Iron Man (movie)

Fun super hero movie that bullets along and never takes itself too seriously.

Robert Downey Jr. schmoozes the world as grown-up whizz-kid tycoon Tony Stark, until he realises that there's a bit more to life than his personal whim-list. Specifically, he discovers that there's also his conscience.

Jon Favreau's direction meshes perfectly with Ramin Djawadi's swinging music, to give the self-centred Stark a real charm. Much hangs upon this central characterisation, so much so that the first hour barely admits to any agenda of becoming a super hero movie.

When Stark escapes from a group of terrorists by improvising a bullet-proof flame-throwing suit of armour that can fly, despite its ludicrousness, this development doesn't feel in any way (cough) engineered.

As an occasional reader of the original Marvel comic, I was thoroughly impressed. Not only were the key players well-realised, but the use of both the first and second Iron Man costume-designs was a subtle tip-off as to what I had to look forward to in the final act.

Yeah, Iron Man fights Iron Man.

Like the armour itself, this is very well-made fun.

Available here.
Review of Iron Man 2 here.
Review of The Avengers here.
Review of Iron Man Three here.

(with thanks to Herschel)