IRON MAN!

Yes, happy May Day! So I saw the movie tonight, as you can tell from my quick use of the exclamation mark...it was indeed good. Very good. I attended with a likely band of brigands and scalawags, the usual suspects actually; Brianwalker, Andy, and Raymundo. This being Andy's idea as a matter of fact, so kudos to him. But enough, it was in fancy DLP digital whatcha-ma-callit, it looked beautiful.

I still say Unbreakable is the best superhero movie of all time, but it did so for so many different reasons and levels, it's almost unfair to lump into the four color world of name brand heroes. Up until tonight, I contended that the Incredibles (Brad Bird's the man) were solidly in the number two slot. Again, we're not dealing with storied and honored licenses dating back to the Golden Age of comics, but some great new superhero additions. Tons of honorable mentions too; Batman Begins, Blade, X / X2...now there's this one, this Iron Man that's been so anticipated. It was well worth the wait.



With a soundtrack straight from my iPod, a cocksure Stark that only Downey could pull off, and some of the best droolfest eye-candy graphics I've seen to date, this movie kicked like an Arkansas mule! My only real complaint is that they didn't use that last line in the actual movie.

They captured the spirit of the comics in every step. Stark drank, a lot, and it was alluded that he'd being so, in excess, for a long time. Not the most admirable quality, but at least true to form. His flirtatious relationship with Pepper Potts was done well, thanks in no small part of having Gwyneth Paltrow in there. Other than modernizing the time frame, they kept his origin just about verbatim from the comics, a nice touch in this day and age where comic-to-screen continuity is thrown out the window. Stane was in it, and played a big role too, I always liked him as Stark's rival, plus being played by one of my faves Jeff Bridges was a nice touch.

They also showed many, many shots of Stark from inside his helmet, surrounded by HUD's. This visual alone hearkened back to one of the comic's staple images. I've already talked about the visuals, but they deserve a second mention. They were stunning, the CGI in this film is starting to achieve that special place of being indistinguishable from the real thing.


There will be naysayers, there always are. Just remember two things; first, we could've ended up with something like the above pic, which is just fine for the convention scene, just not the big screen! Secondly...stay until the end of the credits, trust me.