Comicology Iron Man Movie Review

Today, I, along with Cinemabuzz and Fritzified, saw Iron Man during the blocked ETC (thanks, ETC) screening at Glorietta 4, and we joined the universe in a collective fanboy shriek of glee. It’s easy to say that it rocked, but here’s my review to tell you just how much it rocked, and if it could’ve rocked any harder.

I’m going to say what I particularly loved about it, and things that maybe could’ve been done differently, but worked nonetheless.

Let me start things off by giving special thanks to someone:

Thank you, Jon Favreau, for making fanboys all over the world very, very happy. Really, thank you.

The Story: I love how they tried to stick to the modern re-telling of Iron Man’s origins, and it fit very well. It just flowed the way I would expect it to, like a superhero movie. Don’t expect a grand tale of deceit, treachery, twists, turns and suprises, because this is a superhero movie, and not anything intricate like the Bourne movies, but it worked.

It had elements and bits of Iron Man stories throughout the years, and even though I am dying to say what they were, I want to keep this review 100% spoiler-free. Let’s just say that there were things from 80s, the feeling of Armor Wars, a major thing from the Volume 3 of Iron man series.

Even though it was nothing like V for Vendetta with the depth, it was just a great fanwank, which will leave any fan, whether casual or hardcore, a happy THAT WAS SO FUCKING AMAZING feeling that I’m sure Jon Favreau and company are proud of delivering.

The Casting and Characters: The casting was almost perfect. Almost. Though it worked, there were just a few things that my wanting-to-be-spoiled self felt required, though they really weren’t.

Happy Hogan didn’t play as big a role as he could have, but that’s okay, since if he did, they really couldn’t fit that whole triangle between Hap, Tony and Pep within two hours. So, yeah, like I said, it works. Maybe in the next film, hm? Oh yeah, and the guy who played him was too busy directing.

Also, Jarvis isn’t the Jarvis we’re used to. Is that a good thing? Well, yeah, it worked. Maybe putting him there how we’re used to seeing Jarvis would make him seem too much like Alfred, huh? So, yeah, it was perfect.

Jim Rhodes wasn’t as bad ass as I wanted him to be. My vision of Jim Rhodes is this straight-arrow military-type bad ass. You know, a War Machine personality. Terrence Howard was just too soft, but that’s okay, since they might give his character time to develop.

Robert Downy, Jr. played Tony Stark perfectly. It was almost as perfect a fit as Patrick Stewart and Professor X. It’s just like Favreau said, RDJ was born to play Stark. He nailed the lovable jerk persona perfectly. He captured the wit and humor I’ve always liked about Tony Stark; you know, the "i’m better than you" sense of humor.

The Effects: Oh man, Industrial Light and Magic does not disappoint. The technology you see Stark build in the comics really came to life in the movie.

The Mark I, Mark II and Mark III armors moved the way I’ve always pictured them to move- as graceful as possible while being in a form-fitting tank. The design of the armors were consulted upon by Mr. Adi "Extremis Armor" Granov, who is responsible for the latest design of Iron Man’s armor.

Although the movie didn’t feature as many off Iron Man’s armaments and moves as it could’ve, it featured the ones that mattered and were relevant to the film. The repulsor blasts were the epitome of pure beauty. The uni-beam was obscenely geekgasmic. Unfortunately, no pulse blasts, though, but that’s okay,  I never really liked those so much.

Maybe we’ll see the triangle chest thing in the Avengers movie?

The foley in the movie fit the sound of the armor just as one would imagine it. Well, maybe a little less noisy like an old garage door, but yeah, almost perfectly like that. The sound really gave the feeling of weight of the armor.

All in all: I loved it. If Facerockery, Cinemabuzz and I do another list in a decade or so, Iron Man will definitely top that list. Definitely.

All political propaganda notwithstanding, the movie was all I expected it to be and a lot more. It gave a lot of those "OOH I KNOW WHAT THAT IS! moments, which I’m sure annoys the fuck out of the guy next to you. I will see this two more times in the cinema, and then I’ll buy the video game, and then I’ll buy the DVD when it comes out. It is absolutely magnificent. I give it:

Five out of Five War Machines!

TIP: Wait until after the credits role to see something AWESOME. Trust me! You’ll be glad you did.