Iron Man - Good Stuff

So as a comic book nerd, I was anxiously awaiting the movie Iron Man, in theaters this weekend. I was not disappointed.

The good parts of this movie were really good. Robert Downey Jr. did a superb job of portraying the cocky, attention-starved Tony Stark (not a huge stretch for Downey, agreed) and spouted one-liners and innuendos throughout, adding a comedic element that I certainly appreciated. The special effects were amazing, with breath-taking flight scenes and aerial acrobatics, along with about as many explosions as one could hope to cram into a 2 hour film. And not to spoil things for those that haven't seen it, there is a bonus scene after the credits that left a Marvel Zombie like me drooling for more (hint: Samuel L. Jackson, need I say more?).

The bad parts were really minor quibbles that didn't take away from the movie, or wouldn't have if I didn't already know the story from the comics. A lot of the plot had been "updated" so that the "bad guys" were an Al-Queda clone and Iron Man is fighting the war on terror. That didn't really bother me. The only other complaint I had was the beefed up part of Stark's assistant Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. For a relatively minor character, she was on screen an awful lot. However, Gwyneth as a redhead is yummadumdum (redheads are my kryptonite).

Overall I have to give full props to Jon Favreau for making a comic book movie that non-comic fans can enjoy, without alienating the fans. I only wish that overpaid douchebags like Bret Ratner and Michael Bay could have done the same thing instead of driving some of my favorite franchises into the ground (X-Men 3 and Transformers, dis-respectively). My sister went with me to the movie, and she said she really enjoyed it, and she is as far from a comic book fan as they come.

props: Jon Favreau; Robert Downey Jr.; me, for being great

slops: jackass that was texting throughout the movie, with the brightest backlit phone ever; people that bring small children to PG-13 movies and allow them to yell at the screen, that is what Finding Nemo DVDs are for.