\n
<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/iron-man.jpg\" "\\"Iron")
<\/div>\n<\/p>\nIron Man<\/a><\/em> (2008)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Story<\/strong>: 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 …<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Acting<\/strong>: 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. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Production<\/strong>: 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.<\/p>\n Overall<\/strong>: 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 <\/em>still at the top, in my opinion).<\/p>\n And be sure to sit through to the end of the credits!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[525,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marvel-cinematic-universe","category-media-movies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11667,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/23\/movie_review_harry_potter.html","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":0},"title":"Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 23-Jul-07 9:14am","format":false,"excerpt":"Took advantage of dropping off Kitten at camp to catch a matinee of the new Harry Potter flick (and invited Jackie along to boot).\u00a0 Fun time. Now, for a No...","rel":"","context":"In "Harry Potter"","block_context":{"text":"Harry Potter","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/harry-potter"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/harry_phoenix.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":37726,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/10\/how-iron-man-3-should-have-ended.html","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":1},"title":"How Iron Man 3 Should Have Ended","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 10-Jun-13 5:43am","format":false,"excerpt":"Heh. \u00a0Needless to say, \"Spoilers!\" View this post on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":138667,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/04\/27\/my-initial-no-spoiler-review-of-avengers-endgame.html","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":2},"title":"My initial, no-spoiler review of “Avengers: Endgame”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 27-Apr-19 7:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The climactic movie of the MCU cycle to date","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/avengers-endgame-poster.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/avengers-endgame-poster.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/avengers-endgame-poster.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/avengers-endgame-poster.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/avengers-endgame-poster.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27754,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/05\/05\/so-remember-all-that-buzz-about-how-awesome-the-avenger-movie-is.html","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":3},"title":"So remember all that buzz about how awesome the “Avengers” movie is?","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 5-May-12 1:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's all true. NO SPOILERS BELOW (as far as I know), but we might end up with some the comments ... We (Margie, Katherine, Jackie, Stan, Mary) went to The\u00a0Avengers last night. \u00a0A great time was had by all, geeks and semi-geeks alike. Okay, it's not Citizen Kane. \u00a0It's not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/avengers-many.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/avengers-many.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/avengers-many.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/avengers-many.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/avengers-many.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/avengers-many.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13555,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/17\/movie_review_madagascar_e.html","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":4},"title":"Movie Review: Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 17-Nov-08 10:28am","format":false,"excerpt":"I love the original Madagascar, so I approached this three-years-afterward sequel with some trepidation, especially when\u00a0I heard the mixed reviews ... \u00a0 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa\u00a0(2008)\u00a0 Overall Story Production Acting...","rel":"","context":"In "Animation \/ Cartoons"","block_context":{"text":"Animation \/ Cartoons","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-cartoons"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/madgascar2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9702,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/05\/08\/weekend_behind.html","url_meta":{"origin":12438,"position":5},"title":"Weekend behind, week ahead","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 8-May-06 6:44am","format":false,"excerpt":"The weekend seemed to go by in a blur. Saturday was prep for, and execution of, Margie Gras (the May Edition). Stan, Doyce, Dave & Lori, Jackie, visiting Lorne, Matt,...","rel":"","context":"In "Food & Drink"","block_context":{"text":"Food & Drink","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/food-drink"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40555,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12438\/revisions\/40555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
\n Overall<\/strong><\/td>\n ![](\"https:\/\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg\" "\\"Good")
<\/td>\n Story<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n Production<\/td>\n ![](\"https:\/\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars5.jpg\" "\\"Faboo")
<\/td>\n Acting<\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n