Iron Man (Movie)
Funny HaHa, but in the best way possible...
Best Feature:Well acted as far as super hero flicks go. Most of the myriad of jokes inserted...are actually funny.
Worst Feature: The End Wraps up sorta fast...
*Note: Possible Spoilers Ahead, read at your own risk
Now I'm not usually one to go to the theater regularly. I don't like it, to many people around being obnoxious while I'm trying to watch the movie. It usually takes a movie I seriously want to see to drag me out. (Or someone else paying for it...) But we were able to get into Iron Man free thanks to a friend of one of my friends...whom I've never met.
As big of a comic book nerd as I am, I've never really been a huge "Iron Man" fan. I don't dislike him at all, I just never payed attention. I love "The Avengers" team as a whole, but never payed attention to ol' Tony Stark by himself. So as such, I was the only person who didn't crap his pants when the "Iron Man" trailer first made its way around the net. Also, after seeing the jokey tone of the trailers, I went in with pretty low but not quite Fantastic Fourish expectations.
I gotta say, I am happy that this move went well beyond them. While its certainly not the best comic movie I've ever seen, (3-way tie: Spider Man 2, Batman Begins and Batman) it's certainly good.
Firstly, "Iron Man" features some better acting then a large portion of hero movies out there. (FF I am SO looking at you...) Robert Downey Jr plays a fantastic Tony Stark, doing good at his lows, (Tony's ethical conflicts with the weapons he creates) and doing great at his highs. (Stark's outragous billionare, cocky personality, where Downey Jr really shines) Gwyneth Paltrow (Who I never like in anything) is very good as Virginia "Pepper" Potts, Stark's do-everything assistant and emotional support. A fine support cast rounds out the rest of the movie.
But now to what people want from a movie like this. Action! "Iron Man" does indeed deliver action, though not as much as one might think. What is there however, is explosive and fun. And its all flows together real well thanks to some simple but effective angles of the action. Too often nowadays action movies have the camera move too fast during the heavy scenes, and it just appears as if the camera man had a seizure while filming. It's nice to see that "Iron Man" takes a conservative approach and lets you sit back and enjoy the digital eye candy. (I heartily enjoyed it every time an armor clad Stark punched a normal human into oblivion)
Now, eariler I mentioned the jokey tone of the trailers for this film. Well, they were all very spot on, cause this movie is littered with sarcastic quips and the occasionally silly moment. But the trailers really don't do these justice as the the vast majority of these jokes are actually funny and are very well threaded sarcastic one liners by Stark into the dialouge. None of them are gut bustingly hilarious mind you, but they range from chuckleworthy (Stan Lee's way more obvious then usual appearance) to full laugh inducing (Stark's initial test run of the repulsor rockets in his boots...leads to an upside down faceplant on the ceiling...only to be sprayed by a fire extinguisher by one of his robot assitants) The fact the most of the jokes work very well rather then taking you away from what could have been a good film is refreshing. (Ahem...FF...)
The only real beef I have with this film is while the ending is satisfactory, it wraps up faster then I would have liked. Especially since the way to the ending is a well put together blast of explosive fun that is smart enough to prepare you for it. The ending was fine and doesn't take anything away from it, but I would have like a bigger blast of a battle.
Now, I probably won't start reading Iron Man comic books anytime soon, I probably won't even buy this movie on DVD right away when it comes out. But I will eventually when I happen to see it in my travels, its good enough to deserve that.
Still indifferent to Iron Man, (But coming around)
AlucardsFate...