PaulRom Revisits: Iron Man

As we all know, 2008's Iron Man was released to critical acclaim, and was quite a box office smash for the character not being an A-lister until now. It revived Robert Downey Jr.'s career and advanced director Jon Favreau's. But is it really as good as everyone has said? I believe so.

I originally watched Iron Man in October 2008, not long after its DVD release, and was immediately impressed. Since then, I've rewatched parts over the years, but last night was the first time I seriously rewatched the film as a whole. It was even better than I originally remembered, from the action to costume designs to the origin story in general.

Iron Man kicks off with billionare playboy Tony Stark (Downey) taking a trip in war-infested Afghanistan, only to be captured by terrorists. He eventually builds an iron suit to escape, and later, when he returns to the states, perfects his invention and takes on the identity of Iron Man, taking on villains bent on world domination.

First off, the action/special effects sequences are downright amazing. From when we see Stark kicking criminal arse in his Mark 3 suit for the first time to the final battle sequence, the action is mind blowing, and it's a shame we didn't get as much of that as we could have (more on that later). But hey, it IS an origin story, and in that Iron Man succeeds tremendously.

The casting is also very solid. RDJ is literally perfect as the title character (which isn't something I'd say about any performance), while Gwyneth Paltrow is excellent as Pepper Potts (side note - did anyone else notice that Paltrow seemed to have aged a lot in-between this film and Iron Man 2?). Terrence Howard is somewhat mediocre as James Rhodes, and personally I'm glad he got recast in the sequel. Jeff Bridges is good as the villain, Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger, but it's not a performance I can rank as one of his best. To round out the cast, Clark Gregg is delightful as SHIELD agent Coulson, and Samuel L. Jackson is perfect as Nick Fury in the memorable after-credits scene.

With all the praise given in this review, you might wonder if there's anything I dislike about Iron Man. The only major flaw I can think of is its pace. While some origin films - such as Spider-Man, Batman Begins, and even X-Men - include enough action to keep things interesting while the story's being developed well, Iron Man seems to have not as much action as it could have (which is also a problem with its sequel), and as a result, it seemed like the film went a little too slow in its pace.

In the end, however, Iron Man still stands out as one of the best comic book films ever released. And while Iron Man 2 didn't manage to pass its predecessor, here's to hoping that Shane Black will do an amazing job with 2013's Iron Man 3.

I rate Iron Man 4.5 out of 5 stars.