Beware: This film Review for Iron Man contains minor spoilers.

Its official!  I like to think that May 2nd was the start of the summer movie blockbuster season and it really is exciting.  Just over a year ago, Iron Man went into principle photography with Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges starring with Elf and Zathura director, Jon Favreau (good actor too, by the way) behind the camera.  As a brief history of my experience with the production of Iron Man, is just about the same as most people.  When Iron Man was announced, I didn’t care. I expected another all right at best comic book film.  I felt that the major comic book heroes was all in use and now studio’s would be dipping into other characters that most people didn’t care too much about.  Iron Man, isn’t in the same category as not well known characters, he is obviously a well known character, but it wasn’t a movie that I really had any interest in.  With the announcement that Jon Favreau was directing, wasn’t something that I totally looked fondly at because I wasn’t sold that he could take on a big budget project like this and make it good.  At the same time, I know he has a lot of talent, so it was touch and go.  Then Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Tony Stark, an actor who I think is very good and very underrated because of his unfortunate past.  At the time, I was happy with his casting and wasn’t against it at all, I still was skeptical though.  Both the casting of Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard, along with Jeff Bridges wasn’t even something that phased me.  When filming began March of 2007 I didn’t know what I was in store for.  Throughout the year, photos, trailers, interviews and so on completely changed my outlook of what I was going to see.  Going from someone that could care less about Iron Man to this movie becoming one of my most anticipated of the year, is an obvious show that everything that was released for promotion looked absolutely amazing.

Iron Man starts off the summer season in a big way with a Robert Downey Jr., owning Tony Stark and the excellent direction of Jon Favreau.  Capitalizing the talent of a great supporting cast, Iron Man turns out to be a top notch film and it didn’t need all of the eye candy action to do it.

Although people might not look to well on Robert Downey Jr. because of his unfortunate past, you have to look past that and see the character of Tony Stark.  Downey completely owns Iron Man with his wit and excellent talent as an actor.  Jon Favreau once stated that because of Downey’s past cocaine abuse would make Tony Stark seem more real.  Both Downey and Stark are figures that are in the public eye for scrutiny and Downey’s experience would help in creating the playboy personality and emotional depth that Stark has.  Watching Stark’s creative genius building Iron Man is a fun, funny and cool experience, but behind all of that Stark’s purpose is fueled by knowing that his life and military creations caused a massive amount of death and pain, giving both the character and the film overall a depth that most superhero movies lack.  Most movies in this genre replace depth and a well written script with loads of action, usually pleasing movie goers but in the end lacking in substance.

Standing along side Downey’s Stark is friends Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Colonel Rhodes (Terrence Howard).  Starting off with Gwyneth Paltrow, Pepper Potts can simply be explained as the beautiful, intelligent  and loyal assistant to Stark that deep in side is in love with the billionaire playboy but is afraid to tell him.  Gwyneth Paltrow’s beauty is showen in examples, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE,  and HERE in some of the sexiest photos ever.  Paltrow uses her own innocence to bring Potts to life on screen and does it so well, that you can find yourself rooting for both Stark and Potts reluctant feelings for each other.  Not once does Paltrow make you feel that Potts is just a wasted character, in fact Paltrow digs into your head, without Potts, Tony Stark would not be able to go on.  Her performance, I say, is arguably the best performance by a female lead in any comic book superhero film to date.  Moving on to Terrence Howard, playing Rhodes who eventually becomes War Machine, teased in this film.  I won’t lie and say I’m a fan of Howard’s work.  Most of the films he’s been in I haven’t seen, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Terrence Howard is an excellent actor.  Here in Iron Man, Howard totally pulls off playing Tony Starks friend in a funny yet serious way.  Howard can use his talent as an actor to convey Colonel Rhodes passion for his friend and how serious he takes his job in the military.  Although, I thought a little bit underused, Howard makes me understand that he is a fine choice to play Rhodes and I look forward to seeing him become War Machine in the eventual sequels.

Playing the villain, Iron Monger, is Jeff Bridges.  Bridges character name, Obadiah Stane, is the second under Stark for Stark Industries who becomes greedy and tries to take over the company in various circumstances.  Bridges dons a shaved head and a kick ass grey beard as he steels the plans for the Mark I and claims to be a friend to Tony Stark.  Jeff Bridges is an actor from a family of actors, his father being the legend Lloyd Bridges and his brother Beau Bridges (Stargate SG-1).  Being an actor for nearly 40 years, he brings his experience and gives us a villain but also convinces us that he can be a good nice guy, even though we know his intentions aren’t honorable. Bridges Stane creates a larger version of the Mark I in which he uses in battle against Starks Iron Man.  The character of Stane sets across us that he’s tired of being in the shadow of Stark, resenting him, and Bridges ability to act that way creates a villain that I walked away with happy although, like Terrence Howard, I thought underused.

From the start it was obvious that Iron Man was going to have a large load of CGI effects, and to quickly sum it up, I can use one word: Seamless.  Its not hard to tell what scenes are CGI but the work of ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) is as usual, the best in the business.  Between ILM’s touch as visual effects artists, Stan Winston’s construction of the practical Iron Man suit, and the creation and design of the Mark III by Adi Granov and Phil Saunders, created a marvelous collaboration to make the best movie possible.  Their work paid off.  I know its difficult for many people to step away from practical effects, but with this day in movie making, we as movie goers have to begin to let go of those things and step into the new age and just enjoy these movies for what they are.  Overall, Iron Man looked fantastic.  Some CGI effects stand out more then others, being more noticeable as effects, but in the end doing the job they set out to do. 

So far my review for Iron Man is glowing, but with all reviews comes the things that take down the rating.  I’ve tried to stay away from as many reviews for Iron Man as possible so I can see it for myself with out being spoiled.  That said, I have heard a common criticism that Iron Man suffers from the “origin story” pacing.  I tend to agree.  Although in many aspects of story telling for Iron Man its an excellent film, however the action is somewhat limited, common with origin stories.  Its indeed cool seeing all the versions of the Iron Man suit, but it takes longer then I preferred to get to the Mark III and then the usage of the Mark III.  Without a doubt every time Iron Man is on screen, its awesome but Iron Man wasn’t on screen enough.  This film could have gone with at least another 10 to 15 minutes of Iron Man action, hopefully that’s exactly what we’ll get in a sequel.  Even though this isn’t a criticism towards Jeff Bridges, who I thought was very good as the villain, I’d like to see something more comic book style villain for a sequel.

Other then the lack of action, Iron Man is a very good film.  Jon Favreau should be commended for his efforts and direction because he did an excellent job as director.  I personally look very forward to the next installment to this new film franchise and one day an Avengers story.  Wait for the end of the credits and Samuel L. Jackson will tell you all about it.  This movie is for kids of all ages.  On a scale of 1 to 10, Iron Man receives a very solid 8.5 out of 10.

-Phil

Share This