Iron Man

In what can be called the "official kick off to the summer movie season," Iron Man definitely opens up with a bang. Literally. One of the many downfalls or weak points in comic book movies of late has been what I refer to as "Origin Story Syndrome." With results ranging from a tedious 30 to 40 minutes of a nerdy Peter Parker coming into his new powers in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man to the heavily character driven vision-quest of Bruce Wayne that took up more than half of in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (the latter succeeding by leaps and bounds in my book.) When we are introduced to Tony Stark (played perfectly to a tee by my favorite revolving door rehab client, Robert Downey, Jr) we're barely given enough time to get comfortable in our squeaky theater seats before the first explosion is set off, thrusting our protagonist into the birthing process of a hero in the making. The different in this origin story is the way in which it's developed inside the over-arcing storyline within the film. At no point did I find myself thinking, "Well, ok, when the hell is he going to become Iron Man, already?" mainly because I was so enthralled with Tony Stark as a character. Whereas most comic book adaptations are all about the hero and the villain and overcoming the evil plot, these elements are melded perfectly within the story of a man coming to terms with his personal and moral obligations after becoming a victim of his own naivety and carelessness.

As I said before Robert Downey, Jr personifies Tony Stark completely. From his performances in Zodiac and Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang the choice was golden from the start. Jeff Bridges plays a perfect villain as Obadiah Stane and Terrence Howard plays a decent best friend/sidekick (or future War Machine.) The only character I felt was a bit of a misstep was Pepper Potts, played by a whimsically vacant Gwenyth Paltrow. It's not that she's untalented, I just don't think she really knew what to take from the character, resulting in a clicheic and sort of blank character that really doesn't do a whole lot for the film. Also, just for fun, look for Peter Billingsly's cameo (Ralphie from 'A Christmas Story,' yeah, he's in there.)

Overall, a good start for Marvel's independent production studio (now their own entity.) Jon Favreau (director and actor protraying Stark's chauffeur) obviously has a love for the character and the genre and let's it show onscreen without regret. With the sequel greenlit and rumored to be in early development already, let's hope that Marvel doesn't let old habits die hard and ruin it the way that X-Men 3 and Spider-Man 3 flew the coop and kicked it's entire audience in the teeth.