Went to a Friday afternoon matinée with Mary and Stan. No spoilers below.
Iron Man (2008)
| Overall |  |
Story | |
| Production |  |
Acting | |
Story: Near-flawless updating of the Vietnam-era origin of Marvel’s armored super-hero, now brought forward to the 00s and set in Afghanistan. The subsequent technical and character development come across as a bit rushed, but still work very nicely. The final Boss Fight (so to speak) feels a bit off — perhaps because it’s set up as so uneven to begin with. There’s also a bit too much complexity of too many villains …
But, by and large, the story blends drama, humor, philosophy, action, and just plain ol’ fun. It’s seriously sequel-worthy — and the (very) ending seems to make that point clear.
Acting: Robert Downey, Jr., does the great half-sozzled playboy genius, Tony Stark, as well as the mad scientist-tinkerer who builds the armor and dashes off to do good.
The supporting cast is pretty good, though not spectacular — Jeff Bridges does a fine Obadiah Stane, albeit a bit mouth-frothing toward the end; Terrence Howard’s Jim Rhodes doesn’t really stand out; Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts is usually excellent, except when she gets all vaporish and girly.
Production: You will believe a man can fly. You will believe there’s a guy wearing the armor. You will believe the armor is the most kick-ass thing on the planet. The rest of the hi-tech bits are also very, very nice. And the other production values are nothing to sneeze at.
Overall: More than one person I’ve read says it sets the bar for super-hero films. It certainly ranks right up in the top two or three (with The Incredibles still at the top, in my opinion).
And be sure to sit through to the end of the credits!
I agree, Incredibles is Number 1, but this one has to be Number 2 without a doubt!! Loved loved loved it, and it will likely be my first Blue Ray purchase when I get a PS3 and when it comes out.
Awesome review too. I just wish someone told me to stick around. I guess that’s what I get for going to the late showing. Oh well! I guess I’ll have to see it again ;P
…and Margie. 🙂
Well, yes … that was meant to have a “we” as the subject. Honest. 🙂
I saw it today. It was definitely better than most superhero movies.
In all my years of reading Iron Man comics, I never imagined the armor as being noisy. Interesting.
I’m a little surprised that they went for an 80s villain, rather than one from the 60s. It makes sense, though, I guess.
I’m very glad I had the foresight to bring earplugs. They came in really handy during the loud – so loud! – end titles. Thanks for suggesting that we stick around. I normally do, but might otherwise have been driven out early on this one, and would have missed… you know.
They effects were, of course, very well done. How the heck did they make Pepper stick her hand down in there??? Brrr!
Interesting that Pepper had a much larger role than Happy Hogan. He was much more prominent in the early comic stories.
The movie was preceded by trailers for two inane comedies and three genre-appropriate movies. The Hulk movie looks so-so (the four notes from the TV theme notwithstanding); I’ll probably watch it on DVD. The next trailer started with some very familiar music and an equally familiar voice: Harrison Ford’s! Looks goooood! The final trailer was for the new Batman flick. As much as the previous one exceeded my expectations, this one doesn’t excite me. I don’t like the Joker’s new look (which I was afraid was going to be retconned into the comics, but it looks like that storyline may be out of continuity), and Heath Ledger seems to be underplaying the role. Of all the characters to underplay, Joker is the one that I don’t think that will ever work for. I may very well wait for the DVD on this one as well.
Fortunately, there was no Speed Racer trailer. The commercials look like the production was designed by a 5-year-old. So many bright colors! And everything is moving too quickly for the eye to track, until it suddenly slams into slow motion for no discernible reason. I will not be watching that one!
While I had a few problems with how Stane was handled, esp. toward the end, I think he was a good choice — it made (as presented here) for a good break for Tony from his old life to his new, corporate shenanigans are always fun, etc. Too many of IM’s 60s villains were Cold War-based — the Mandarin, the Radioactive Man, the Crimson Dynamo, etc. Plus, it would have distracted from the coolness of the armor and from the (artistic license allowed) “realism” of the movie.
Of course, if things run true to form, we’ll end up with *two* villains next time, so we can get someone nice and flashy in for that.
The general “Tony has a hole in his chest” effect was nicely done. And, yes, kind of creepy sometimes.
Rhodey filled the role of Hogan (“male confidant and sidekick”); he wasn’t around in the 60s, of course. That also kept us from having to deal with the Tony/Pepper/Hogan triangle, too, which was good.
Rhodey seemed to be way overshadowed by Tony. Heck, he was pretty much swept aside anytime he tried to voice an opinion, much more so than in the comics, methinks.
It looks like they’re setting him up to become War Machine in a sequel.
Normally, these movies start out with the hero’s arch-enemy (Luthor, Magneto, Green Goblin, Dr. Doom, et al). Given that, I would have expected to see the Mandarin turn up, with the Titanium Man in the sequel. Other classic IM villains (the Unicorn, the Melter) are too second-rate to hold their own in a feature film, unless they gang up on him.
If Peter Cushing were still alive, he could have played Justin Hammer! 🙂 Maybe they can get the guy who played Tarkin in Episode III; he bore an uncanny resemblance to Cushing.
I haven’t read the Ironmonger storyline since it came out, but I recall Stane as Tony’s rival, not as his father’s right-hand man. If they changed that for the movie, it seemed to work fairly well in that context.