Iron Man
"So you're a man who has everything, but nothing."
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As far as big budget, high octane, summer superhero blockbusters go…Iron Man is one of the best I’ve ever seen…and I don’t say that lightly. The movie was entertaining, funny, had great special effects, a solid (basic) story, and just enough comic book charm…and I’m not even a Marvel guy…I prefer D.C. And Robert Downey Jr., who is one of my favourite actors to begin with, is just sooooo good in this movie…almost too good for a comic book movie. He’s one of the rare actors who, as my friend Alexandra once said, whenever he’s on screen, you just have to watch him…and Iron Man is no different.
As the titular character and his alter ego, billionaire playboy/genius military arms developer Tony Stark, Downey Jr. is given free reign to show us the many shades of his talent…with his sizable comedic chops the most prominent of all…and his charm a very close second. I’m sure it helped that Director Jon Favreau (Swingers) knows a thing or two about witty, sharp, fast talking dialogue…but clearly Downey Jr. took the ball and ran with it. Its pretty clear that everyone involved, including notable Hollywood heavyweights Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow, had a real good time making this movie. Sometimes that ‘vibe’ results in a bad film…poorly executed scenes by actors who aren’t really trying ‘that’ hard because it’s a movie about a superhero…but here, everyone involved is clearly having a blast, but holding back just enough so the film doesn’t devolve into a cheesy, kiddy action special effects extravaganza. Favreau deserves a lot of credit for delivering such a great big budget movie after having little experience on projects of this size. If there is to be a sequel, which I’m sure is already in the works, both he and Downey Jr. need to be on board.
Having had the bar set so high in recent years (Batman Begins, X-Men franchise), and with seemingly so many superhero’s hitting the big screen, I had my doubts that Iron Man would be a good movie…let alone a great one…
But it is!
posted by neil at 12:53 AM
4 Comments:
i loved this movie. and you're dead on about downey jr. being the perfect fit. who knew he could deliver the funny so well? ya know, if dude could just keep his shit straight and off the drugs for a while, i'd bet we'd see many more top-notch performances. and it warmed my heart to know that favreau directed it. he's been one of my faves dating back to PCU (and swingers. and love and sex. and the break up.) nice call on iron man.
thanks jeen yes.
Iron Man is his breakout comeback role...but if you want to see him deliver more funny...check out 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' on DVD...it's awesome.
Thanks for the feedback...always love talking movies.
And just a sidenote...but PCU was actually filmed in the town I grew up in. Pretty cool.
I still haven't seen it, but I may just do that today. I'd pretty much pay $10 to watch RDJr. read a grocery list, but everything I've heard about this is good.
Thanks for quoting me. :)
Oh, and jeen yes--RDJr. has been clean for years. Might wanna do some fact checking on that assertion. I would argue that there are plenty of top-notch performances in his repertoire, both pre-, during, and post-drug addiction.
see it Alexandra! you'll love it! Downey Jr. on fire!
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