Iron Man Movie Review

I saw Iron Man on Thursday and was completely blown away by it. I loved all the trailers for it, especially the one with the "I am Iron Man" music playing, but I was kind of on the fence in regards to if it was going to be good or if the trailer had all the good parts in it, as it looked like it was just going to be Iron Man vs. some jets and a knock off armour. Thankfully, it was the former and few movies have I enjoyed for every minute, from start to finish, like I did with this movie.

As always, my reviews are full of spoilers and this will be no exception. So, if you haven't seen the movie yet, I'd recommend holding off on reading this until you do so. I won't go into a full plot breakdown, as that's covered in a variety of other places already, but there will be spoilers, so tread lightly.

First off, I just want to show off this awesome fan-made costume someone made for the opening a couple weeks back. I wish I had the time or motivation to make something like that, but, for now, I'll just have to stare on with nerd envy.


What I Liked

Not Just An Origin Story

While this is a standard super-hero origin movie, it actually had a story, fleshed out characters and real action, unlike others that just have the hero fly around or pose in their costume while showing off powers one after another.

Great Characters

Robert Downey Jr will forever be known as Tony Stark in my mind. He was absolutely perfect. Many forget, with all of Downey's troubles in his personal life, that he's an exceptional actor and without him, I don't even want to imagine how this movie would have turned out.

Also, Jeff Bridges turned what could have been an overacted and Superman Returns' Lex Luthor-ish performance into a menacing villain that didn't fall into the typical super villain tripe.

Other key performances came from Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes, who I can't wait to see in the sequel, and, surprisingly, a perfect performance from Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Pots.

Fan Service

There was plenty of fan service for the comic fanboys. My favourite was the "Next time, baby." line from Jim Rhodes, as he looks longingly at the prototype black and grey Iron Man armour, alluding to his War Machine armour.

Another great, but obscure, one was the Iron Man cartoon theme song. You'll have to be quick to notice it, but it shows up in a rather obscure form and I'll let you guys pick it out, if you haven't already.

I guess the biggest one was the Nick Fury and Avengers Initiative bonus clip at the end of the credits. I love the new Marvel Studios due to stuff like this. It actually feels like a universe now that we can see "crossovers" like this in the movies. I can't believe DC and Warner Bros hasn't exploited this with their movies yet.

No "Tobey McGuire Syndrome"

By this, I mean the fact Iron Man doesn't lose his helmet in the first 5 seconds of every encounter just so we can see the damn actor's face. We know who's playing the character. You pay them millions of dollars. There's no reason for the mask to come off all the goddamn time!

Thankfully, this only happens once and for a very brief moment, and in a very plausible situation, in the final battle with Iron Monger / Stane. They kind of get around this with the interior armour shots of Stark's face and his HUD inside the armour alla Tony's Extremis interior views in the comics. These felt natural and didn't pull me out of the movie like seeing Christian Bale or Tobey McGuire instead of Batman and Spider-Man, the actual characters I came to see for those movies.

Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark

I know I said this already, but he really makes this movie. The switch from the boozy, womanizing asshole that only cares about making weapons and money at the beginning of the movie is almost the story of his life and Downey displays the perfect amount of emotion during his trials after being captured and dispalying Stark's newfound resolve to change the world. I can't believe I'm even contemplating this, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him get an Oscar nomination for his role, something I never thought a "comic book movie" actor could possibly do.

Fun fact - one of my best friends and former university roommate is named Robert Downey Jr. Yes, he's even a Jr.

Action and Special Effects

They don't go overboard on the action scenes, but this isn't the Hulk movie from a few years back where all we saw was Hulk throw a tank and punch a couple dogs before fighting a water cloud at the end or Superman Returns where the villain of the movie is a giant rock. Bolstered by a great story and competent actors, the action scenes add just the right amount of excitement and keep you on the edge of your seat.

Whether it's his escape in his original Iron Man armour or the badass walking away as the tank blows up scene or his final fight with Iron Monger, there are no "filler" action scenes here. Everything is perfectly excuted and leave you dying to see what they'll throw at you next.

On top of this, the suit and all the effects were amazing. I'm surprised at just how often we got to see the suit in action, as it must have eaten up a nice chunk of their budget animating it.


What I Didn't Like

It Ended

Seriously, we have to wait three more years for a sequel? I hope they film two back to back next time or I may go into withdrawal.

The Power Source On The Chest

This is a small nitpick, but the suit is covered in titanium gold alloy, yet they leave this bright, glowing power source right in the center with what looks like a glass case covering it. Even on the Iron Monger armour, they don't go to any length to cover it up and I half expected Tony to just rip it out of his chest at some point to end the fight. I've suspended my disbelief with everything about the movie already, so I'll just assume it's some invisible paint or ridiculously strong glass or plastic covering.

No Mandarin

Another small complaint, but he is pretty much the only big name Iron Man villain outside the odd Dr Doom adventure and he's primarily a Fantastic Four villain anyways. They reference him with the Ten Rings named terrorist cell and talk of Ghangis Kahn, so I expect he'll be in the next movie. I think he could be the first recurring villain for 2 and 3 if they go with the traditional Mandarin appearance and rings on fingers followed by the current Knauf version with them embedded in his spine. I think the movie turned out better without him, though, as they were mainly doing the origin this time around, so I guess it was for the best he didn't appear.


Verdict - Must See

Great story, great characters, lots of comedy and the most faithful comic book to movie adaptation to date. I don't typically do this, but I'm probably going to go see this again next week when my brother comes for a visit. It was that damn good.

As you can see from the likes and dislikes, there's almost nothing I can fault this film with that wouldn't just come off as nitpicking. I don't even go into the comical parts of the film, like Tony and Jim drinking sake on his private jet or Tony's workshop AI's and his bloopers while testing out the prototype Iron Man suit. Oh, and let's not forget, "Tony Stark built this in a cave! With a bunch of scraps!". Truely the greatest meme to come from that movie and a hilarious line that could have been extremely corny, or cornier, if delivered from another actor.

The Dark Knight Returns and Hulk have their work cut out for them if they want to measure up to Iron Man in the battle for Best Comic Book Movie this year. I'm still going to both movies, but the bar has been significantly raised for them and any future comic book movies.

Before I wrap this up, here's a cool shop of an Iron Man still shot depicting what War Machine could potentially look like in the inevitable Iron Man 2. There's a small bit of red visible on the helmet if you look closely, but, overall, I think the unknown creator did a great job on it and that small defect can easily be overlooked. Add a little bulk to his armour and it would be perfect.

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