Iron Man Review

Iron Man (Rated PG-13)
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, and Gwyenth Paltrow
Directed by Jon Favreau

The "they shoulda" is a common term amongst fanboys. It's usually a term reserve specifically for failed sorylines, but most often it is used for movie adaptations of favorite character:
"They shoulda gave Spider-Man his webshooters!"
"They shoulda put Doomsday in SuperMan Returns!"
"They shoulda had the Shi'Ar in X-Men 3."
"They shoulda had more fight scenes in the Hulk."

Oh, it goes on and on. Even, I'm guilty of it:
"They shoulda set the Fantastic Four movie in the 60s."
"They shoulda used two X-Men sequels to tell the "Phoenix" story."
"They shoulda have made The Punisher a 1970s revenge flick homage."
"They shoulda made Ghost Rider more about Johnny Blaze's father and less about Eva Mendes."
"They shoulda used the Danny Elfman theme in BatMan Begins."
You ask any comic book fan, gamer, or sci-fi reader and they'll have a laundry list of "they shouldas" to any movie adaptations. Even the ones they like.

So imagine my surprise when Iron Man, Marvel's first official salvo to regain creative control of their movie projects, is "they shoulda"-less. It is actually quite quintessential.
Marvel's original premise for the character seems to remain quite timely no matter what era and, director, Jon Favreu has more than enough faith in the concepts to let them stand on their own. There is very little tinkering with Stan Lee's original ideas. Re-igniting one of my personal favorite "they shouldas." Which is that Iron Man should be about war profiteering and the

shifting of the moral compass. Favreau gets that and in the process joins a short list of fanboy-friendly filmmakers (but let me tell you, that list is fickle.)

Amongst a plethora of actors that you would want in a movie of this nature but never thought you'd see, Robert Downey Jr., metallically, shines. Downey's quick, wordsmith, wit is all his own and it's hard to imagine anyone else playing the role. He carries a good chunk of the film on his repulsor ray shoulders, allowing, cinephile, Jon Favreau to create (with ILM) the most consistently seamless effects work I've seen in a long time. Seriously, the digital stuff holds up to scrutiny. I know. I was squinting my eyes every time Iron Man went into the air.

The rest of the cast does well with what they have. Terrence Howard's always apologetic; Jim Rhodes is consistently understated (if sometimes pussified) in his performance (a good counter balance to the jet propelled action/adventure. Paltrow is, surprisingly cute and naïve as Pepper Potts, only managing to be annoying in 2 brief bits. And Jeff Bridges, looking more like Kris Kristofferson than "The Dude," manages to create a steely-eyed industrialist partner for Downey and the turns him on a dime with little to-no-effort.
In actuality, Iron Man is an oddity. A Superhero movie for the actors as much as it is for the fans.

"They shoulda" tried this a long time ago.