Iron Man - The Review (spoiler free)
Well Ive waited years for this movie to come to life & after finally seeing it certainly didn't dissapoint. Im going to keep this spoiler free as possible.
Jon Faverau is to Iron Man is what Sam Raimi was to Spiderman & what Peter Jackson was to LOTR. Under the pressure of launching this franchise & it being Marvels first independent production, he has delivered a game winner & guarenteed crowd pleaser. His writing & acting chops have lent themselves really well to the film & it has heart, while managing a decent range in emotional tone. You can also pick up on his love for improv during a few of the scenes & its those times that really set it apart from your standard SH fare & give it a much snapier feel. As an origin story it ranks up there with Spidermans, perhaps even a little higher from where I sit.
All the leads were on fire, especially RDJ - some of my favourite scenes he is by himself, with a few robotic friends. His suggestion of the press conference after his return from Afghanistan to have all the reporters sit down was brilliant & it shows how well the man understands the tone of a scene, I couldn't picture a better way to do it now that Ive actually seen it. The "relationship" between Pepper & Tony had the right chemistry, Terrence Howard was great as the best friend & Bridges outdid himself as the main villain of the piece (I did actually have some doubts he would be able to pull it off, but he was sensational). The character development never took a back seat to spectacle of the action, the balance between the 2 was quite excellent.
Even though its set a cracking pace, it never feels rushed...when scenes cut away to others elsewhere, it just feels right & allows you to come back to the previous scene without it feeling forced. Action sequences were stunning & the effects were absolutely top shelf as you would expect with ILM. The final showdown I would have liked to last a little longer but the way it was set up it seemed to play perfectly to the script & it was utterly brutal! I would have prefered the film as a whole to have been a little longer in sections but Im hopeful that will be contained on a Blu-ray version in the future - but for a theatrical release its pretty much spot on.
****1/2 nerdgasms out of 5
Also...STAY PAST THE END OF THE CREDITS...you might just see one bad mother fucker. ;)