Friday, January 2, 2009

TBG (Finally) Sees: Iron Man


Worth the Wait? (Y/N): A very qualified "Y".

Three Things I Liked: (1) Robert Downey Jr's performance managed to live up to the hype and I'd still consider it a bit underrated. Dude nails the Tony Stark character that I read and remembered from the 1980s comic book run. (2) It's big n' loud and never takes itself too seriously – a flaw that resulted in me being the only man alive who didn't dig the X-Men trilogy. (3) The final scene at the press conference ("I am Iron Man!") was pitch-perfect.

Three Things I Didn't Like: (1) The entire supporting cast is terrible. Jeff Bridges' bald, squinty turn as Tony Stark's mentor (with a twist that's telegraphed from his first scene) is lazy and transparent. Gwyneth Paltrow sleepwalks through her lines as Stark's personal assistant – except when she's s-l-o-w-l-y running away from danger in her three-inch heels. And, Terrence Howard is ridiculously miscast as a military man/Stark confidant. (2) The climactic battle between Iron Man and, oy…"Iron Monger" is a laughable visual of "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots". (3) The pandering nods to the comic book fanboys ("Next time, baby!") annoyed the hell out of me.
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2 comments:

  1. Joe ReidJanuary 2, 2009 at 1:00 PM

    I think I made the exact same observations about the fanboy shout-outs.

    Agreed with pretty much everything here. Though I though Gwyneth did well for what she had to do, and of course I loved the X-Men movies.

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 2, 2009 at 5:40 PM

    I thought I was the only one who didn't think Iron Man was as "intelligent" as the critics insisted. That was some positively GeorgeLucasian dialogue in some parts.

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