Iron Man
Better than the majority of this decade’s superhero movies.
I saw this a week ago, but have been too busy to post anything.
Most moviegoers aren’t comic book geeks, and won’t know (or care) that the original Iron Man was “born” in Vietnam in the early 1960s. But the story is made much more relevant by placing the protagonist, Tony Stark, in U.S. occupied, modern-day Afghanistan. The millionaire playboy, the technological innovations, the warlord kidnappers: it all works better as adapted in this Jon Favreau film.
And moreso than any other superhero movie I can think of, the film is dominated by Stark’s character (played with gusto by Robert Downey Jr.) rather than outside forces of antagonism. It’s certainly a performance-driven movie. In fact, I don’t know if Iron Man would have worked at all if Downey hadn’t played Stark the way he did.
May 18th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I never followed the Iron Man comics as a kid, and so I was surprised at how much I liked this movie. We even stayed to watch the teaser for the next movie, with Samuel L. Jackson playing the eyepatched Max Fury.
I had to laugh at Stan Lee’s cameo, too.
May 18th, 2008 at 11:17 am
I too enjoyed Iron Man in the theatre. Robert Downey Jr did a great job portraying many facets of Stark’s personality. Personally, I like my superheroes to undergo a lot of character development in their origins story, and the more complex the better. My favorite in this genre so far is Batman Begins, but Iron Man certainly makes the top 5.
Did you stick around through the credits for the sequel teaser? I didn’t find out about it until the next day.
May 19th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Yeah, the Hef appearance. I lol’d. Best cameo yet.
Out of all the superhero movies that have come out in the last several years, I’d have to say that my top three are Batman Begins, Spiderman 2, and X-Men 2.