Moderately entertaining, but not much more

Rating: 7/10 (4 May 2008)

A good superhero movie, but I'm more than a little shocked at the insanely good reviews it's gotten. Perhaps I'm just getting sick of the superhero movie formula, at least the initial installments of them. Same old same old, really. The only real positive element of the movie is Robert Downey Jr., who plays himself as he pretty much always does. If you don't like the actor, you'll find the movie torturous. I love him, personally, and was happy enough watching him do his thing with a few big action sequences adding some spice. And you've got to appreciate the casting of Jeff "the Dude" Bridges as a super villain (kind of a spoiler, I suppose, but if you don't see that coming you're a bonehead). Favreau finds a way to make Bridges enormous and intimidating in every shot, even while riding a Segway, which is a triumph of some sort. But, really, what does Iron Man provide that no other superhero movie has before? I certainly don't see it. The character is actually pretty boring, as are all the supporting characters. Are we now raving merely because of competency?