Iron Man

I've always loved Iron Man. He has a purity of design about him. Whereas Bruce
Wayne decided he needed to teach criminals a lesson, and spent years training
himself to physical perfection, then seeking a method to strike fear into the
hearts of the superstitious, dresses as a bat, Tony Stark sees a shortcut.
Instead, he just builds himself a humanoid engine of carnage and destruction,
which takes care of both the beating people up angle, and the fear angle. Thus,
he can do all that cool superhero stuff, and still drink martinis and date
supermodels. You've got to hand it to him.

So, I was pretty damned pleased when I heard Jon Favereau was in charge, and
Robert Downey Jr was starring. These are men who know their martinis and
supermodels.

So, the plot.

Tony Stark is captured by evil Middle-Eastern types and forced to make WMDs.
Instead, he makes a suit of powered armor, kicks their asses, and escapes.
Later, having learned the hard way that being an arms dealer is wrong, he seeks
to improve the suit, become a hero, and help out the people who he's been
putting in harm's way.

Meanwhile, unrepentantly bad elements in his company get hold of his Mark I
suit, design a competing one for military use, and generally try to screw him
over. Eventually, it comes down to a duel between the super-suits.

It's good. I very much enjoyed it. Cool effects, nice performances, and in
general, satisfying for a fan to see up on the big screen, and enough
explosions and mayhem to wow the newcomer.

Downsides... well, there are three as far as I can see. First, Tony Stark is a
loner. So while he's with his supporting cast, he's a fun guy, and the
dialogue's great. He spends a lot of time in his basement talking to himself,
though. Hence, it can seem a bit sterile at times. Second, it's First
Installment Of A Superhero Franchise time. We're barely out of the genesis of
the character, and it's That's All Folks! Same problem as with X-Men 1. X-Men 2
was a much better film because the players were in place. Third - well, it
sticks its oar into the murky waters of international arms trade, and trouble
in the Middle East, but really, the whole thing seems a bit trite. Our middle
Eastern warlord is all "muhahaha, with this I can take over the world, like
Alexander the Great before me", and you kind of feel that it's all a bit cheap.
This kind of crap was getting old back in the eighties.

But taking into account that this is a) a superhero movie intended for kids and
b) we've really not got more time, then these shortcomings are forgivable.
Hopefully, we'll be getting a sequel real soon now that'll be as good as X-Men
2. The groundwork is certainly there.

7.5/10, but please, have another go.