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For me this film works for one reason:Robert Downey Jr.
With game support by Gwynith Paltrow.
The general story is pretty familiar Marvel fare. Person has a personal epiphany and decides to use their 'gift' to save humanity, by violently attacking a well defined and available bad guy.
What makes this film enjoyable nonsense for me is the relationship between RD & GP. There is a degree of wit and restraint that I found engaging.
On the downside: I believe they should NOT have used Afghanistan as a backdrop for this cartoon. That is a truly terrible and tragic mess that we have done much to create, and now have our troops out there spilling blood on our behalf - not something to mix up with pretty mindless, if entertaining, pap.
M
Edits: 05/03/08Follow Ups:
nt
Looks like this was his first time directing a big budget summer action movie. Congratulations to him.
Looks like Marvel knows how to get their stuff made right.
-Tom §.
...and I haven't enjoyed R. Downey Jr. as much since his swansong "Less Than Zero".
The Pheonix ariseth!
Yes!!!
I was amazed to see that Favreau had been chosen for this project. Didn't know until his name flashed by on the closing credits.
There was much hand-ringing in the investment community about Marvel's decision to go it alone and set up their own production studio, in effect. Weren't they doing everything previously through Sony?
Their ability to choose talent, their ability to produce scripts, the production savvy, everything was thrown into doubt.
We'll they layed ace's on the table with this project. The casting was superb, the script was slick and entertaining, the special effects and production values top-notched.
We'll see if they can follow-though on the Hulk in a few weeks. The first attempt, directed by Ang Lee, should have been titled "The Abominable Hulk." What a mish-mash of non-sense, with Lee himself acting as the computer-rendered Hulk character. Marvel is taking another crack at it themselves. I am all anticipation.
some critics have said there is not a lot of action and it is more storyline and acting. NOT! this is a rollercoaster ride of a movie (that was over too quickly) and it has a terrific cast that are very likable. A terrific combination. BTW Jeff Bridges is a really good actor. He does not always do nice guys (DUDE!)
Go see it!
As a design engineer, I just know too much of the R & D process and physics to buy how he was able to pull off the stuff he did. I would take hundreds of engineers years to come up with what he did in weeks. And the multiple-dozens of G's he must have pulled in the suits would have left red mush in the bottom of it.
Still a good movie, but I didn't understand the significance of the little blurb at the end of the credits.
We'll have to agree to disagree about human caused global warming until the next global cooling scare comes along.
...and remember - it's based on a COMIC BOOK, not to be confused with real life/science/physics.
At the very end of the credits, they show some black man in Iron Man's house telling him he isn't the only Super Hero and introduces himself as part of some sort of league of super heros. I never read the comics, but I assume it is the equivelent of the Justice League Superman is part of.
Yes about the comic bood/movie stuff, but come on, he is shot with a missle and in a fraction of a second he is pushed hundreds of yards. That's hundreds of G's. Well, I guess that's just my problem.
We'll have to agree to disagree about human caused global warming until the next global cooling scare comes along.
D'uh!
;)
Suspending one's disbelief, and what can foil the experience, is a fascinating subject.
I know a lady who's kid goes to my kid's school, and one day, while waiting for the kids, she decided to start telling me how much she hates Sponge Bob Squarepants.
She specifically mentioned a scene in which there is a fire that Sponge Bod puts out using a bucket of water.
The woman said how ridiculous it was that Sponge Bob would keep a bucket of water around, since he lives under the sea; and, besides, how could a bucket of water have put out a fire that's already under water?
She said that scene was a deal breaker for her being able to enjoy Sponge Bob.
Apparently, she was OK with a talking kitchen sponge who is a fry cook in a talking fish community that includes a crab whose daughter is a whale; but that bucket of water on a fire was just too much to handle.
Anyways...
Our enjoyment of film is funny that way. Perhaps when a movie fails to make you suspend your disbelief, it is because it is not enchanting enough to take your mind off of those liberties they take with the laws of physics?
...my kid play with that lady's kid anymore.
Her logic is pretty scary.
This is a great popcorn flick with a great script, superb casting and much more depth than some comic book efforts. The effects are excellent, but it's the acting and story that take center stage, which is the only way to produce successful, involving entertainment. IMHO, Iron Man is one of the best live action comic book envisionments for the BIG screen ever done (perhaps 4.5 stars on a 5 star scale!).The plot is actually much closer to the character's origin from the 60's era comic than most other early Marvel comic characters have been re-imagined. It's worth noting that some have worked better than others (X-Men and Spidey I & II, for instance), but those that have disappointed have destroyed the charm and desecrated the memory of the material for many folks who grew up with it.
Bottom-line: The weekend numbers have Iron Man topping $100,000,000 at the Box Office with an amazing 94% positive review rating from Rotten Tomatoes cross-section! Since this achievement was accomplished with one of the publisher's lesser characters from that era the success is all that much sweeter for Marvel Studio's freshman effort. I'm looking forward to the HD (Blu-ray) release (shhh! Don't tell Jazz Inmate)! :o)
AuPh
...while it was an excellent popcorn film, it didn't have very much competition this past weekend.And it was playing on at least 3 screens per theater, about every half hour.
Not surprising it pulled in those numbers.
...wiuldn't mean anything if people didn't want to see the movie - which they did, in droves.
Think The Golden Compass. Mediocre film combined with bad WOM equals it don't matter how many screen you're on if no one wants to see the flick. High screen count will only get you so far.
Downey really nailed this, just perfect casting. Paltrow looked radiant, and Jeff Bridges was one nasty, malevolent SOB. I liked the actor that played Yinsen, too-a fairly small but memorable part.
Jeff Bridges doesn't go over the top the way so many do when the play a comic book character and Paltrow was lovely. Solid dialogue and special
effects that weren't the only thing in the film.
.
...there will have to be a sequel because the evil bald Middle Eastern mastermind was not killed - just left temporarily paralyzed.
Can't wait...
Although they did not show it directly, the movie strongly implied that the evil bald guy and his followers were all shot to death as Jeff Bridges left. Remember all the machine gun sound affects as he went off screen?
Mr. Spindlelegs
"A record unplayed is a record wasted!"
I thought he did a very good job as the nasty evil greedy prick.
The theater I saw it in was lacking in the low end, it did not feel like 2
hours. I will probably see it again this week.
Later
Rich
...Downey is excellent and makes it rise above the usual comic book genre.
And it was nice to see Paltrow back from her motherhood break with that glow in the close-ups.
Lots of fun.
I'd give it a B-.
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