie. A villain like Mandarin would be great but that is for a later movie where there is time to tell more of the villains story and set up more things. Here, we get lots of how Tony Stark becomes Iron Man and changes his outlook and how he developed that marvelous armor.
As with most movies I have seen in the theaters lately, there were the annoying people talking to the screen and one another throughout the movie. If there is anything that will kill the cineplex, it not going to be DVDs and home theaters, it will be these inconsiderate fellow patrons who cannot understand that they are not sitting in their living room. Combine that with the skyrocketing cost of tickets and concessions and even I am starting to prefer to watch movies at home. This is one movie though that really benefits from the large screen though because for Iron Man, you need big sound and big pictures. As it should be.
Go see this one.