Iron Man

As far as comic book movies go, I tend to only see the ones featuring characters I loved when I was a kid (Spider-Man, XMen, etc.). Occasionally I take a risk on a story I'm not so familiar with and am left wanting my $9.50 and 2 hours back (Sin City - send your hate mail here) and sometimes I am very happy with the risk I took (Hellboy).

Iron Man falls somewhere in between. I watched the Fox Saturday morning cartoon as a kid, but other than the fact that Iron Man was red and yellow and his secret identity is Tony Stark I really couldn't tell you that much about the guy. So, I was intrigued when I heard the folks at Paramount were bringing Stark Industries' greatest creation to the big screen, but I didn't feel like I had to rush right out and see the movie on opening weekend.

Then two things happened that made that decision easy. First, Paramount released one kick ass trailer for the movie.



And then I got tickets to a sneak preview for free, so I knew I would at least be getting my money's worth.

Well, I am glad to report that I got my money's worth and a whole lot more. There was no doubt in my mind that Robert Downey Jr. was gonna be great as Tony Stark. The character is a hard drinking, womanizing, smart-assed playboy. The only other option that would have been even close to that perfect is Charlie Sheen. I will say that, while Downey was great, director John Favreau nearly turned his performance into a Vince Vaughn impression.

Gwenyth Paltrow as Pepper Potts made for better eye candy than I expected.



The special effects were great. The story, which in the comic had to do with the Vietnam War, has been updated nicely bringing the War on Terror and the moral ambiguity that goes along with it.

If Iron Man has any problem, it isn't the fault of the film. It is that movie audiences might not be willing to suspend disbelief in the same way that comic book fans are. So when Tony/Iron Man goes on a mission to destroy all of the missals he used to make, you might think a really well put together movie just turned into an early 90s Van Damme flick.

I liked the movie a lot - and I had high hopes for this film, so I was prepared to be disappointed. Go see the movie. It's worth your money. You'll want to find someone else who has seen the movie so you can quote lines and talk about how cool the explosions are.

The Greek gives it a A-.