FilmCreature Reviews 'Iron Man'

Rating: 6/10 (9 May 2008)

Quick review here.
You can breathe, fanboys. 'Iron Man' lives up the the hype (unlike that godawful '300'). Robert Downey, Jr. is effective and funny as Tony Stark the profiteer-turned-mechanical-superhero. The action scenes are truly awesome. Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard's poorly written roles are outdone by their finely tuned performances. (Although I did laugh harder at Paltrow's "hohoba" rant in 'Proof' than at any time in 'Iron Man'.) Jeff Bridges is especially good (in an equally bad role), as the John Malkovich/Darth Bill Gates villain.
It does seem at times that the screenplay only requires clever dialogue for Downey's character. This nearly lethal habit gets annoying after a bit (I mean after the first five minutes).
'Iron Man' is doesn't contain anything new or original, but the performances are excellent, the special effects are exhilarating and groundbreaking, and the inept screenplay does have its moments with some clever dialogue. This is stuff for a particular audience, if you get what I mean.
2.5/4