Iron Man

The X-Men started something - the idea that a comic book could be turned into an extremely popular movie. Certainly Superman and Batman back in the 70's and 80's respectively, proved that a comic book could be turned into a good movie, but there was always a certain "geek" factor that was associated with both those movies. The X-Men showed that a "geek" movie could be popular as well as critically brilliant. DC Comics have tried very hard to make good movies based on their material, but recently only Batman Begins hit the gong (and even then there were problems with that movie - disagree Rayfield? Hmm...ADA Rachel Dawes...discuss...). Superman Returns and Catwoman were waaayy off the mark, and the touted JLA movie is not building expectation.

Marvel, on the other hand, seem to be doing well with their movies, hitting more often than they are missing. Certainly The Punisher, The Hulk, Daredevil and Elektra were nothing to write home about, but the Fantastic Four movies, the X-Men movies, the Spiderman movies, the Blade movies, Ghost Rider have all had their merits and been entertaining, with a majority of them being quite emotionally involving as well. Iron Man is a curious choice of character to make a movie about. While an integral part of the Avengers, Iron Man is important and lends a lot, but as a solo character, I've always had my doubts about the guy.

Tony Stark is a very curious sort of hero. In the comics he is an alcoholic with a brain tumour - in the new movie, he is an alcoholic. Within twenty minutes he has a serious heart condition that requires a magentic device embedded in his chest (sounds a litle outlandish, but it does actually make sense). It's pretty obvious, then, that while the comic isn't being directly translated to the screen, the spirit of it is there. This is true in other aspects: Stark's butler Jarvis in the
comics no longer exists in the movie - but he does have a computer that runs the house and is called Jarvis. Jarvis also acts as Stark's backup when he is in the costume, similar to the team Stark has in the Ultimate comic series. And just like the comics, Stark's good friend Col James Rhodes, his old enemy Obidiah Stane and secretary Pepper Potts all turn up as well.Happily Iron Man's main opponent is Stane donning an old version of the Iron Man costume to become the Ironmonger. It's interesting to note that neither Stark nor Stane have a "name" when in their suits - Stane makes an oblique reference to being an ironmonger, while the press label Stark as Iron Man, which he is quite taken with.

So onto the movie itself. The story follows the initial idea of Stark building a suit of armour to fight his way out of a
terrorist camp. Interestingly the terrorist leader is a Mongol with a notable ring, and indeed his terrorist group are the
Ten Rings group, which is a nod to Iron Man's other prime enemy, the Mandarin - perhaps the villain in the next movie? The tin man armour is destroyed on Stark's escape, but the Ten Rings leader recovers it, and while Stark builds a new, improved suit of armour to fight the people who are misusing his weapon development programme, Obidaiah Stane gets hold of the original suit. Lots of fighting ensue...

Jeff Bridges is virtually unrecognisable as Stane, and it wasn't until he spoke that I realised it was him. With a beard and bald head he is very incognito. Terence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow (smoking hot for a change) are great as the reliable good friends of Stark, Rhodes and Pepper, but all the best lines go to Jarvis the computer (voiced by Paul Bettany). Did I say all the best lines? I mean't almost all...

In an absolute master stroke of casting to rival Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and J K Simmons as J Jonah Jameson, Robert Downey Jr steals the movie as Tony Stark. His dry delivery of all his lines is fantastic, showing a flippancy that the character needs. Downey Jr shows Stark scared, when he is captured by the terrorist, flippant in his usual persona, but absolutely thrilled to be in the suit flying. His casual flirting with all women and then an interest in Pepper, which never actually manifests completely (rare for most movies, let alone a comic book movie) all lend to creating a well rounded and very human character. Stark is clearly an alcohlic, though this is never really examined too heavily, but there's so much to do in the movie it's nice to merely indicate that it's there and not add another strand to the storyline.

I'm trying to think of a comic-based movie that is better than Iron Man, but I can't seriously think of one. For me,
Spiderman was flawed by casting Tobey Maguire who I feel was unsuited to the part, but there are no casting issues with Iron Man. X-Men was close to perfection, but it still felt like it wasn't quite there, and hadn't reached it's full potential.

That vibe doesn't come off Iron Man at all. It's a movie that is confident, funny and action packed.

"A+"