Iron Man Review

There was a lot of hype around Iron Man before it's release, and the photos and trailers made it look like a fantastic movie. Robert Downey, Jr does a great job pulling off the character and was definitely the right choice for the lead. Lots of stuff blows up, there's some fighting, and an assortment of cool gadgets--what more could I want? Spoilers ahead.

Obadiah is the bad guy, played by Jeff Bridges. I have always liked his acting. However, several years ago he starred in an awesome movie called The Big Lebowski, and that movie has spoiled me. Throughout Iron Man I kept waiting for him to say "the Dude abides," or "that rug really tied the room together."

In most superhero/comic movies, I'm left wanting more backstory. Seeing the origin story is always one of my favorite parts, even if it's very untrue to the comic book. Iron Man is packed with origin and shows all sorts of great detail about the first suit, building the second suit, and the way the character changes. And I didn't like it. I kept waiting for the final version of the suit and some butt-kicking to happen, and I just kept waiting for it. Sigh.

I think the reason I didn't have much interest in the backstory isn't because it was brought to screen poorly--quite the opposite: it was executed well, interesting, and really showed the work that Tony Stark put into the suits. The reason I wasn't interested is because I was never a fan of Iron Man--he's just not that interesting of a character to me, and I never read the comic or watched the cartoons.

There was also one thing in the movie that just left me saying "heh?" Tony Stark decides that Stark Industries will no longer produce weapons... and then he starts building a sort-of super-weapon in his workshop. Yeah, ok.

Iron Man is certainly worth seeing, but I think it's more of a "must rent" than a "must see in the theater" movie.