Review of Iron Man (2008) by Marshall H — 28 Sep 2013

In 2008, Marvel Studios had a revolutionary idea. Their idea was to take some of their comic-book creations, develop them into films, and start their own universe. With their first release, Iron Man, Marvel was taking a massive gamble. For one thing, no one ever heard of an Iron Man, with the exception of the comic geeks, and the fact that Robert Downey Jr. was doing the role turned people off due to his drug addiction problems. But thanks to massive acclaim and positive word of mouth, Iron Man turned out to be a huge, massive smash. It relaunched the career of Robert Downey Jr. and it started the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with future films including Iron Man sequels, Thor, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and The Avengers. As for Iron Man, Marvel began their revolutionary universe in the best way possible.

In Marvel's first film in their Cinematic Universe, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), a billionaire playboy who develops weapons, heads to Afghanistan to promote a powerful missile to the American troops. Afterwards, Stark is ambushed by terrorists called The Ten Rings and forced by the leader to build the same missile for them. Instead, Stark builds an iron suit to escape the terrorists and return to America. Back home, Stark uses his new technology, called Arc Reactor technology, to protect the world from more threats.

Iron Man also stars Terence Howard as Rhodes, a military colonel and one of Stark's buddies, Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's secretary Pepper Potts, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, Stark's assistant of Stark Industries with a hidden agenda, Leslie Bibb as American journalist Christine, Clark Greg as Agent Coulson, Shaun Toub as Ten Rings captive Yinsen, a surprise post-credits appearance from Samuel L. Jackson, and Marvel founder Stan Lee cameos as a man dressed as Hugh Hefner at a party.

When watching trailers for the film, I thought Iron Man was just going to be a giant iron robot, kind of like a live-action version of The Iron Giant. But what I ended up getting turned out to be even better. In the world of superhero films, the best films tell the heroes origins in order to fully care for the superhero. That's what Richard Donner did with 1978's Superman and what Christopher Nolan mastered in Batman Begins. In Iron Man, I feel that it's one of the greatest origin stories told in a superhero film, so far the best in Marvel's films. I also loved that the film takes its time to develop the Tony Stark character before the film goes into heavy action territory. That's what a great origin story does. But when the action does kick in, the film becomes a superhero delight. Visually, Iron Man, along with the already great origin story, is incredible. The visuals were created by legendary ILM, and if you know how incredible the visuals still hold in the original Star Wars, in Iron Man, the visuals are still awesome, particularly in sequences with Iron Man in action and a thrilling climax involving double Iron suits, between Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges.

When Robert Downey Jr. was cast in the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man, many were expecting a miscast. But in the end, Downey's positive humor and expressions really pay off, and he brilliantly pulls off both the Tony Stark and Iron Man characters. While Downey really steals the picture, the rest of the casting is still strong as well. While it's still unknown whether Don Cheadle outdoes his character in the sequels, Terrence Howard was a good Rhodes. Gwyneth Paltrow is excellent as Pepper Potts, the secretary/love interest, and her chemistry with Downey is very, very memorable. Jeff Bridges, with a shaved head, is memorable as the villain Obadiah Stane, and can be menacing in some places. Clark Gregg delights as Agent Coulson, and Samuel L. Jackson's cameo in the post-credits scene is pretty memorable as well. If you haven't seen the film yet, watch the post-credits scene, which sets the stage for future films in the universe.

The score by Ramin Djawadi is very awesome. The rock-sounding themes stand strong in the development of Tony Stark and the use of Black Sabbath's epic rock classic "Iron Man" during the credits is very memorable and awesome.

Iron Man is an excellent Marvel superhero film. The origin story is well-told, the performances are very memorable, particularly one of Robert Downey Jr., ILM's visuals are simply incredible, and if The Dark Knight wasn't released in the same year, then Iron Man would have been the best superhero film of 2008. But unlike DC's ultimate masterpiece, Marvel has succeeded in creating a complete cinematic universe, making Iron Man the true winner, and the start of what will go down as the most unique and unforgettable franchise in the history of film.