Iron Man
I saw the movie over the weekend, and was not as impressed by it as I thought I would be, what with all of the glowing reviews.
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It was decent, but how it ranks with me (among Marvel movies) is better than:
Punisher, Ghost Rider, Daredevil [theatrical version]
On par with:
Fantastic Four
Worse than:
Daredevil [director's cut], Hulk, X-Men, Spiderman
Robert Downey Jr. was great in the role, and the CGI was really good. Jeff Bridges was good as Obidiah Stane. Gwyneth Paltrow was strangely lame. Not enough character development, and the plot was very straight ahead and monotonous.
And, yes, the Daredevil director's cut really is that much better than the original.
And TFC, you are dissing on Pepper Potts? As a supporting character she was much better than a helpless crying Katie Holmes in the last Batman film, but not as good as an animate Parker Posey as Lex Luthor's assistant. I understand I am mixing DC and Marvel here - I am that lame. I did really like Pepper Potts, I dont have a lot of specific reasons, she just din't annoy me, is that good enough?
Ty Burr in the glob on Friday observed that he kept wishing he could crack open Bridges' egg shaped dome - I was also drawn towards / distracted by this alopecic villan asthetic while I was watching.
Here are some of my reasons for liking 'Iron Man' more than 'Fantastic Four', 'Daredevil', 'Ghost Rider':
The music:
Besides the obligatory 'Iron Man', we got choice cuts from Suicidal Tendencies and Ghostface Killah (Iron Man double reference much appreciated, Jon Favreau - thank you)
The sequel opportunity :
I wont ruin it, but make sure you stay after the credits. It involves the Avengers.
The 'Popcorn' Movie Items Were All Present:
-loud explosions
-cool tech stuff ala James Bond
-CGI as TFC mentioned
Many tiresome things, too:
1. Terrorists as bad guys (yawn)
2. Including Terence Howard and then not using him at all. (It would be like acquiring Jacoby ellsbury on your team and benching him all year - mebbe because its an action film?)
All in all though, an enjoyable Friday night at the movies - definitely a good one to see on a big screen. I probably won't enjoy this half as much once it is on dvd.
Saw "Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay" last night -- pretty good.
In agreement with you on their use of Terence Howard. Yes, the movie is called Iron Man, but it doesn't have to be the Robert Downey Jr. show.
Also, and I don't know if it was just the theater I was in, but the sound was pretty bad...kind of echoey and occassionally you had to strain to tell what the folks were saying (and this was at the Common). I did think the music went very well with the movie, though.
More substantial subplots and better character development would have been nice. (Yes, I know, we're talking about a comic book movie here...)
All that being said, it's still a fun movie to see, and it should be seen on the big screen. It's just that seeing the <a href = "http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/iron_man/">94% on the Tomatometer</a> gave me unrealistic expectations!
If you hated Daredevil in the theaters, and wanted to like it more, I really recommend that you see the directors cut. More subplots going on, and a star turn by Coolio. Just saw it last night, and had forgotten how fun Colin Farrell is as Bulls-eye.
'The Citizen Kane of Buddy films' is probably hyperbole, but as a comedy, it was right up my alley.
What Would Neil Patrick Harris Do?
Cheadle level IMHO.
Seriously, the script was done well -- the old (expansive) Tony Stark mythos was addressed in at least three ways that were all completely removed from each other but could, if necessary, tie in if there's a sequel (which there will be, as announced <a href ="http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN0529401020080505"> today. </a>) I knew how it would end, but not *exactly* how, so watching shit develop was a lot of fun, and tasteful -- I mean, it woulda been SO easy to inject another 15-25 minutes of gratuitous fighting, but they didn't.
CGI and effects were great. So was Jeff Bridges.
There's at least three superhero films that were better, but a solid B+/should see in the theater.