IRON MAN

Breif personal history blurb:

The first time I ever went into a real comic store (Pacific Comics in San Diego) at age 9 (say 1976) I bought 2 comics. One was a reprint of a Lee and Kirby Avengers, the other was Iron Man (issue 86 or something). My love afair with Marvel began and I had a favorite superhero. Just saw that superhero's movie.

Iron Man is the best fucking superhero movie ever made. Fast paced without being mindless, very well acted (especially for a comic flick), contemporary without spoiling the spirit of the comics with needless social commentary, and incredible scenes of the walking (or flying) arsenal that is Iron Man. Visually stunning.

Gwyneth Paltrow was good (actaully very good), Downey was good (he became heroic in a beleivable way), and Jeff Bridges was in a role that wasn't standard Jeff Bridges. A lot of superhero movies bog down in the middle (after a big fight or during a moral dilema) or during the origin, Iron Man's origin fit in, it flowed, it had tension and was involving. This movie didn't drag at all. I'm probably not letting my bias (Iron Man fan) skew my POV too much, if that were the case I would have loved Dolph Lundgren as the Punisher (I didn't).

After thinking about the other (rare) great comics flicks like Keaton and Nicholson's Batman, the first Reeve Superman movie, or X Men 2 this one is the best. Tough to beat Nicholson and Keaton but there were some hokey elements in Batman. So we have a winner. The Iron Man cast are signed up for sequels, I hope they don't fuck up a great start.

Go see it. Go see it this weekend.

I was actually dreading this movie, because most comic book movies still suck. In particular, the Hulk movie sucked, both of the Fantastic Four movies sucked, X-3 sucked, and Superman Returns sucked like a crack whore in crackhouse.

But sometimes comic book movies are really good, like Hellboy, Sin City, and the first Spider-man movie. From what I've been hearing, this Iron Man movie might be one of the really good ones. If I can just choke back my complete disdain for Paltrow, I will give this movie a shot soon.

Shellhead wrote:

I was actually dreading this movie, because most comic book movies still suck. In particular, the Hulk movie sucked, both of the Fantastic Four movies sucked, X-3 sucked, and Superman Returns sucked like a crack whore in crackhouse.

But sometimes comic book movies are really good, like Hellboy, Sin City, and the first Spider-man movie. From what I've been hearing, this Iron Man movie might be one of the really good ones. If I can just choke back my complete disdain for Paltrow, I will give this movie a shot soon.

Yep, the movies you mention sucked. It's been a bad run for comics movies lately. Iron Man didn't. BTW he was a complete badass too. I might have to see it again before it's out on DVD.

Going to see it tonight, a bunch of friends are going so I signed on.

I'll probably post a review tomorrow.


A preview of the review: Go see it, it's damned good.

I've got some money left on a movie theater gift card just waiting for something worthwhile. Maybe I can catch this one in the theater.

I really should get off my ass and go see this in the next day or two, since every one of the customers at the comic shop I work at will inevitably ask me if I've seen it and otherwise want to discuss it. But I just can't abide opening weekend crowds at the theaters near me.

I am definitely cautiously optimistic from everything I've seen, and Robert Downey Jr. is pretty damn awesome, so I might convince the Missus that we need to take an afternoon outing on Monday or Tuesday to catch it. Hopefully then the jackassery at the theater will be minimal.

Who am I kidding, there is always jackassery aplenty at Boston move theaters...

I just saw it. I can in no way be as glowing as the OP about it (I thought it did drag, the final fight was brief, telegraphed and pretty lame) but overall it was a well above average superhero flick. I think it just goes to show if you sit down and actually cast, write and direct a superhero movie way more like a movie instead of a CGI injection system, it really helps the finished product.

It was glowing because I acheived Nerdvana in that movie. Did anyone sit through the end credits? I didn't. I missed something pretty damn cool. Fuck.

I sat through the end credits... before the movie we had some guy come out and tell us that there was something after them. It was pretty cool, though I had to ask someone what the hell it meant since I'm not a comic nerd.

I took my kid yesterday to see it and we were pleased. After all the bad comic book based movies of recent years (FF, FF2, X-Men3, Hulk,) it was nice to see a good one. The casting was solid and the writing didn't feel formulaic or laden with some social agenda. Overall I would give it a thumbs up. You get your $6 worth of entertainment.

Damn shame about the end credits. We left after Sabbath finished playing. grrr...

-Will

Now I have to go see it again.



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