mbjones

Last night, Juli and I saw [Iron Man][1] after an enjoyable dinner with the Doke’s. If you haven’t heard about it, click the previous link to go to Apple’s trailer page. Anyways, I really enjoyed this movie as it was both action-packed and quite enjoyable. Having never read the comics, I can’t attest to its accuracy so if that is a must for you in the onslaught of various comic book movies, don’t expect to find any info either way in this brief review.

Having got that intro info out of the way, I’ll get to the movie. One of the things I liked about [Iron Man][1] is the portrayal of a superhero that lacks any super human ability innately — it all comes from the suit that Tony Stark (Iron Man) builds (much like Batman doesn’t have any super powers either). The superhero isn’t some mutant or alien or anything like that, but a man who has seen injustice and decided to do what he can about it. This movie chronicles Tony Stark’s struggle to come to terms with an unjust world: before he makes Iron Man, he is a brilliant and wealthy weapons designer for our military. Arrogant and cold to the world around him, his life consists of work, gambling, womanizing and in general, whatever he wants. This all changes though after being kidnapped by a terrorist group and faced with the reality that its not just the good guys using his weapons: the bad guys use them too and many times the supposed good guys are either propping them up (in the case of his company) or just ignoring the fact (our military). Radically shifting his focus, he takes on eyes that see a world that needs protection and vows never to make another weapon that could end up in the hands of the bad guys and instead seeks to eradicate the weapons they do have.

Because of the background work that has to be done (this is the first Iron Man movie), the story starts slowly and creates at first glance a lead that you don’t think you are going to like. That quickly changes though as Tony escapes from the terrorists in Rev 1 of the suit. And really, after this point, doesn’t really stop until the end. I’ve got to give props to Robert Downey, Jr as well; he does an excellent job as the arrogant Tony Stark. I thought of him as a ridiculous choice for a super hero when this movie was announced but he pulls it off quite well. Now, I wouldn’t be able to see anyone else playing the part. Overall, I’d give [Iron Man][1] 4 of 5 stars (due to the slow start and the mildly lame end fight to cap things off).

[1]:http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/