"Iron Man" Review -- Written by Anthony Thurber

Iron Man
Year: 2008
Director: John Favreau
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Studio: Paramount Picture/ Marvel Studios
Running Time: 126 Mins
Review Rating: 4 Stars


(Contains Minor Spoilers)

Well, the summer movie season is already here, even though this is the first week of May. Iron Man is the first major film to be unleashed in Summer Movie fray. The film is based on one of Marvel comics’ most popular character and is the first film from the newly formed Marvel Studios.

The film follows Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) who runs a weapons manufacturing company that he inherits from his father, which develops and produces advance weapons systems for the U.S. government. He’s kidnapped and wounded by a group of terrorists in Afghanistan, who want him to build a weapon of mass destruction for them. In order to get out of there, he builds an advance suit that gives him special abilities.

Once he is out of there and back on American soil, he begins to build a better prototype so he can help project America. But soon he is forced into action when a greedy associate (Jeff Bridges) of his tries to take over his company. Strakes has though has help though, as his best friend (Terrence Howard) and his beautiful assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow) help him try and stop the evil that threaten him and the whole world.

Iron Man kicks the summer movie season into high gear. Director John Favereau direction of the film was very good. Even though I’ve read in a couple of reviews that some the action sequences were the only problem with the film, I thought it was good for someone directing an action film for the first time. The action helped moved the story and the Iron Man character along. His direction of the actors was very good, even though he had the luxury of working with four high-level caliber actors that have been nominated for various awards then in his previous films. Another thing that made this film very good was the special effects. The effects were very well done, especially with the Iron Man character when in battle, as the character looked like the one in the comic book.

The screenplay written by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway was very good. They did a good job developing the backstory to the Tony Stark/ Iron Man character. It was something that I wished happened in Jumper (a film released earlier in the year that was too busy setting up the next film in the first film). I liked how the screenplay spends the time developing the various relationships that Starks encounters with each of the major characters throughout the film. It also provides depth to his character as well. Also, I liked that the fact that the writers didn’t make the characters and events in the film seem too cartoonish, or redundant as they went for a realistic tone by tying in real events into the film.

The acting is definitely one of better-acted films of the year so far. The acting was just great, as there wasn’t a bad performance from any of the main actors. Most of it goes to the actors but some of it also has to go to the person or persons who cast these main roles, as the actors were perfectly cast for their roles here. This film also felt like a reunion of actors that have headlined films in the past and haven’t done much since. First, it was the first time in a while that Robert Downey Jr. has headlined a major film in a while. He was perfect for this role. Downey Jr. did a great job bringing personality and charisma to the legendary comic book character which its need. Also it’s been a while since both Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow have been in something noteworthy. They both were also very good. Bridges was very menacing as the slimy president of Stark’s company and Gwyneth Paltrow was very good as Stark’s charming assistant.

Iron Man is the first action film of the summer that is action packed and very entertaining for the comic book geek in you.