"Iron Man" movie review

The summer movie season blasts off with the Marvel superhero film, Iron Man (PG-13). Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark, a wealthy weapons industrialist/scientist. While in Afghanistan to promote his products, Stark is kidnapped by terrorists but escapes after building a suit of armor. Upon arriving back in the States, Stark decides to use his talent (and new armor) to battle injustice. Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges co-star in the film. Jon Favreau directs.

Andy: I went into Iron Man with uncharacteristically low expectations. So many Marvel comics have been made into bad movies that I didn’t have any reason to believe this one would be different. The ads for the movie only reinforced this idea. The forty-five seconds of Iron Man flying in the trailer, plus the so-obvious-it-shouldn’t-be-used “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath just made it seem like this movie was going to lack creativity. While not groundbreaking in any way, Iron Man does exceed my expectations on just about every level.

Ryan: This might not be saying much at first considering how lackluster (X-Men 3 & Spiderman 3) and how bad (Fantastic Four 2 & Ghost Rider) some recent Marvel films have been but Iron Man bucks that trend in a big way. Iron Man is a highly enjoyable and entertaining film. Arguably it's right up there with Marvel's best work (Spiderman 2 & X-Men 2). There's no question about it; Iron Man starts the summer movie season off in the right direction.

Andy: A good deal of what Iran Man has going for it is the cast that Favreau was able to assemble. Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow both do a nice job in unconventional roles for them. Jeff Bridges was a little distracting as the villain, but he lends more recognizabality to the cast, which is always important in a summer blockbuster. But make no mistake about it; the star here is Downey Jr. Without his performance, there is no Iron Man. I feel like he is one of the better choices of the last twenty years to play a superhero alter ego.

Ryan: Much of Iron Man's success lies with the performance of Downey. Admittingly when he was cast as Iron Man the internet was abuzz with a lot of head-scratching. He is definitely not the prototypical superhero leading man. But more-often-than-not decisions like that have a way of working out (think Michael Keaton or Tobey Maguire). There's no debate that Downey's performance elevates a B level hero to elite status. He nails the arrogant and too confident and then too heroic nature of Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Andy: Once you get past Downey Jr.’s performance, there are some problems with Iron man. Howard and Paltrow’s characters aren’t developed enough for their skill set even though they do an adequate job. The movie also feels a little long, and coming it at just over two hours, it probably could have been a little tighter. I was pleased to note that we were not subjected to a twenty-minute fight sequence that I’m sure we’ll have to deal with in movies later in the summer (I’m looking at you, Hulk!).

Ryan: What also is in Iron Man's favor is Favreau's direction. Favreau has directed only a few films, and even though Elf was a solid holiday comedy, there was nothing in his resume that hinted that he could deliver a well-rounded and relevant summer blockbuster. Incorporating Afghan terrorists into a superhero movie is a challenging proportion. But Favreau pulls it off in such a straightforward fashion that one just accepts it as part of the story. Really, my only complaint with the movie is that the climax is not quite as exciting as it could have been. Other than that Iron Man is solid summer film.

Iron Man is a pleasant start to the summer movie season. Final grade: B+.