“Please,
no gang signs. Nah, I'm kidding. Throw it up.” Thus begins Iron
Man, the Batman Begins of the Marvel cinematic universe. Tony Stark
is, in his own words, a “billionaire genius playboy
philanthropist”. While demonstrating his newest weapon, the Jericho
Missile, to the U.S. Army in the Middle East, the group is attacked
by terrorists and Tony is kidnapped. With the aid of a fellow captive
who happens to be brilliant, he successfully builds an iron suit and
escapes from the prison. When he gets back to the U.S., he decides to
stop selling weapons, as they are being used by terrorists to...
well, terrorize. This will cut back dramatically on profits, so his
partner decides to take him out, and even goes so far as to join up
with the terrorists. Choose your friends wisely, kids. But, on to the
review.
In all reality, I was not too excited about seeing this
movie. Let's face it. It's a movie about a billionaire playboy who
just so happens to be a genius, gets captured by terrorists, builds
currently impossible technology in a cave with a box of junk, makes a
suit in a cave with a box of junk, attaches flamethrowers to said
suit, and makes an epic escape. Ah, yes. I forgot. The suit also has
jetpacks in its feet, enabling him to fly. But hey, it's a superhero
movie. If it weren't for such cheesy feats, the movie would have
utterly failed. Thankfully, it did not. It succeeded. Amazingly. In
ways it should not have.
The truth is that Iron Man is a brilliant
piece of filmmaking. It goes without saying that Robert Downey Jr.
nails the role of Iron Man incomprehensibly well. He was born for
this role. The supporting characters do well in their roles as well,
but it's obviously Iron Man who steals the show here. The music is
brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Ramin Djawadi has created the
definitive interpretation of Iron Man. This is what an Iron Man
soundtrack should sound like. The directing, editing, and
cinematography were perfect. The ultimate question is: why on earth
does this movie work? I don't know, but it does. Maybe it's the fact
we get to see Tony Stark journey from spoiled jerk to hero, or maybe
it's the fact the movie's just... fun.
Regardless, this movie was a
brilliant start to the legendary Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact,
I would go so far as to say it still hasn't been surpassed in quality
by any Marvel movie, except for possibly Captain America: The Winter
Soldier. (Review coming for that one soon, Lord willing.) I'm giving
it 4.5 out of 5 arc reactors. Also, shout-out to Tony Stark for
inventing arc reactors. Now I know what I need to buy if I ever have
heart trouble.
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