the first great summer blockbuster of 2008 is Ironclad

Rating: 8/10 (9 May 2008)

The latest superhero based film that comes down the pipeline is Iron Man,telling the origin of how billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) becomes Iron Man while captured by the enemy during wartime (updating the story, substituting the Koreans for the Taliban for obvious reasons) Casting Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark was a stroke of genius given his highly public past escapades, and after seeing him as the hard-drinking, womanizing, wealthy industrialist turned superhero Iron Man by sheer necessity one would be hard pressed to view an other actor portraying him. Downey IS Stark and this is a primary reason why the movie works so well (there's a scene late in the movie where he has a scene that mirrors "Less Then Zero", in look more than subject matter, that I quite enjoyed, but won't spoil here). Jeff Bridges holds his own very well as Obadiah Stane, Tony's main foil, but there's no stealing the spotlight from Robert in the least. This is fully his film.
However even with the immaculate casting, the film only would be as good as it's storyline, fortunately here too it excels, remaining highly compelling and vastly entertaining (for the most part, of course a scene or two could've been trimmed a tad to tighten things up, it still works though). The direction by Jon Favreau is great as well and remarkably solid (even if the same can't of his role as Happy Hogan) All in all, this is the first great blockbuster of 2008 and will likely remain the best until the new Indiana Jones comes out. It already, without a doubt, ranks up with the best Super-hero movies made thus far.
PS. Make sure to stay until after the credits for a nifty surprise
My Grade: A-