ihatethunderbay wrote:The movie stayed true to its source material instead of cocking it up because the director's a douche (see: X-3, Spidey 3)
Only thing I would have changed would be the final battle, I thought it was a little anticlimactic, and I'd toss some more suit action in there but damn did they set up perfectly for a sequel.
SPOILERS IN MY POST, so don't read if you want to see the movie.
Anyone who says Sam Raimi is a douche should be watching UWE BOLL films. The man who created The Evil Dead series is looked up to by tons of filmmakers even today. He's like the CULT FILMS GOD! Granted, Spidey 3 I did not enjoy. emo peter parker? He's supposed to become violent and criminal!
I accidentally deleted some of what ihatethunderbay says in her quote, but she's right about Robert Downey Jr. He made this character come to life and did an awesome job at it. I used to read the Iron Man comics, and while Tony Stark in those comics isn't comedic, his darker more serious persona wouldn't translate well into film. They stayed very true to the comics with this movie though and that's one reason it was done really well.
Another thing that was done well was the directing without a doubt, but as soon as I heard that Jon Favreau was directing I was like YES!!! Why? Because he directed Zathura... now that might not seem like a big deal, it was a kid's movie, it's not legendary or a GREAT masterpiece of film that people talk about often, BUT he did that movie with as little CGI or computer rendered special effects as possible. They built TONS of different sets and actual effects that were happening in front of the actors. He wanted to go old school, the way they did movies before they had all of the computer technology and he still believes in doing things that way, even if it takes twice as long and is way more expensive. That being the case, I knew that Iron man wasn't possible without visual effects done on computers, but i knew that I wouldn't be looking at a movie like the HULK where the main hero is completely computer generated and that's always a good thing!
The downsides to the film... Gwyneth Paltrow. I've NEVER liked her acting... She's always been extremely overrated and this time she proves it. She had some of the WORST line reading I've ever seen. Normally I'd think my opinion is biased because of my dislike for her lack of skill already, but when other people in the theatre around you start making comments like "WTF WAS THAT!? That was Horrible acting!" You know you weren't the only person who's jaw dropped at how distractingly bad her acting was at some parts.
The other part that was cheesy was when Obidiah Stane, the bad guy says "MY SUIT IS MORE ADVANCED THAN YOURS IN EVERY WAY!" Okay... cut that line out in the DVD release please... He's using Tony's prototype model to create his suit... Sure, it's larger and stronger, but it's slower and clearly has less mobility... Not only that, but Tony freaking rips out wires in the back of the suit when he jumps on top of Obidiah... Yeah really advanced buddy... you left a bunch of important wiring free for people to rip out!!
The end fight was a bit short, but I liked that, because it FINALLY wasn't one of those hero movies that builds up to a huge climactic battle. How many times have we seen that? The whole movie was a great ride and it's the starting chapter of a superhero's life. I think that was an awesome thing. He wasn't supposed to be able to kick ass yet. He's new at this!
Anyway, that's just my opinion... and we're going to be hearing a lot about the success and great ratings Iron Man is getting for a long time.