I will admit I am not a big comic book reader (unless you count Archie Comics which I used to read religiously) so I wasn’t quite sure what Iron Man did, except for what I saw in the trailers. I knew he was a Marvel superhero. I know I like most superhero/superpower movies that I’ve seen. So with little expectations, I stood in a line outside the movie theater to get a seat (after we changed tickets for a later time when the first one had absolutely no seats in it). I can say I was not disappointed. I wouldn’t give it a fantastic review like most critics have been giving it, but part of that may be because I drank a bottle of wine before I went and saw an 11 o’clock movie so I was kind of tired at the beginning of it.

 

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a really rich man who runs his family’s business of making weapons to supply to the U.S. government. He graduated from MIT at a young age and is pretty much a genius when it comes to technology. He lives in a cool glass house on a cliff in Malibu. He is kind of a loner, kind of a rebel. He gets captured by some Middle Eastern men who try to force him to build them a weapon. Instead he builds an iron suit that can fly, shoot fire, basically kick their tails. When he gets back home, he goes about perfecting his suit and making it the ultimate machine. I like that RD Jr. plays characters that aren’t too far from who he really is. The last thing I saw him in was “Charlie Bartlett” where he was a selfish alcoholic which was pretty much RD Jr. for the past decade. Now he’s cleaned up his act, but I like him as Tony Stark because he’s not trying to be something he’s not. He is what he is and I really admired that in his character. He’s not trying to be some suave ladies man or anything, but he definitely gets some ladies in his own way. Gwenyth Paltrow played Pepper Potts, Stark’s tall assistant who pretty much keeps him in line all the time. She’s funny and a bit of a damsel in distress, but also doesn’t put up with a lot of his crap. (Trivia: The only reason Paltrow took this part was because she would be close to home so she wasn’t far from her little kids.) Jeff Bridges plays the creepy villain (mostly scary because of his bald head which is really shaved) who builds his own iron suit to try to take on Iron Man. Terrence Howard plays a member of the U.S. government and Tony’s friend. He has to battle with Tony trying to wage his own war versus what the government is doing to protect our friendly skies. There isn’t a whole lot to the story to tell. Tony battles good and evil, trying to keep his weapons from getting into the wrong hands. Bridges character is mad because he helped build Stark Industries with Tony’s dad and it all got ripped away from him and given to Tony. He’s jealous so he wants to wage his own war. Battle ensues. I like the scene where Stark goes to a press conference to address (or dodge) the events of the previous night. He is given an alibi and prompted what to say. Stark, being the guy he is, doesn’t quite stick to the lines. In the end, good conquers evil. Or does it?

 

If you haven’t heard by now, this is one of those where you have to wait past the credits for the special scene. In this one, Stark comes into his house and is told to get the m.f.ing snakes of the m.f.ing plane. Okay, watch it and you’ll get it. It segues into Iron Man 2 and apparently a lot of other comic book stuff which I kind of knew, but was told all about by Jayme (all around comic book nerd and brainiac). Overall I thought the movie was entertaining. I guess I don’t know enough about the comic book to be all that hyped, but it was still pretty good. I am always a fan of the normal person who is a superhero because he can build or afford really cool things (a la Batman). It gives all us little guys hope. At least until we wake up and realize I have innate superhuman powers and can turn people into stone.

 

Rating: Three and a half rocket launchers.