Iron-solid Movie!!

Rating: 8/10 (2 May 2008)

Iron Man is one of Marvel's good FIRST movies. Marvel's first movies are usually bad, like Daredevil or Ghost Rider, etc (except X-men 1, that's one of their best movies) and only their seconds are good like Spider-Man 2, X-Men 2, etc. But not Iron Man, though. Iron Man went straight out, with only minor differences from the original storyline. The people who kidnapped Tony Stark, for example. The filmmaker trade Vietnam for Afghanistan, probably a reference to today's war issues.
The GOOD:
The acting is believable. The actors can create tension and comedy when needed. And Robert Downey Jr. is a perfect choice to play the used-to-be rich, obnoxious, playboy and selfish type of person who turns into a selfless, well-mannered, patriotic and protective person after escaping from his kidnappers. And Gwyneth Paltrow is better than some might think. The only bad actor is that guy from S.H.I.E.L.D. who kept repeating the long names (but he's not too bad)
The graphic is stunning and the details are just -- WOW! The Armors (yes, there are more than one, not including Iron Monger, the bad guy of the movie) look real. Everyone knows that the Armor is CGI'd when in action, but it looks so believable that one might think that the suit is really there shooting and flying around. The details are amazing. And it's terrific how the filmmaker actually paid attention to these parts. For example, Iron Man's face plate was severely scratched when he fell into the war zone and the mechanism on his back opens and closes up whenever he turns while flying. The graphic itself is worth the money. One could look at it and not care what the movie is about (okay, maybe not). But still, it was no better than Transformers graphic.
The BAD:
My only complain is the fact that it does not have a long fight scene. Yes, the armors are in action. You see it flying around the sky, firing missiles and repulsor beam (which also weren't enough). But there were so few punches. But Iron Man gets thrown around a lot. There are fight scenes (two, in fact), but they were pretty fast. It makes one want to rewind and see it again. The only good part of the fight scene is when Iron Man loses his face plate (his mask), and his left arm armor with only a spurt of energy left. He uses the so little energy to shoot the ground with his repulsor beam and send himself flying and landing while delivering a punch to Iron Monger.The fight scenes are great but they are the "blink-and-you-miss-it" type of scene.
This movie gets a 8/10 from me JUST because of the lack of fighting sequence.
OVERALL:
It was a great movie. A thrill ride. Funny. Worth watching. The action, although so few, were still great. Oh yeah, the ending is a bit surprising. Tony Stark don't quite follow Spider-Man's or Batman's idea of keeping a secret identity. And stay after the credit for more surprises! Well, actually, there's only one. But worth watching if you're a total comics fan!