Review of Iron Man (1951) by Carlotta 4 — 07 Dec 2018

I maintain that this is still the best of the Marvel films, and one can easily see why it allowed the superhero genre to take off for general audiences. The reasons I still love this film are mostly character based--Downey was the perfect choice for Tony Stark, of course, and Pepper is a great "straight man" in the duo (I find their chemistry very believable even if it's a bit unhealthy at times), but it feels somewhat rare that a superhero protagonist actually goes through a MEANINGFUL story arc, and in this one he truly does--not losing the core of his personality (kind of an eccentric rich guy who does whatever he wants) but what he WANTS changes drastically from his time as a captive. I love starting the film seeing Stark as such a sleazeball and then rooting for him by the end of it as he genuinely tries to save lives and right his wrongs. It doesn't feel forced or contrived, it's a very natural character development and you can see exactly how his circumstances have affected him.

It's just a good good film. My only nitpick would be that the CGI for Jeff Bridges in the robot hasn't aged well at all (if it even looked good at release, because Ironman himself still looks fantastic).