Alecc B. on "Iron Man"

Summer Movie Season has arrived!!!!!! Are there going to be more winners or losers this year? Hmmm...one can only wait and see. The first sure-fire blockbuster out of the gate is Iron Man! Major hype surrounded this film, proclaiming it to be the best comic book movie ever! Is it? No, but it's still a lot of fun to watch.

PLOT

Tony Stark has made mucho dinero designing weapons for military use. After a demonstration of his new missile in Afghanistan, the convoy transporting him is attacked and he becomes an injured hostage. With a little machine in his chest that keeps shrapnel out of his heart, he realizes that he doesn't want to create weapons that will end up hurting people anymore. Now, he wants to help the people by turning himself into a weapon, a weapon called...Iron Man!

ACTING

Is there anyone out there who doesn't like Robert Downey Jr.? I didn't think so. Downey has stolen almost every scene of every movie he's been in. Now, he takes the driver's seat in role that was built for him, Tony Stark. He's hilarious, engaging, and more than anything, believable in this part. Terrence Howard plays Stark's military buddy Jim Rhodes. Howard gives it his all once again, just as easy as it comes to him in other films. Jeff ("I'm the dude! So that's what you call me!") Bridges plays Stark's business partner, Obadiah Stane. It's kind of hard to picture Bridges being anyone else but The Dude, but he rocks it here. Gwyneth Paltrow fills the role of Stark's assistant, Pepper Potts. I don't normally find Paltrow attractive, but she is very cute here and the chemistry between her and Downey is fantastic. It was nice seeing Paltrow on screen again as well.

WRITING & DIRECTING

Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway provided the writing talent for Iron Man. The script isn't anything groundbreaking and I'm sure some of the best lines from Downey were improvised. Aside from a basic origin storyline, nothing really happens in this film. A central villain isn't even revealed until there's about 30 minutes left in the film.

With that being said, director Jon Favreau more than makes up for it with a brisk pace, solid special effects, and a few kick-ass action sequences. My personal favorite scene was the first time Downey puts on his suped-up armor and handles his business in Afghanistan. See the picture above and take in how sweet that armor looks!

All in all, Iron Man delivered a fun two hours at the movies for me. While not the best Marvel movie ever made, it sure is one of the more entertaining ones to come out yet.

Overall Review: *** stars

Best Lines:

Downey: That is an excellent question.

Downey: We throw one of these in with every purchase of $500 million or more.