The Review of: Iron Man

So, some of you may have heard of a movie that came out last weekend, put out by a pretty small studio. It did mildly decent at the box office, and you might have even seen it in theatres. Of course, I'm talking about Iron Man, the first movie produced by Marvel Studios. And of course, if you haven't seen this, you now have a homework assignment after you're finished with this article.

Now, this movie made some fat stacks at the box office, stuck it's big metal book right through the box office, and officially opened up the movie season, setting the bar for the summer pretty high. Granted, there was no competition to speak of in the theaters, but still.

So, basically this big time weapons developer gets kidnapped, builds a suit of armor, and kicks some terrorist tail. I don't feel like spoiling anything for the few of you that have yet to watch it, but you need to see it, and soon. Also, when you go, stay after the credits for an added bonus. It's completely worth it.

So, automatically people judge this movie against other comic movies. In that spirit, I'll do the same. This is tied for the best superhero movie I've seen. I don't want to judge this against 300, or V, or Sin City, because they're different types of movies. The only other superhero movie that measures up for me was Batman Begins. Why you may ask? Honestly, I break it down like this- Iron Man couldn't have survived without the CGI 'crutch.' I think Batman Begins comes across more realistic to me simply because it was less CGI. That's not a slight to Iron Man, because there's no way they could make a movie like that without the CGI aspect, but that's the point for me. That being said, I enjoyed BB as a solo movie more, but I could honestly see myself rewatching Iron Man more if Marvel keeps intertwining their movies together the way they have been. Batman Begins is a better solo movie, but Iron Man comes out better as a 'universe' movie, if that makes sense.

But back to Iron Man. This is hands down, one of the best origin stories to date. I think it did it better than Spiderman, X-men, Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Superman, any of them. I was not bored at any point during this movie, and Robert Downey Jr. owned that screen every time the camera panned to him. I liked that it was so fast paced, and it started up with action. I like being thrown into a movie head first. That starting action gets my heart pumpin, and gets me psyched for the rest of the movie. They didn't really crap around much, and they just gave it to us straight forward. Robert Downey was brilliant and clever as Stark as well as Iron Man. I'm really glad that Jarvis was only the computer, and not an Alfred-like butler as he is in the 616 universe. It was a believable story of failure and betrayal, and that really helps the comic story connect with the people. I loved the fact that they didn't weigh the movie down with mushy romance, that it was simply an after touch. I'm also pretty happy that Stark wasn't in the suit the whole movie too, so we had alot more of the human interaction, which I liked. It truly was an amazing telling of an origin story.

If I had to pick out something bad in the movie? They spent half the movie showing Stark getting control of, and building his armor. Obadiah jumped right into the suit and beat down SHIELD with it.That was a bit unbelievable, but he also had an entire team working on it which I guess could explain it. So even that isn't bad. I kinda wanna say I didn't like Obadiah's little sonic device either, but it didn't necessarily damage the movie. Overall I thought Obadiah was a believable villian, and the best origin villain to date in a movie to date. He may not have been the most exciting in Stark's rogue's gallery, but there isn't another villain that would have worked better in an origin story.

Of course, the blatant references to SHIELD and The Mandarin really got me rolling too. I loved that they blended both in, without rubbing it in your face. The scene where the SHIELD guys blow that door open... love it. I love the little nods to the fan boys as well. Of course, the scene after the credits takes the cake. That 45 second clip made me SO frakkin happy. I was so stoked when I saw that scene... and I talk about it to all sorts of people. I loved it after the credits too, because it fit so well.

In the end, the summer has a high bar to reach, and I give kudos to Marvel for stepping up and launching into the summer like that, and kudos the Favreau and Downey for rockin the movie that hard.

Final Score- 10
Tied With- Batman Begins
Better Than- Spiderman, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Superman