Iron Man
Directed by Jon Favreau
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Terrance Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Taub, Faran Tahir and Clark Gregg.
Backstory
I love how the Internet has become invaluable for movie geeks. Websites are created now chronicling the entire development of a movie from script to screen. I’ve been following the development of Iron Man since its early days, and ever since Jon Favreau signed on as the director, everything about it just seemed right. So, I was one of the many who flocked to it on opening weekend. Was it going to be as right as I hoped?
Plot
Tony Stark, hard drinkin’, hard partyin’ billionaire industrialist, is off to the front lines in Afghanistan to demonstrate his latest weapons system. However, terrorists soon kidnap Stark and force him to build weapons for them. Stark, however, soon builds for himself a suit of power armor which he uses to escape. This leaves Stark a changed man. He shuts down his company’s weapons division, and seeks out to refine his power armor. Becoming the hero Iron Man, he then sets out to disarm those who use his weapons. But this doesn’t sit too well with his business partner Obidiah Stane. With the help of his friends, Jim Rhodes and Pepper Potts, can Stark disarm the evil doers and stop Stane’s evil plot?
What I Liked
As I’ve been mentioning, everything about this film walking into it was right. What you’ve heard is true, Robert Downey Jr. is spot-on perfect as Tony Stark. It was even fun seeing Jeff Bridges all slimy and villainous for a change. There were numerous in-jokes and references to the comics that were nice little touches, and the special effects bringing the armor to life are fantastic.
What I Didn’t Like
I don’t know…this film left me feeling kind of hollow. There weren’t a lot of moments that made me stand up and cheer in the theatre. I blame the fact that I’ve been following this so closely online that there were no surprises left. It felt like I’d seen it a dozen times already.
Final Assessment
This can stand along Spider-Man and X-Men as a perfect Marvel comics adaptation.