Iron Man - The first in a Trilogy of Posts

Well I will be going to see Iron Man 3 this Wednesday and i must confess that I actually haven't seen the first two films or the Avengers, so I decided that I should do a little bit f homework and actually watch these much acclaimed films. I am a large fan of superhero movies, particularly of the Stan Lee kind, yet have never read an Iron Man comic, and knew relatively little about the character, and i must say that I was pleasantly impressed.

The film is about an industrial engineer who uses his money and his skills to build a suit in order to escape from a group of afghan terrorists. During his capture by these terrorists hi sustains a chest injury and his heart is replaced by a miniature nuclear reactor, which also powers his suit. This film stars Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, a narcissistic industrialist and magnet, and Gwyneth Paltrow is great as Pepper Potts, his assistant and potential love interest. Paul Bettany is Stark's butler and Jeff Bridges plays the power grabbing leader of Stark Enterprises.

The film makes many deviations from the typical superhero genre, one of the most distinct parts of the movie is the setting, the filmmakers chose to reject the new york setting of the comic, feeling that many movie of this genre are set on the east cost, such as Batman, Superman and Spider-Man. This choice of setting is really distinctive, and setting the film in Malibu allows the film to have a great look, with the great juxtaposition of blue sea, with the yellows and reds of Iron Man, and of the nature with the more industrial elements of the film. This setting also allows the film to have literally move space, the film rejects the tight atmosphere of most comic adaptations and allows more space on which the action unfolds.

Another big deviation that the adaptation makes is that it marks the first film in what is known as the marvel cinematic universe, and we see elements of other characters in this film, such as Captain America's shield. The film is also imaginative in that instead of having a butler, like most comic books, Stark has JARVIS, whose name is a reference to Edwin Jarvis, Stark's butler in the comic books, and whose inclusion makes a nice deviation from the typical hallmarks of the genre, and adds to the sleek and highly technological feel of the movie.

The performances in the film are great, and Gwyneth Paltrow is especially good as Stark's assistant, Pepper Potts, and she manages to be cute, strong and sexy all at the same time, I really don't know how she does it. Downey Jr is equally good, as Tony Stark, and manages to be narcissistic yet loveable, and manages to allow us to care about him and love him, whilst being equally egotistical and slightly unapproachable.

I was really impressed by this film, and it is now one of my favorite movies of this genre. The film is a sleek fun movie that maintains pace throughout always giving the audience something new without being too reliant on CGI and without containing too much action. The acotrs are great and the chemistry between the two lead actors is tangible. The use of technology in the film is impressive yet reasonable, without ever going into ridiculous territory, a fun film for everyone that is focused on story and character development without a senseless use of action or violence. Rating: A