Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man. I've considered myself as a DC fan. But i must say that albeit grudgingly, Robert Downey Jr. is a perfect cast in a lead superhero film. It is in my opinion, an even better choice for Tony Stark than Christian Bale for Bruce Wayne.

Tony Stark, a multi-millionare and a gifted genius is a party-goers, work-aholic, ego-centric, and a hell of a playboy. His company, Stark Industries, sell weapons and a hi-tech weapons at that. Newsmen (or for his personal indulgence preference, newswomen) often questioned his moral conscience for second-handedly delivering the means that responsible in demise of thousands, probably millions worldwide. And yet, not until his captive inside Afghanistan that he said his eyes were open and decides that Stark Inds. would no longer sell weapons. Some people weren't agreed, and one event leads to another, he invented Iron Man.

Robert Downey Jr. won't get away unnoticed after this film. He was the prefect cast for Tony Stark delivering the lavish, careless yet brilliant persona with ease. And oh, the suit. Geeks worldwide would had multiple orgasms with what Jon Favreau did with the suit. Ow yeah, it was THAT good. However, sadly, in my opinion, the suits were all that is worth my time. Although of course, as a superhero film, this film would probably goes up there along with Spider-Man 2, Hellboy, and Batman Begins. But as a film, especially - and it should be noted and underlined - a film that goes inline with my personal preference, it was too long and almost a tedious experience to endure. Of course, what'd you expect with a superhero film? Shakespeare? Therefore, this film should be enjoyed with a mind-set of a superhero film and you'd ended liking it. Exalted even. It has good portion of actions, wit-slash-wry humors that actually make the theater filled with laughters (i wasn't invited to any of the laughter party, though) and what's not to like from Tony Stark as played by Robert Downey Jr.? His final word in the film actually made me cracked a smile.

However, stellar performance for Robert Downey Jr. didn't visible in any of the supporting casts. Jeff Bridges, as much as i love him wasn't really memorable, Gwyneth Paltrow, although had actually sweet moments with Tony, utterly forgettable (which made me wonder about the existence of a female sidekick in any of superhero films. Still the best female sidekick: Selma Blair in Hellboy. Nobody ever came close) and Terrence Howard. Hm, who is he again in this film? Ah, it probably due to the film being Tony Stark and Iron Man. Therefore the focus should be and rightfully focused on Robert.

Other than that, this film is actually formulaic as well and i say it again, a little bit too long. The formula for this film would goes as follows:
1. Character introduction. Who Tony Stark, why he was captured, et cetera. The first desert battle.
2. Personality revelation. In which Tony finally sees a revelation and built first Iron Man. The second desert battle.
3. Intermezzo. Mostly talk, B-S, Tony wooing his assistant, some character grudging others, some "A-ha!" moments. And where Tony built his second Iron Man which was cool.
4. Morality delusion. In which Tony decides that his Iron Man was intended to get equipped with latest weaponry, and by the way, does anyone remembered his original purpose of creating the second Iron Man before he decides to turn it into a killing machine? Because i don't. The third desert battle followed with the only aerial battle.
5. Final battle. Not really impressive actually. Nothing really new. I put a finger blaming Michael Bay with his Transformers for this. Tony's final word was great, though!

Technical issues aside - there's a great article in Wired.com about the physic's impossibility with most of Iron Man suit's capabilities -, this film gets *** / **** from me. A superhero genre that was mostly in its finest moment.