Sunday, May 18, 2008

Movie review: Two thumbs up for Iron Man


Nana and Pops took the kids last night (THANK YOU!), so Robynne and I went out to the show. Sorta surprisingly, she was hip to the idea of seeing Iron Man. Turns out a buff Robert Downey Jr is big stuff. Who knew?

Well, whatever it takes - I'm glad we went. It was good fun.

Downey has always been great at making unlikeable characters likeable. Julian in Less Than Zero, Blake in Two Girls and A Guy, Agent Royce in US Marshals, all colossal jerks, but you like them anyway. And none of those movies are his best work.

Tony Stark (Downey) is an arrogant a-hole. But he's funny, laid back, and difficult to dislike. Of course, he goes thru a major change in perception and perspective, and gets easier to like as the movie goes on. But the first scene of the movie, Stark is at the top of his a-hole-ness, and it's his funniest bit in the movie.

The CGI is well above average, there are some great, great shots (Iron Man throwing a leaping overhand right, giving just a squirt from the jet-boots to get a bit more into it - it's the best comic book art come to computer-generated life you can imagine), the dialog is real, there are a couple of neat cameos (director Favreau puts himself into a swell little comic role, and Stan Lee gets what may be the most-fun-to-film 2-second film appearance ever), and it doesn't ever slow down for long.

It's probably too much for the kids (it's rated PG-13 for a reason), but it's a hoot. Go check it out.

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