Excellent comic book adaptation- others could learn from it

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 2008)

'Iron Man' has to be up there as one of the best comic book film adaptations and is certainly one of the most enjoyable films of the year so far. The film, based upon the Marvel comic, centres on billionaire Tony Stark, who has continued with his father's successful weaponry business. However, when a trip to Afghanistan to sell missiles to the US military ends with Stark being held as a prisoner of war, he begins to see the darker side to his work and resolves to change his ways by using his technology and intelligence to do good. And the first step to doing so is for Stark to become Iron Man...
Robert Downey Junior is not exactly a big named actor but he easily steps into the role of Tony Stark, the spoilt playboy, and Iron Man, the hero Stark strives to be. Perhaps his own personal issues helped mould Downey to play a role of a man who realises he has to grow up and accept the consequences of his actions but, whatever the case, he definitely brought strength to the character, walking the careful line between delivering jokes and sustaining the serious nature to the film. He was well-supported by a wonderfully evil Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard as the loyal best friend who perhaps will play a larger role in any future sequel and Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's personal assistant who keeps him grounded. Shaun Toub also made his presence felt as the short-time mentor who sets Stark onto his path of heroism.
When it comes to the visual effects, 'Iron Man' had it nailed. The action scenes were breath-taking without compromising on the script (since there is nothing worse than a film with excellent CGI and rubbish storyline). As it should be, the plot was what made this film so successful. Unlike other adaptations, specifically 'X-Men', this film never pandered to kids and maintained a more mature storyline and development of the characters. Stark wasn't turned into a twelve-year-old, there were no wee moppets popping up to appeal to children nor was the villain of the piece some two-bit, two-dimensional terrorist.
This is an excellent film that should appeal to those who love action flicks as well as comic books/sci-fi. Here's looking to a sequel being released some point in the near future because it is certainly a franchise Marvel should expand upon.