A "slightly great" superhero treat

Rating: 8/10 (4 May 2008)

I have mixed feelings about this movie. Robert Downey is great - as always. The way delivers his witty lines (many of them his own creation), the way he expresses emotions with his eyes - you don't find those often in superhero movie. Paltrow was delightful, thanks to her lines, while Bridges and Howard were slightly forgettable. I heard that Howard's screen time was cut a lot, and it shows (I don't even know why he's there).
Though the movie succeeds at depicting the human side of Iron Man, I still think the switch from weapon tycoon to "save the world from weapons" hero was a tad too fast. In the comics the physicist imprisoned with Stark was Stark's idol; here they hardly knew each other, so it wasn't that convincing when Stark was so affected by the physicist's death. I mean, of course he saw that his weapons were being sold to the terrorists and whatnot, but...come on, he produces weapons - couldn't he have foreseen that, at least once? But overall, it was a very enjoyable movie. Well-structured, well-scripted, well-acted, well-CGI-ed. I'd prefer it to be a little bit more emo, like Batman Begins, but it seems it's gonna get real dark and real emo in the next 2 sequels. Will be looking forward to that.