As the initial installment of the Iron Man film franchise, "Iron Man" is pretty solid, but I wasn't wowed by it, and felt it to be a little too simple in the plot department. I enjoyed watching Tony Stark's technological ingenuity come alive on the screen, and Robert Downey, Jr. is well-casted as Stark, in fact, all the footage with him developing the Iron Man suit is fun and nifty. Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts was awkward for me, she just seemed off her acting game in many scenes. Jeff Bridges and Terrance Howard were solid in under-written roles.

Directorially, I thought Jon Favreau's direction to be mildly boring and staid in long stretches at a time, but the 2nd unit direction with the action scenes to be more entertaining and lively, though I was hoping for a little more imagination in the action sequences. Favreau's main problem is that he settles for giving the viewer "coverage"/wide shots, and as the film rolls on, it's visually uninteresting, and I wished he'd use some more background music to prop up some of the scenes. Also, the cinematography is average and serviceable, but doesn't quite hit the right overall tone throughout the film.

It may seem I wasn't thrilled by the film, and on some levels, that's true, but it won't disappoint the masses, and I think most viewers will enjoy it. I will look forward to the next installment, but I hope Favreau won't be directing it.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

P.S. Oh yeah, stay for the extra scene at the very end of the credits, that was pretty neat.

Ooh, sweet.

Just got back from it. Best superhero movie. Ever.

Absolutely loved it. Funny, cool, visually stunning. Great acting by all.
One of the best summer movies ever. One of the est comic book movies ever.
Iron Man, Indy, Batman, Hellboy, Hulk, X-files. These all look so good I know I wont be lucky for them to all be as good as Iron Man. If they are I demand this summer be referred to as Kick-Ass Cool Movies Summer from now on.
Thank you Jon Favreau for doing such a good job on this. IM not even very knowledgeable on Iron Man. Never read an Iron man comic. All I really know are the basic facts and the trading cards I used to have of him and that really fun Avengers game I played as a kid and in which I always played as Iron Man.
I would love to see this make 300 million so we get at least one sequel.

It was a great film. A really really great film.

I'm glad that Marvel is doing something that DC should have been all along. tagging together their franchise films. I mean, hell, how easy would it be to put together a franchise DC film under WB compared to Marvel who's rights are all over the place. And yet they are doing it very well.

I must say it's the best comic book movie i've seen. my favorites were x-men 2, spidey 2, and batman begins. favreau and downey nailed tony stark to a tee. downey jr. was perfect. he could've stayed out the armor and he could've carried the film. perfect casting all around. jeff bridges was probably the best adversary I've seen opposite a hero. his Obadiah character blew spacey/Lex's character away. he was that good. can't wait for number 2. what can anyone nitpick at? the movie was flawless. it didn't drag, it had great flow.

Watching it a second time, I enjoyed some of the nuance more. I still think Favreau doesn't have the handle on the action that this film required, but the character scenes were all excellent.

I will say though, the entire time the movie was playing, I couldn't get The Dark Knight trailer out of my head.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Harold and Kumar. Iron Man.

This easily has some of the best few weeks of mainstream cinema.

I dug it, especially for an origin story. Everything I would say has already mentioned, but Downey Jr. made this film.

I went to a 10pm screening this evening which was about 80% full. Everyone who stayed for the scene after the credits went absolute apeshit.

I thought it was pretty good. Not the epic battle at the end that I was hoping for though.

A 'B'.

= J

There wasn't any mindblowing action, nor much action at all, but I thought Iron Man was an incredibly serciveable comic book film and one of the better ones I've seen of the genre. The focus on character, and the humor provided throughout meant the film carried a nice, light-hearted tone without taking 'comic' to the extreme. For an origin story, the pacing was very tight and I agree with most who say the 2 hours pass at a nice click. Putting it on a pedestal up there with Batman Begins is a stretch, however. I enjoyed, decent all round.

And I'm sure it wont be up for long, but for those who walked out before the end of the credits:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jcj6Y-WWX14

So going to see this again Sunday.

I will say I was slightly annoyed by the fact they didn't show more how he was HIDING making the MARK 1 suit. I mean, they had video cameras.

Loved it. Downey was fantastic.

Although it pissed me off in a way...not at Iron Man, but at the Fantastic Four movies. Loved how dynamic Downey was, how he never stopped moving it seemed - always brimming with new ideas. It was like you could see the gears turning in Tony Stark's mind always. Contrast that with Ioan Gruffuld's turn as a sad sack Reed Richards...I wished we had seen Reed inventing all sorts of stuff as like an afterthought, showed what kind of genius he was.

Anyways, highly recommend Iron Man.

TK

I went to see this last night at the brand new Warren Theatre in a small town right outside of mine. It's a beautiful experience. Nice digital production and a huge screen. Iron Man looked amazing and I really enjoyed it.

The problem:

The whole town lost power and the theatre went black. Tony was getting up to make a speech and says something like, "It's been a while so I'm just going to stick to the cards." Theatre completey loses power. I was pretty pissed.

I enjoyed what I saw though. Robert Downey Jr. is amazing.

Nothing new to add-it just was as good as I thought it was. What a great start for Marvel Studios. I hope Incredible ulk is equal as entertaining. Marvel needed this o be good and it is, cuz seriously it has been diminishing returns since Spiderman 2.

Only two things I noticed that were lackluster: 1) the score-pretty standard, almost TV level and 2)Rhodes was vastly under-developed. No explanation for his friendship with Stark (if you know the comics then you know, but general audiences were left in the cold).

It was refreshing to see a comic character, not caught up in a love story, not trying to be a hero, not trying to conceal his identity, fabulous-Iron Man is a fantastic way to kick off this summer.

I'd imagine their relationship will be explored more when War Machine becomes more of a focus.

I loved the flick. Kickass ride. Maybe not up to Spidey 2 level... certainly not up to Begins level, but definitely in the top tier of Superhero flicks (and it's only the origin! Think what the sequel coudl be like...)

Downey as Stark WAS this movie. Brilliant casting.

Seeing it again tonight with a different group of friends... can't wait for their reactions (and the after-credits badassery which I missed last night!)


-Doc

I think it easily surpassed Spider-Man 2, but then again, I really don't understand all the love for that film.

I'd rank it right up there with Batman Begins and I can't imagine how The Dark Knight will be either to top either one of films. I can't wait to find out tho'.

Saw it last night at a very, very empty sneak preview (maybe a dozen or so fellow attendees).

Liked it plenty. Pretty much what I was expecting, an entertaining flick, made slightly above average because of Downey's performance. He was perfect as Tony. Some really solid laughs and nice looking action, though the pacing is a little bit off...

I was happy that it wasn't just batshit crazy robot fighting, I much enjoyed the scenes with Downey outside of the full suit(not that the action is bad, RDJ is just so much fun to watch). I got a kick watching him develop the suit obsessively through trial and error.

The only real complaint I had was the tone/physicality of some of the film... the war scenes seemed too heavy handed (yet I never felt real danger)... when for a majority of the movie the reality is very comic book like (silly and some of the violence is very slapstick). However, the war setting and political environment are relevant and mostly don't feel too forced.

I can say I am pretty excited for the next installments. The potential for a great sequel is there...much as Spiderman was pretty good, but Spidey 2 was amazing (it's my fav super hero flick)

As others said, great way to start the summer season. It's like the fluffer before Indy 4 comes in and finished the job.

It was a good movie, but I didn't love it. Batman Begins/Spiderman 1 and 2/X2, are all so much better. Robert Downey Jr. was the best part of the movie and the special effects were nearly flawless. There were alot of slow bland parts though that could have been cut, or maybe more action added in. I'm really not sure why it is getting such high reviews, it is just an good super hero action movie. It needed to be much darker too. It's still an enjoyable movie and worth the money, but I will probably never watch it again.

8/10

dark knight will finish the job

It is amazing really, I thought Christian Bale was the perfect casting for Batman / Bruce Wayne, but I think RDJ even surpasses him in his role of Tony Stark / Iron Man. This movie truly wouldn't even be talked about if it was not for the fact RDJ delivers the goods and more.

I didn't catch one of the many easter eggs. I don't know how to do that spoiler tag thing, but it involves a villain and rings. Where was that?

Same here. I'll get to Iron Man this weekend, but if Spidey 2 is supposed to be the measuring stick that all comic-superhero-flicks are judged by, I'm sure I'll be in good hands.

I loved it from start to finish, just a hell of a ride...my only small complaint is that we don't get enough of Stark as Iron Man, doing his thing, before we're thrust into the finale... I wanted to see him doing more before the big showdown...which didn't get quite epic enough IMO. I think these minor issues just have to do with the fact that it's an origin story, they didn't want a bloated running time and of course, they had to leave us dying to see Iron Man 2...which they certainly did.

The cast was great, RDJ was born to play this role and I thought Gwyneth was surprisingly good as Pepper. A great start to the summer season and I'll be seeing it at least once more this weekend!