Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb

Directed by: Jon Favreau

New Line Cinema

The Official Site of Iron Man

Discuss Iron Man on the boards!

In the many months since the release of Iron Man you’ve no doubt discussed or witnessed a discussion somewhere online that has covered nearly every aspect of this film. How awesome the test flight scene was, how perfect and unexpected a choice Robert Downey Jr. was to play billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, how Jon Favreau is going to save the Marvel Universe on the big screen. Basically how Iron Man is the most complete and satisfying effort from Marvel’s movie house since Spider-man 2 and that it’s maybe the most fun comic book film of all time.

Since you’ve already been around that ride a couple dozen times what point is there in me repeating it other than to say, “I agree�? To an extent of course. Favreau did a great job but can you really save a company that’s actually movie forward with a sequel to Ghost Rider? The savior position will be up for grabs every 5 years or so in a company that chooses to revisit anything with Nic Cage in it.

You see what I’m saying though. A proper review of the adventures of Tony Stark, the successful scientist that built a new life for himself in a cave with nothing but a box of scraps, would be nothing but redundant. Unless of course I talked about why it sucked.

“Sucked� is the wrong word but as good as Downey Jr. is and as many times as I could watch that test flight sequence without losing a laugh or a gasp, the movie is not without its flaws. My biggest complaint though is a subjective one because, as fun as Iron Man is, it plays things a little safe.

Iron Man showed up right on the heels of Speed Racer, all but burying the candy-colored, cartoon-come-to-life with its easily accessible big explosions and good-natured fun. At the time I made a direct comparison between the two films saying that in my mind Speed was a larger success only in that it took chances Iron Man was unwilling to. Perhaps foolishly so since the film was largely panned for its experimentation and the bloated budget that came along with it.

In choosing to play it safe Iron Man was able to capitalize on what works. Looking back you’ll find a formulaic story with an unobtrusive message and paint-by-number characters that pretty much go through the motions of a movie we’ve seen and loved a dozen times before. It doesn’t make it bad but it keeps the movie from being great. It holds Iron Man back from being something exceptional.

For better or worse that’s how I see the movie. And it’s not to say that the filmmakers even made the wrong decision. There’s something really wonderful about how light and open Iron Man is. How it avoids the melodrama that made Spider-man feel like a swollen teen soap opera and is able to tell a simple but exciting origin story without getting all wrapped up in itself. In that respect it’s a fantastic beginning that leaves the door open to complicate things in the upcoming sequels.

That of course is the biggest testament of Iron Man’s success - It already has us excited about the future and looking forward to something that hasn’t even started filming yet. We’ll spend the next year searching the Internet for pictures of the new costume or the new bad guy or whoever they got to replace the guy from the first movie that wanted too much money to return for round two. (First Terrence Howard and now Sam Jackson!? Come on!) And we’ll love every second of it.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10 - In the review I call the characters paint-by-numbers which is both true and untrue but never negative. Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane is the definition of “evil bad guy� and is basically Lex Luthor trying out a beard. That’s okay though because… he’s good. He wonderfully plays the “Could I be good? Psyche! I’m totally bad� part with a fierce efficiency and manages to make paint-by-numbers a work of art.

Also, Stark is anything but a superhero. He’s a warmonger that learns his lesson and finds purpose in life but manages to do so without losing his style, class or vanity. The final scene of the film (Can we do spoilers here? Yes, we can.) where he admits to being Iron Man says SO much about who Tony Stark is as a person. His need for the attention and the glory in those 3 seconds of footage sums up a completely new era of superheroes that I’m anxious to see them explore the next time around. Please consider this my apology for the brash and cryptic use of the phrase “paint-by-numbers� in the review.

You betcha. The re-watchabilty on this thing is through the roof. The only reason not to buy it is that probably close to 80% of your friends already own it and if that itch to see it ever gets so bad you could probably borrow it from one of them for a couple of days. Don’t be like that though. Just help bump it up to 81% already…

This was a long time coming. An Iron Man comic and review has easily been the number one requested comic and review of the year from you guys. After last week’s Top 10 of 2008 comic where I talked about how certain movies have slipped through the cracks, I decided that it was high time I started focusing on some of these lost gems. I put it up to you guys which movie should be the focus and you overwhelmingly selected Iron Man. I was cool with that because, although it was bumped from my top ten of the year, it was definitely a movie I was excited to revisit.

With that – Round 1 is complete and I turn to you again to ask which of the remaining films you would like to see become the focus for next week? Go to this thread on the boards and have your say.

The past week has been a bit of a blur. In between getting everything ready for New York Comic Con next weekend (February 6,7,8) I thought it would be fun to fit in a root canal and gum surgery. Okay, I didn’t actually think it would be fun but it’s one of those things where if the man in the white coat tells you that you need to do it, you make some time for it. Thank goodness the pain has been minimal. Enough to slow me down a tiny bit but I’m managing to get out of bed and crawl my way toward the computer every morning.

The focus has really been getting the stuff for the con in order. I’ll have a post early next week explaining things like the printable T-shirt coupon or the pimp tour Twitter account (which are both pretty self explanatory if you click those links), as well as previews of the JLCM book, which is debuting at the show and arrived in on Monday! Until then, sit tight and if you’ve got plans to attend NYCC just keep repeating the numbers 2452 to yourself over and over again and make sure you seek out that booth as soon as the doors open.

Thanks for reading!