Because I did promise this would be all the movies I saw in 2010, we have now run into the rather unusual situation of having a writeup on the original posted after the writeup on the sequel. But well, sometimes that's just how it goes.
Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is the world's foremost weapons developer, known as much for his caustic personality and hedonistic lifestyle as his technological genius. But a stay in Afghanistan, held captive by the mysterious Ten Rings cabal, will change all that, as Tony gets to see the destruction his inventions cause firsthand, and decides instead to focus his energy on a new project: Iron Man. Unfortunately, Tony's business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) is none too fond of the new direction of the Stark Corporation...
Iron Man is a movie without a dull moment. From the beginning scenes of torture in a remote Afghan prison to the final battle as Tony's life ticks away inside his Iron Man suit, the film is constantly tense, keeping the adrenaline flowing. The banter between Tony and (pick your favorite) his best friend "Rhodey" Rhodes (Terrence Howard) and assistant/secret crush "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) provide comic relief, and the antics of Tony's adorable crew of robots also stand between the audience and cardiac arrest at certain points. As a film adaption of a comic series, Jon Favreau's Iron Man does not disappoint: he superpowers are super, the characters are larger-than-life, and the explosions are Trinity-level at least.
Of course, on the other hand, maybe you're like me and you didn't grow up reading the Iron Man comics. Iron Man runs into some problems trying desperately to please the Marvel fanboys and girls (and 'hint' in giant neon letters at a forthcoming sequel/franchise), shoehorning in references wherever available. For instance, it's obvious that the "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division" initializes to SHIELD, but the film drags it out just for the final payoff when we hear it. A payoff that means nothing to non-Marvel geeks. There are several moments during the film where I felt this way. If Favreau had focused instead on just making a solid movie, not trying to please everyone, this would go from a really fantastic movie to—pretty much perfect. For now, though, your author clearly liked it well enough to watch it a third time, so that should tell you something.
(and what I thought about them)
About this Blog
This is here as much for my own benefit as anyone else's. I felt like it would be a good idea to keep track of the movies I see this year, and put down a little bit of review information, so I can remember which ones I might like to see again. I'm keeping it relatively spoiler-free so that it might also function as a guide for anyone who stumbles across this blog. However, I don't claim to be a seasoned movie reviewer, and a lot of the time my opinions differ from well known critics. Of course, maybe that's a good thing.
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