Iron Man

I’m writing this review rather quickly because for next week I intend to review The Chronicles of Narnia and the week following that is Indiana Jones, I’m breaking what was going to be a weekly schedule of reviews because it’s been a long time since I’ve made any and I really enjoyed Iron Man so it’s better late than never. Enough blabbering now, let’s get on with another marvelous review.

Iron Man is the man child of Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau, director of fine films such as Elf and Zathura… yeah… Zathura… Well Zathura aside, I must say that Mr. Favreau has impressed me with all of the films he’s made, you know, all two of them, and Iron Man was no exception. Without a doubt I can easily say that Iron Man is his greatest film to date, may we all take a moment of silence to grieve for previous owner of this title, Mr. Ferrell.

Robert Downey Jr. stars as the man in Iron… or some form of Gold Alloid as Tony Stark himself puts it… and he does an incredible job. I’m serious, this is one of those movies where I can’t imagine anyone else in the titular role, Robert Downey plays this role with such finesse and wit that I’d be surprised if he didn’t act like this in real life. His jokes soared through the air and caused my gut to ache by the end of the movie and his interactions with all the other actors never seemed forced or unreal for even a second.

Joining Robert Downey Jr. in the cast are Terrence Howard as an Army General, Jeff Bridges as one of the owners of Stark Industries, and Gwyneth Paltrow as the famed assistant to Tony Stark, Pepper Pots. All give fine performances but Mrs. Paltrow above all gives, what I think, is her best performance in years. She lights up the screen with a smile, something I don’t recall seeing in a film of hers for a while, and she really delivers all of Pepper’s lines well. I’m intrigued that Mrs. Paltrow has delighted me in a film once again, and look forward to more roles from her in the possible sequels.

The Movie starts off fast with Tony Stark being kidnapped after a weapons demonstration in some unnamed middle eastern country and he is kept in captivity being forced to build a missile for the ‘bad guys’. Obviously Tony has other plans as he and the doctor who has saved his life begin making a super suit to help them both escape. The movie moves at a moderate pace and once we get back to civilization, that is to say the country of technology, fast cars, and cheeseburgers, the movie begins to slow down just a tad while Mr. Stark begins going through modifications in his company and his new found hobby in his power suit.

This whole movie has jokes to the max and the actions scenes fit well into the movie, but what makes me like this more than so many of the other recent comic book hero movies, is that this film doesn’t rely on it’s special effects or huge explosions to carry the movie, but places it’s faith in all of it’s characters which pays off greatly for the movie in the end. Although I believe that effects and action sequences aren’t the director’s strong suits, he clearly makes up for it with a tight story, and polished acting, to create one of the most fun, exiting, and well rounded movies of the year thus far.

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