MARVEL COMICS DOES IT AGAIN!!!…another comic book turned into a great motion picture and this year’s mega-blockbuster. Director John Favreau captured the essence that is the Iron Man comic book and brought it to life in a fun way that will have the whole family cheering. His choice of actors was superior as each person was able to capture the essence of their comic book counterpart.
Iron Man is the story of billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey, JR). Betrayed, tortured, and left for dead, Tony battles back for life by dedicating his scientific and technological skills to stop the misuse of weapons bearing the Stark Industries name.
The “Iron Man” is a way to use the Stark Industries weapons as they were originally intended to be…protecting the innocent.
Robert Downey, JR does a magnificent job in his portrayal of Tony Stark. Call it typecasting but whom else could play a womanizing, self centered, drunken, billionaire? He pulls off this role as if he was born to play it.
Stark is joined in this quest by his sexy assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) who helps keep the day-to-day items running in the Stark world. She knows all of Tony’s secrets and will help him with everything. Sidekick James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Terrance Howard) is the moral compass that aids Tony with the technology research.
Iron Man has a believable group of adversaries that help keep this adventure grounded in the real world. The terrorist organization called The Ten Rings is the Al Qaeda of the Iron Man world. The Ten Rings want to use the ill-gotten weapons as a means to an end and won’t let anyone or thing get in their way. The organization is run by Raza (Faran Tahir) and long time Iron Man readers will notice that he resembles the Mandarin, an ancient warlord that longed to hold the ten mystical rings of power. Tony’s business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), is a master of the corporate world and has his own plans for Stark Industries. He’ll stop at nothing to gain power via the arms sales to the US Government and any organization that can pay for his services.
Humor, action, and adventure, are all at hand making this movie suitable for a family outing this weekend. With a nice balance between action and story, Favreau was able to move the plot forward without compromising story elements for un-needed/thrown in, action sequences. Staying true to the source material was the number one priority and it shows.
I stayed to see if there were any additional scenes after the credits and in the screener copy I saw there were none. However, I have read that the version hitting theaters will have a bonus scene after the credits. Either way, I’m sure that it will be on the DVD when released. Here is a link to Slashfilm.com detailing the story.
Iron Man is rated PG-13, has a run time of two hours, is directed by John Favreau and distributed by Paramount Pictures. This is the way to start the summer of 2008.
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Written by: Plus1 on Thu, May 1, 2008