Film Review: Iron Man

Director: Jon Favreau

The first in the Avengers franchise based on the Marvel comics, Iron Man was released in 2008 ahead of other films based around the Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Thor. The Iron Man franchise has proved the most popular with fans and critics out of the four as well. The idea of a film had been in the pipeline since around 1990 but only came to fruition in 2006 when Marvel Studios acquired the rights. Pre-production was focused on the main story and the action sequences so many of the actors were given the freedom to create their own dialogue.

Tony Stark building his experimental suit of armor.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is a millionaire playboy who inherited Stark Industries from his father, the company made its fortune selling defense weapons to the US military. On a visit to test a new weapon in Afghanistan his convoy is ambushed by terrorists who kidnap him and save him from death on the proviso that he build a missile for them to use against America. His experience being captured means he decides to give up producing weapons and to make a suit of armor for him to use in help make the world safer without his companies weapons.

Robert Downey Jr is great as the smart talking philanthropist Tony Stark, his quick witty responses add an element of humour that is always needed in action superhero movies such as this. Films like this cannot survive on action sequences alone so a small addition of some clever comedic lines always helps to lift them through some of the less interesting moments. The choice of Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts was uninspired but Jeff Bridges puts in a noteworthy performance even if a lot of Obadiah Stane's scenes were eventually cut.

Iron Man

Elsewhere the back story is built up well and is a rather more innovative take on one man's choice to be a superhero than many others that have been forged in recent years. As is always the case in the first film of a franchise most of the plot revolves around the backstory of the main character with a relatively low key protagonist thrown in for a big finale. The action sequences themselves are not so frequent that they become tedious (like in Man of Steel), Favreau does a great job here of starting another potentially lucrative franchise.

2.5/4 An enjoyable superhero movie that sets up a franchise very well