Iron Man

A refreshing and grounded comic book movie - the best I've seen since “Batman Begins” (and until “The Dark Knight”!). The fact that a sequel is two years away makes this reviewer particularly sad!

Multi-billionaire Tony Stark (hmm...rich man becomes superhero with conscience...aren’t comic books original?) becomes Iron Man to stop the arms trade that he had been entrenched in beforehand, creating enemies from friends whilst trying to live a playboy lifestyle. Like Batman’s brash, LA cousin, Iron Man is a glorious, action-packed movie which certainly wins runner-up superhero movie of the summer (and in some respects, it is a little better than “Knight”.)

The entire cast acts well, as to be expected from a group of highly-rated and distinguished actors. Robert Downey Jr. feels almost made for this role - a rich man living a life of excess, who turns it around to better himself. His trademark comedy and quick wit is used here, but he also gets to show his serious side (as serious as a comic book film can get really) and shows it well. Gwyneth Paltrow, I will admit, is not one of my favourite actresses, but here she knows she's having fun, and makes her role as Tony Stark's secretary/assistant/slave one that you wish you saw more. Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard contend pretty highly with RDJ offscreen for acting prowess, but here, as with the other actors, they're clearly enjoying being able to act in a film that they enjoyed, and it makes the film seem that much more interesting and well-rounded.

The film looks, feels and sounds amazing. Favreau seems to have segued from lower-budget, less intense films to this without a hint of difficulty, and the rumours that he might direct an Avengers film (which would have Iron Man, Hulk and a whole load of other superheroes from Marvel working together) fills me with excitement! Favreau gives the film a sense of cool, as well as a pace that belies the film's two hour running time. At no other point has a comic book adaptation that I have seen been quite so zippy, so flowing as this. The dialogue reflects RDJ's humour - snappy, witty and sometimes too quick for you to pick up on the comedy. The music is guitar heavy, which actually makes it seem that much more awesome to me. Not all sweeping instrumental music for once, a gritty, rocking soundtrack for a back-to-basics hero.

There are so many points within the film where the CGI and practical effects are indistinguishable from one another that you begin to wonder how the hell they did it. ILM seem to have repeated the success of Transformers with Iron Man, and one can only hope they get better! It's action-packed, but that's about it. As with any comic-book film, the audience is kids, and so the film couldn't really be packed full of sex. There were the odd sly references however..."I'm doing an article for Vanity Fair" probably being my favourite! The action's pretty intense, particularly at the onset of the film. Being that Iron Man is just a bloke in a metal suit, you do feel he is more vulnerable, and the action hits hard. It's more realistic than anything other than Batman, but in the end the "arc reactor" that powers the suit AND saves Stark from death is complete tosh. At least it's the only aspect that's unbelievable - something that we don't often see with superheroes!

It’s not all great though, as there is a distinct lack of action set-pieces, and the first half of the film tends to drag (Stark’s imprisonment and escape takes about an hour). It definitely leaves the viewer wanting more at the end, which, whilst not necessarily being a bad thing, does detract from the action that the first film presents. Origin films do often have a lot of work to do in the superhero genre however, and in comparison to counterparts such as Spider-Man, Iron Man manages to zip through the usual slow scenes.

All in all, I found Iron Man to be a breath of fresh air; a superhero film that doesn’t take itself that seriously, and one which continuously surprises and contradicts your expectations of the genre, not to mention the ingenious casting of Robert Downey Jr.

9/10