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Film Title: Iron Man
Released: May 2, 2008
Directed by: Jon Favreau
Written by: Mark Fergus, Matt Holloway, Art Marcum & Hawk Ostby based on characters created by Don Heck, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee & Larry Lieber
Plot: When billionaire playboy genius Tony Stark gets kidnapped, he creates a suit of armor to escape. Once free, he improves upon the design and becomes the hero known as Iron Man.
IMDb: 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 93/100
My Score: 4/5
Iron Man is the 2008 blockbuster that kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, a huge shared universe of various Marvel Comics superheroes whose first phase of films culminated in Joss Whedon's The Avengers in 2012. Robert Downey Jr is Tony Stark, a deeply flawed, arrogant genius billionaire who is equal parts womanizer and philanthropist. Downey Jr is pitch perfect in the role, giving us an egotistical bad boy that we fall in love with and root for all the way. Gwyneth Paltrow is Pepper Potts, Tony's long-suffering assistant who becomes a budding love interest once Stark starts to get his priorities straight. I'm not sure that I've ever seen Paltrow look as good as she does in this film and she plays Pepper with a healthy dose of spunk, matching Downey Jr quip for quip with ease. The chemistry between these two is so believable and natural that you never once question their relationship. Jeff Bridges is Obadiah Stane, an old partner of Tony's dad, Howard Stark, and runs Stark Industries with Tony. Bridges brings more than enough gravitas to the role as required by the character's story arc. Lastly among the principal cast is Terrence Howard as Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Tony's best friend and confidant. If there was one actor I felt dragged the move down it has to be Howard. His portrayal of Rhodey made me dislike the character immensely as he just comes across as a jerk 95% of the time. I feel like the only reason he and Downey Jr are friends is because the script says that they should be. The great thing about this movie is the combination of action and humor. Downey Jr has great banter with the robotic assistants in his workshop providing several moments of levity, and the sequence of trial and error experimentation of trying to build the suit is entertaining and hilarious. Iron Man is an origin story that doesn't feel like an origin story and that is one of the its greatest strengths. The final battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger is truly something to behold. As the first film in the MCU, the movie marks the first appearances of Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury (in the post-credits scene). Co-starring its director Jon Favreau (as Happy Hogan), Leslie Bibb, Bill Smitrovich, and Paul Bettany (as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S.), the film also features cameos by Peter Billingsly, musician Tom Morello, comedian Ahmed Ahmed, and Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee. For those who don't know, Lee has a cameo in several films based on Marvel characters (most of which he had a hand in creating), a practice that stretches back to the 1989 TV movie The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. Iron Man won seventeen awards, including three Saturn Awards (Best Science Fiction Film, Best Actor: Robert Downey Jr. and Best Director: Jon Favreau), two Taurus Awards (Best Fire Stunt and Hardest Hit) and the AFI Award for Movie of the Year but was nominated for a whole lot more, including two Oscars. In a particularly painful defeat, the film was nominated for a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie but lost to High School Musical 3: Senior Year. Ouch.
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