Short version: While not perfect, it comes pretty damn close - Iron Man is one of the best superhero movie adaptations to hit the big screen so far.
Finally. It’s here.
And yes, you can rest easy - especially if you’re a long time Iron Man fan, this movie will rock your world. If you’re not, get ready to witness the launch of the next big superhero franchise.
Believe it or not, this is one of the more difficult reviews I’ve written. I’ve been a huge supporter of this film, the production and Jon Favreau since day one, and I’ve also been looking forward to it probably longer than most of you reading this have been alive. So it was difficult to balance the fanboy love for the character and the fact that I want it to do well, with an objective look at the film as a whole.
So, without any further delay, here’s my review, free of any major spoilers…
The movie opens with the very familiar scene of Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) riding in a Humvee with some soldiers in what is presumably Afghanistan. Although we’ve seen about a minute of this scene in trailers and clips, there’s much more to it that’s very funny and serves to start giving us a sense of who Stark is almost immediately. He’s a billionare, but he’s very engaging and as far from “stuffy” as you can imagine. Within a couple of minutes he puts the intimidated soldiers at ease.
Of course just as that happens all hell breaks loose when an explosion takes out the vehicle ahead of theirs and brings their convoy to a stop. They’re obviously outgunned and the vehicle (and soldiers are peppered with armor piercing bullets. Stark manages to get away from the vehicle and behind cover where he tries to call for help, but (as we’ve seen) he gets hit by shrapnel from another explosion.
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