Iron Man : Reviewed

It's been a while since I wrote any moview reviews, the last one was Beowulf. Guess I was kinda lazy to review any movies, or some of the movies that I watched weren't worth reviewing.

This year's initial Marvel movie released was Iron Man; which will be followed by Incredible Hulk, one movie that I'll definitely won't miss. I went to catch it last week, and I'd say that the movie was kinda ok.

The story began with Anthony Edwards "Tony" Stark held captive by a bunch of terrorists (ain't this a popular scene in American movies now these days?), and as the story unfolds it shows why and how Stark got himself a glowing flashlight in his chest.
Apparently he was hurt by his own bomb that threatened to kill him, and only by building himself a mini arc reactor in his chest has that kept the shrapnels from entering his heart.

Along with fellow prisoner Yinsen; Stark builds himself a suit that is powered by the reactor in his chest that would ensure their escape from the terrorists. Thus Iron Man Mark I was born, a crude but strong armor, which is actually the first version of Iron Man's armor in the comics. Yinsen dies in order to secure Stark's escape, and the once irresponsible billionaire was transformed into a more conscientious person; and a superhero was born.

Story-wise, the flow was kinda good, up to the point of Stark's rescue. Arthur Marcum and Matt Holloway wrote the script which was later polished by John August, the scriptwriters tried to stay true to Iron Man's origins, which was a good thing.

However, the villain was kind of a let-down, which turned out to be a bigger version of the Mark I, reverse-engineered by villain Obadiah Stane.

The Mark III armor was designed by to Adi Granov; a Bosnian-born comic book artist and conceptual designer, a talented young man that would be a 'future superstar penciller', according to Marvel editor Joe Quesada.

Armors Mark I, Mark II, & Mark III

Granov also happens to be Iron Man comics artist, and I'd say the armor's design was placed in good hands.

The cast was fine I'd say, Robert Downey Jr was convincing as Tony Stark, so was Terence Howard as James Rhodes a.k.a War Machine. The romance between Stark and Pepper Pots (a stunning Gwyneth Paltrow) was delivered in a platonic yet sexy innocent manner, which takes someone as observant as me to notice (ahem).

Obadiah Stane (Iron Monger) was played by Jeff Bridges, who decided to go bald and grow an Amish beard; his performance as villain I'd say was ok as well, hmm.. maybe it was because of the looks and his slang.

Overall, I'd say that the movie wasn't a let-down, and despite the flashy trailers and all director Jon Favreau managed to deliver a presentable movie adaptation of one of Marvel's famous Avengers. Be on the lookout for Incredible Hulk, as there'll be a cameo of Tony Stark appearing the film, and I do hope we get to see War Machine in it's sequel.

p/s: Stay until the credits finish rollin', you might be in for a surprise.