The Iron Man movie

[Heraclitus]

What do you think of it?

[Riesstiu IV]

Lonestar liked it so that means it's no good.

[Heraclitus]

I kinda off have to do a review of it and am trying to decide whether to actually go see it...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The acting was great, not surprisingly; it's hard to think of another movie where such a heavyweight cast has been given such lightweight material to work with. Downey, in particular, is fantastic; Jeff Bridges, of course, can do no wrong, and even Gwenyth Paltrow, of whom I'm not that big a fan, turns in a charming performance.

But the movie was...meh. It might help to care more about the Iron Man mythology in particular, or even comic in general. I don't. The best thing about it, imho, is that there's surprisingly little action for a superhero movie; that leaves more time for Downey's character development, which is the best thing about the movie. But being long on character development and short on action (and the action isn't that great; the climactic fight seen, in particular, is the worst-directed action sequence I've seen since Batman Forever -- though that's still worse) means the whole thing felt like the first half of a film, rather than a film unto itself.

[Wiglaf]

It is a superhero movie made for preteens. What else do you really need to know.

Predictable ending. Check. Predictably bad theme (weapons are bad kids!). Check. Tedious romantic subplot. Check. Douchebag lead actor. Check. Good special effects. Check.

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/wildly_popular_iron_man_trailer

[Guynemer]

I half agree with Rufus. The action scenes, the climax in particular, are not the best part of the film, but certainly the earlier action sequences have a bit more zip. This is, of course, frequently the case in superhero origin stories, with the discovery of powers and abilities being quite fun.

The performances are terrific all the way around. Definitely recommended, but it's not quite on the same level as the great recent superhero movies, namely Batman Begins and X-Men 2.

[Wiglaf]

Yes, what a great movie. I especially liked when the Arab Terrorists found Robert Downey was up to something (building a suit, not the missile they wanted) because they saw it on their videocamera.

Their response? Leave him completely unguarded and just threaten to kill him if the weapons not up in 24 hours. Also, don't check the videocamera. Surely he's not still doing whatever he was doing (building a magic suit that can kill everyone).

Amazing movie, if you're 12.

[Dr Strangelove]

It was OK. I don't know if I'd call Downey's acting great. He plays a rich immature playboy with a substance abuse problem. Isn't that type casting? In my book there's no extra credit given for playing what you already are. At the point in the movie when he gets back home and goes into a tiff over his weapons doing bad things I couldn't help thinking "Gee, you shmuck, how did they wind up in the hands of Afghani terrorists? Don't you think you ought to look into that?" A half hour later the predictable happens.

IMHO the action scenes were the best part of the movie.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Guynemer
I half agree with Rufus. The action scenes, the climax in particular, are not the best part of the film, but certainly the earlier action sequences have a bit more zip. This is, of course, frequently the case in superhero origin stories, with the discovery of powers and abilities being quite fun.

I agree, I just didn't think of those as action sequences. But they were very good, no matter what you call them. We're on the same page here.

[OzzyKP]

I liked it

Downey was quite funny.

The action scene with the two jets.

I agree about the climatic end battle scene. Not that fabulous.

[LordShiva]

Originally posted by Riesstiu IV
Lonestar liked it so that means it's no good.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
Yes, what a great movie. I especially liked when the Arab Terrorists found Robert Downey was up to something (building a suit, not the missile they wanted) because they saw it on their videocamera.

Their response? Leave him completely unguarded and just threaten to kill him if the weapons not up in 24 hours. Also, don't check the videocamera. Surely he's not still doing whatever he was doing (building a magic suit that can kill everyone).

Amazing movie, if you're 12.

So ****ing true.

[rah]

Yes, my daughter and I were laughing during that sequence. DOH.

[Q Classic]

I still want that power armor.

It's hard for me to dislike Gwyneth Paltrow, honestly, so I'll confess that I didn't mind Pepper Potts all that much. It helps that she wasn't as simpering as the usual superhero girlfriend.

It doesn't deal with arms shipments and the brutalities of conflict as well as some people have said; it's not at all a story dealing in shades of gray, since it's still very much in black and white.

I still want that power armor. Did I mention that?

Oh, and the AI. **** yeah, that AI's awesome.

I mean, it's a summer movie. It's a popcorn blockbuster. Asking anything of depth or expecting anything outside of KAPOW! ZOOM! BANG BANG BANG BANG KABOOM! BZZZT! PEW PEW PEW! FREEM! is kinda silly.

So, yeah. Great for product placement. Whenever Stark Industries comes out with that power armor, I'll take two.

[Q Classic]

Yeah, the power armor was frakkin' awesome.