The beginning of a fun adventure...

Rating: 6/10 (3 May 2008)

Telling the story of Tony Stark, billionaire playboy that goes from selling weapons to becoming a superhero, using an ultra-advanced robotic armor.
First of all, a lot of people are calling this the best superhero movie ever made. Those people are idiots. What we have here is a lighter approach to the superhero genre. One might put it next to the Fantastic Four movies, rather than X-Men. And why not? Afterall, it doesn't have racism and prejudice as its underlying theme. It's a simple, light, fun and funny movie. It's so well received and reviewed BECAUSE it's in the FF category. But it's head and shoulders above those movies. The script, though predictable and fairly simplistic, is actually coherent. The movie actually has a director and Downey Jr. delivers a very good performance. Without a doubt, that was pitch-perfect casting.
Now, it's only fair to judge Iron Man for what it tries to be - a light action movie. And it accomplishes what it set out to do. Simple origin story and a first adventure. Not as complex and dramatic as Batman Begins, but it does the job. And, like Batman Begins, there's a feeling you just can't shake for the first hour or so - yeah, the movie's good, but you just wanna see the hero in the suit - THE suit. The iconic suit(cape and cowl and, respectively, gold and red). You feel like the movie drags. And it does. The action is sparse, but fairly well done, with the help of some very good visuals. But the funny little lines, the development of the suit, it all keeps you distracted enough until the climax. Then, the action delivers. But still, just like the Fantastic Four movies(particularly the first one), it feels rushed and it lacks that sense of an epic confrontation. But at least he isn't lifting a huge rock into space...
So, there's humor, there's action, there's an actual story. It's as good as it gets...for this type of movie. Best superhero movie ever made? Not even close. It doesn't hold a candle to the likes of Batman Begins and X2. But its saving grace is that it doesn't try to. Its strong point is the lightheartedness, its humor - it's the first big blockbuster that made me laugh out loud since Spider-Man 3(the difference being that I was then laughing AT it). It is, however, the best superhero movie since Batman Begins and a fine way to kick off the summer movie season.
Let's hope that for the sequels, they keep the direction. I'm not sure that a darker, more serious Iron Man would work as well as this...unless you're turning him into a fascist, as in the comics.
In the end, I enjoyed Iron Man. Quite a lot, to be honest. Here's to a great sequel.