Disclaimer: Some spoilers may be found in the post. Read at your own discretion. Also, Iron Man was fantastic.
There, I said it. I thought the movie was great.
Robert Downey Jr. shines as Tony Stark. I had my qualms about the casting of Mister Jr. for the lead role, but all those doubts are now but small irritating voices in my head. As a friend of mine said, maybe he could relate to the character of a rich playboy alcoholic, I dunno. He played it well, that’s for sure.
The supporting cast did adequately. James Rhodes was tolerating enough. Obadiah Stane was conniving enough. Pepper Potts was pretty and smart enough.
I thought there were a few small problems with the movie though, which I already posted somewhere else before. But don’t feel cheated, because I’ll even copy paste it for you, with some additional snide remarks to boot:
I felt too much attention was given to Tony Stark’s transition to Iron Man, and focus on Iron Man himself was lacking. True, it’s the first movie in a possibly long series, but I was expecting more asskicking. They only showed what, one skirmish outside the USA? The last fight was a wee bit too short, and a little lacking in oomph as well – I felt Iron Monger was defeated waaay too early and easily.
Also, there were some scenes which I think could’ve served better if they were switched around. The flashback after the opening, I thought it could’ve been better if it were shown first, everything chronologically. Or maybe that’s just because I watched the trailer too many times and got used to the order of the storytelling.
Lastly, there were too many sappy lines, especially with regards to Tony Stark’s new direction in life. I just didn’t like them. It felt like watching one of those Christian TV series where there’s a moral lesson every five minutes. Blah.
That being said, I still enjoyed the movie thoroughly. That scene where he first tests the flight capabilities of the suit (the real flight capabilites), damn! I will always dream about that now. How awesome would having one of those suits be?
And the soundtrack still managed to fit although it was obviously heavily influenced by the first Guitar Hero game. Like about many things in life, I once thought that the choice of using the Black Sabbath song of the same name was pushing it, but I was wrong: in retrospect it wasn’t so bad after all. I’m just not too sure that non-fans of old skool rock will love the rest of the tracks.
This is just Jon Favreau’s fourth film, but it’s already well done. Cheers, direk.
Uh, yeah OK this is where I stop talking. Go watch.