As a sucker for Marvel movies, I couldn’t pass up Iron Man. Even though I didn’t follow the Iron Man comic books when I was younger, I was still familiar with the basic storyline and characters.
The movie starts off by changing some of the original story to a more modern day story involving Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) running into a few IEDs and his HMMWV convoy getting attack in Afghanistan.
The original Iron Man story was written by comic god Stan Lee. Tony Stark was injured in a similar incident during the Vietnam War. He was also based on Howard Hughes. In his early years, instead of fighting terrorists, Iron Man focused on fighting communists.
They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I prefer the weapon you only need to fire once. That’s how dad did it, that’s how America does it, and it’s worked out pretty well so far.
- Tony Stark (Iron Man Movie)
The movie was better than most other comic book movies and the actors did a pretty good job playing their roles. When I first saw the movie trailer a while ago, I was unsure about how Robert Downey Jr. would do as Tony Stark, but I actually think his real life persona and life played well into this portrayal of the character. I’m sure the writer change some aspects of the story to better fit Downey and I think it worked.
As with the recent Marvel movies, there were a few little hints at other comic book heroes and organizations such as S.H.I.E.L.D. and Terrence Howard’s character looking at a prototype Iron Man suit saying “next time, baby.” (In the comic books, Rhodes eventually takes up the suit and becomes War Machine along with filling in for Tony Stark as Iron Man).
The soundtrack was extra nice for those of us that remember the good old days of rock. It contained great songs such as “Back in Black” (AC/DC), “Institutionalized” (Suicidal Tendencies), and – of course – “Iron Man” (Black Sabbath).
IMDB gives it a 8.4/10 and I’d say it was definitely one of the better Marvel movies. I’m curious to see if they can settle on keeping Downey as Tony Stark and make a few more movies instead of switching to a different actor (as they are doing in the upcoming Incredible Hulk movie).
I agree on the review. Maybe for me it’s a 9 out of 10.
One of the (couple of) things I would have changed is the very-end words: “I’m Ironman”. Revealing IM’s identity is like losing the advantage any “masked” superheroe has: no one knows who is behind the mask, so no one can attack him/her while sleeping :)
BTW, the “ten rings” also means something … a big foe could appear in an eventual sequel … guess who?
@Pete,
I agree after watching the movie, that was the first thing that I mentioned (re revealing identity). However, it might set up nicely for part 2 where they kidnap him and Rhodes suits up to save him thereby making him just sound like he is still a bit messed up from the combat stress, etc.
I actually had a kick at the ending when he said “I’m Ironman”. It just fits well with the character the movie was trying to build. Since the beginning of the movie, he was portrayed as a flamboyant individual (fancy sport cars, partying, displaying self-images in company presentation, appearing on magazine covers, and painting his ironman suit red). Since I have no preconception of ironman from comic book, I feel like the movie ends well. Tony Stark is obviously not someone who would want to be a silent hero.
Love the movie!!! It definitely exceeds my expectation.
the movie was done very well…but they just ruined everything by revealing identity of iron man’s identity…no one except for the avengers and the mandarin are really supposed to know who he is…its retarded
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