Iron Man (Movie Review)

Before we get started... I haven't done one of these in a while because there hasn't been any real movies I wanted to review. I haven't had time to do these either, so don't think I'm singling out certain movies. I just haven't had time.

That being said...

The last time I got excited for a movie it was Spider-man 3. It wasn't because Spider-man however, it was Venom. And if you go back and read the review, I was very disappointed. It was still a solid movie, but it messed up on a couple of key points that were over-hyped during the commercials.

One of the things I was scared of with this movie was the same thing. I was scared that the cliche of "Iron Man" was played out through the movie previews, and that the most exciting parts of the movie would be ruined because of the movie previews.

I am glad to say that I was wrong.

"Marvel Madness"

I'm not a big Marvel superhero fan, but one of the people I favored the most was Iron Man. So when I saw the commercial/preview I got excited. But the first thing I thought was about the acting.

And it was great. The banter between the main characters and the bad guys and everyone in between was great. This movie had great script-writing and Tony Stark aka Iron Man is as slick tongued as they come. The jokes are fast and swift and perfectly timed with the movie. I can't tell you how great the writing in this movie is. It's a genuinely funny movie.

The story is a solid story. If you've followed the comics any, you will be pleased to know that the origin of Iron Man (and the three versions of Iron Man, yes they didn't forget) is intact and executed perfectly. In a somewhat more shocking twist, it carries over PERFECTLY into the actual plot of the movie, which is more political than you would think...but it fits perfectly considering the circumstances of the movie (which shall not be spoiled here).

Version #1 of Iron Dude....

The ONLY complaint I have with this movie is that the action scenes are a little scarce. There's only a couple, but when it happens it's great to watch. You just can't help but want a suit for yourself.

The action scenes sometimes plays out like a scene from Transformers, but it's not totally a bad thing. It's just a couple of scenes you can tell is green-screened, and some scenes that flows seamlessly into the movie. It didn't take anything away from the movie for me however.

So overall? SOLID SOLID movie. Possibly the most well-written movie out of all of the Marvel movies that I've seen. So it is definitely what you go to the movie theaters for. This movie has mostly everything you could want in a movie, and a surprising sense of humor to boot.

I would make an irony joke, but then that would just be too much of a corny ending... so just watch the movie.

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Eljay's Snapshots



The Good: It's freakin Iron Man. If that's not enough for you, here's a hero that you actually want to root for. It also helps that A) he's funny as hell, and B) the acting makes you like him even more. You gotta love the reckless heroes, right? It holds true to the origin of Iron Man, and it even eludes to sequels.... INCLUDING THE INTRODUCTION OF WAR MACHINE. It's very brief, but it's there.

The Bad: There's not as much action as you would think in a movie based around weapons and manufacturing mass weapons of destruction. It's also a little bit political, but for me it worked for the movie. Some people might consider this plot setup to be a little bit boring.

The Interesting: It's interesting to me how Stark's assistant was NEVER relegated to the traditional role of "damsel in distress" although it seemed it was going to head that way a couple of times during the movie. If anything, it was more like a partnership, and that's refreshing to see.

Highlights of the Film:

The Ferris Wheel - There's a scene where a kid on a ferris wheel sees Iron Man for the first time and loses his ice cream. Literally.

The Building of the Beast - The scenes where Tony Stark is experimenting with the suit are just ingenious. An his lab robots are AMAZING and they make the movie even more humorous.

Glimpse Into The Future? - Terrence Howard costars in this movie. As you may or may not know, there is another suit later on in the Iron Man comics by the name of "War Machine" which is very similar to Iron Man, and is more like a partner to him. The unique thing about this is that War Machine is a black character. The scene where Howard realizes what's happening is brief, but it definitely opens up the movie for a couple sequels.

Final Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 Crowns