Iron Man | REVIEW

Another name for Iron Man would have to be 'Marvel's new Spider-Man'. The only way you wouldn't know about Iron Man is if you live in a place that doesn't have Internet access, has no cable nor ordinary television, and the radio is unheard of. I bet people on that island on which Tom Hanks got stranded on in Cast Away know about Iron Man. It's that big of a success and it has brought in more bucks than any of the guys at Marvel had ever expected it to. Let's face it, Iron Man isn't as popular as Spider-Man or the X-Men or even The Hulk. Not many people I know actually read a whole lotta' Iron Man and the only thing that they do know is that he looks pretty damn cool. Let me note here that I may be horribly hated hereon for stating this, but I did NOT enjoy Iron Man as much as I would have wanted to. There, I said it. I know it's the best thing this summer (so far) and it has performed extremely well and a lot of fans are happy with what director Jon Favreau has done, but personally and to be brutally honest, the only thing I like about the Iron Man movie is the same thing I admire in the pages of the comic books; his uber-awesome armor.

For the folks who don't know, here's the info.

Iron Man tells the tale of multi-billionzillionaire war arms merchant and overall playboy, Tony Stark (played by Rob Downey Jr.) and how he happens to build himself this effin' sweet armor when he's kidnapped by a bunch of terrorist goons. The story basically sees Stark deal with internal conflict ; a man that has the capabilities to make the world a better place instead profits out of war by inventing and selling advanced weapon systems. The story begins when Stark realizes that the terrorists that have kidnapped him are also using the weapons he invented to wage war against other countries. Question is, can Stark deal with the guilt? I think you already know the answer.

When it comes to cameos and comic-hints, it doesn't get any better than Iron Man. Fans of the comic will get to see a number of familiar faces from the comics and there are a few hints about future villains and other organizations. The biggest cameo, of course, comes after the credits. You'll have to see it for yourself. I'm not an avid reader of Iron Man comics but I know enough to see that Jon Favreau and the gang stuck as closely as possible to Iron Man lore and its basic story arc, only changing a few elements to match contemporary issues.

A major part of Iron Man that stands out is the CGI and visual effects. They are amazing, I tell you. Amazing. Iron Man's armor is flawless and pure eye-candy. The gang really nailed it on that part. The soundtrack's pretty amazing, too. The problem arises when it comes to the story part of Iron Man. It seems that no matter how good Marvel gets, they always stay true to their template-style story-writing. It's always the same ol' origin story with the fight scene at the end and the predictable outcome. There's never anything different. The story always picks up in the sequel, and the third installment always ends up being the equivalent to garbage. Spider-Man 3, anyone? X-Men : The Last Stand? Blade : Trinity? I wouldn't say that story-wise Iron Man sucks. No, it's basically just weak. There's relatively little action throughout the course of the film with the end-battle being somewhat disappointing. They could have pulled-off way more than what they did, and the boss villain seems too petty to actually be a threat. More flapping of the gums and less of everything else. Hopefully there are extended scenes in the DVD release and when I say extended I mean at least 20 minutes of additional footage, not some crappy 5-minutes of seemingly 'unseen' additional scenes in a so-called 'Special Extended Edition'.

I'd say that Iron Man is definitely worth a watch, at least for the fun of it. The somewhat slapstick humor spoilt it for me, really. It was a pleasure watching Rob Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Parltrow. They have a vibe on screen that creates the chemistry between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. I'd say the movie wouldn't have done as good if it had not been for Robert Downey.

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Wrap : I give Iron Man 3 and a half stars over 5. The movie didn't set in well for me, but I had my fun watching it and they really protected their characters. Plus, the awesomeness of the armor alone is deserving of a whole 2 stars. Those are my 2 cents worth.