comment #1

John Cocktosten says ...

Caught the Aero screening at 7:30 last night, with Favreau introduction, with Downey bonus. He was hilarious; Favreau gave a standard speech about loving the Aero and supporting its renovations and such, and then Downey comes up and says "First of all, I don't give a shit if this place closes". His banter greatly resembled his characterization of Tony Stark in the movie, and suggests he added a lot to the official screenplay.

Later on, we were all abruptly informed that the post screening Q and Q with Favreau was cancelled, and no explanation was given. I expect more from the American Cinemateque. The only reason I drove across town in rush hour traffic was for the Q and A. There were some subtly pissed off nerds when those lights went up.

As for the movie, it is elevated only by the acting. If you put four mediocre actors in there, it would have been awful. The portrayal of the Arabs was, shall we say, offensive.

But it has good moments here and there (mostly involving the suit testing), and Downey does such a good job that you come out pleased, if not overtly thrilled.

comment #2

Major Calloway says ...

Superhero movie....a good ride....explain what, exactly? No one here thinks it's SCHINDLER'S LIST or anything. Just looking for a good time. What were you looking for?

The portrayal of the Arabs was, shall we say, offensive.

As in, there was an enemy who looked middle-eastern. Since we have now accepted that any use of "swarthy" men violates the rules of the new Special Olympics, I must agree with you here....

comment #3

CinemaPhreek says ...

Just literally walked in from seeing it. Have to agree to all that's been said: very pedestrian story with no surprises, elevated by a cast it doesn't really deserve. It's the perfect summer matinée film - provided that you only paid $5 to see it.

FYI - there is a bonus scene after credits that you will want to stay for it. For once, it isn't some lameass joke.

Not sure how the depiction of Arabs is supposedly offensive.

comment #4

nemo says ...

". . . Downey's performance is as good as it gets with this kind of thing, but I'd like someone to explain to me why it's so damn great."

When I was young I loved the movies. When I was not so young I still loved the movies. But the last few years, I don't know, it's starting to seem like a chore to go the movies. So many of them offer so few pleasures anymore.

I still love the movies I grew up with in the 60s and the 70s. I can still get fired up about watching 30s and 40s and 50s movies on TCM. But so may of these damn new movies, they're just so, so, so, . . . nothing. I feel like reading a book instead. I can't be bothered to go to the theater, or even rent 'em on DVD.

I'm still grateful for small things like a smart-ass performance by Robert Downey.

comment #5

JackTorrance says ...

I think John Cocktosten means Afghans and not... "arabs"...

comment #6

D.Z. says ...

John: I thought it was more balanced on the racial portrayal. They didn't make all the Arab actors terrorists in this one. And the real bad guys are clearly the arms dealers.

comment #7

D.Z. says ...

Jack: Some of the members in that organization might be Arab.

comment #8

Spicer says ...

I am glad I can still enjoy a well crafted summer movie. Saw it last night and had a great time with it.

I am a little bit puzzled by those who seem to be criticizing it because it was well cast ("the movie would be awful if the actors weren't so good"). Well, the actors were that good. Tough tittie! Casting is a pretty important part of pre-production and let's give credit to Favreau for doing a nice job here and assembling a great cast. "There Will Be Blood" would have been pretty horrible with Rob Schneider as Plainview.

comment #9

Jay T. says ...

"There Will Be Blood" would have been pretty horrible with Rob Schneider as Plainview.

Or it would have been comedic gold... I'm cracking up just thinking of that movie.

comment #10

Radewart says ...

The huge geek love I've been reading for this thing for weeks has done me in. I went in with pretty high expectations and was a little disappointed. Why it's leaps and bounds better than Fantastic Four 1+2, Dardevil, and of course the awful Ghost Rider. It's not on the same level as Batman Begins, Spiderman 1+2, and X-Men 2.

Spoiler: It's got too much of a been there, done that feel. Also, the villian is lame. The finale showdown was weak too, where once again ,some big machine(this time is was the big version of the thing in Stark's suit in his factory that was then overloaded) is caused to malfunction and defeat the villian.

comment #11

Luke Y. Thompson says ...

Eeeeeli! Eli-rama! Preachin' sermons! The Eeelster! No milkshake for the Elinator!

comment #12

The Winchester says ...

Here's my take on it: It's been a while since I've seen a good popcorn flick that didn't disappoint me in some form or another. I'd say the last one was Bourne Ultimatum.

Iron Man has everything you could want in a movie: Robots fighting, but in a manner where you can tell what's going on. (Unlike Transformers.. that's right, Don Murphy, I said it). It has characters that I liked, and Downey is terrific. It wasn't whiney Tobey Maguire. And even though the story is yet another super hero origin, this felt fresh. It's new and familiar all at the same time, and that's what I responded to.

And it has a badass electric guitar that plays whenever Iron Man steps into frame. Seriously, the only thing missing was a high-five at the end, to make it truly awesome.

comment #13

dinovelvet says ...

Well I haven't seen it, and probably won't, because it isn't getting me excited. I can't get over how generic and been-there-done-that the whole thing looks. All the money shots in the ads are the same old thing - CGI guy flying around shooting stuff, cars blowing up, etc. Aren't these the same scenes that are in every other superhero movie? Why's everyone so excited about this? Maybe I finally crossed that line into "too old for this shit" territory recently and didn't even notice. Then again on the other hand I do want to see Hulk, which I guess the "cool" community has already branded a failure.

comment #14

Spicer says ...

Dinovelvet: I hope the Hulk is cool.

comment #15

Feathers McGraw says ...

The foreign fighter insurgents who captured Stark were definitely supposed to be Arabs-- they were all speaking Arabic to each other. If your movie bad guy is swarthy and screams "Yellah! Yellah!" to his henchmen to get them to move it (literally "hurry up!"), then it's a pretty good bet he's Arab. But I'm an Arab-American and it didn't bother me at all. It's not like Arab foreign fighters in Afghanistan don't exist, after all.

comment #16

Arran says ...

As usual, Winchester pretty much sums up my views too.

Look, it's not a "great" movie. But it's a pretty great popcorn movie. Nothing wrong with that.

comment #17

erniesouchak says ...

It's a superhero movie that isn't painfully awful. These days, that's an accomplishment.

comment #18

MovieBob says ...

"Anyone who comes out of this thing doing cartwheels has a need to express him/herself along these lines."

The stinger after the credits. I can't imagine ANYTHING that happens in ANY movie this summer exciting the excitable more than that.

comment #19

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

"it's not a "great" movie. But it's a pretty great popcorn movie. Nothing wrong with that"

Exactly.

It has a lead who doesn't look like he's twelve, and he's been around and he's cynical and wisecracking. And his love interest is also an adult woman, not a girl. What a concept! Add to that the fact that there's nothing remotely interesting on tap until Indy4 opens, and I think people can be forgiven for overpraising it a tad. A solid B+, certainly. Craft, as opposed to hackwork.

BTW, I saw a midafternoon show in SF that was far from a sell-out; not sure what that bodes for the weekend gross. They showed the trailer for Speed Racer -- lord it looks atrocious.

comment #20

romeoisbleeding says ...

I was totally entertained through the whole movie! and hearing the crowd laugh was just so cool during the movie. You can't get that fun communal feeling sitting at home watching it as a DVD. I can't remember when I just sat back and let a movie totally make me smile and laugh and go ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I am already looking forward to the next one!

comment #21

BurmaShave says ...

You understand they weren't Arabs, yes? Who is more racist, the movie or you guys?

comment #22

dangovich says ...

Is the Black Sabbath song in it?

Also, do we really need another superhero movie?

comment #23

markj says ...

It's just the way the media are these days. Everything is AMAZING or GENIUS or BRILLIANT, critics become caught up in the hype and forget they are there to watch it as a piece of filmmaking. Iron Man is deeply average, Favreau is a competent stager but hardly Spielberg or Cameron.

comment #24

The Winchester says ...

Dangovich- the Black Sabbath song is used at the end, sans lyrics, but still very badass.

Aaran- as usual, sir, you are a man of exquisite taste.

Favreau is more than comptent, and blends the FX and human aspects nicely. Also, he lacks pretensious tendencies, (He also found the best way for Stan Lee to make a cameo in the Marvel films

comment #25

fielding says ...

I think even calling Favreau a competent stager is over-the-top hype.

comment #26

PerfectTommy says ...

I'd agree the film is not great (my teenage son would beg to differ with that statement). But it is fun. And I have to say, Don Murphy, that I've never seen Zathura, but now I'd be willing to give it a look.

comment #27

JBM... says ...

Going to catch this today.

Would be cool to see Stane and Stark as rival industrialists rather than the mentor-mentee setup inside one company (since Favreau was tired of New York-set comic movies, he could have put the villain, Stane International, there and keep Stark on the West Coast)...

Zathura has a pretty cool title sequence. That's all I remember.

comment #28

YND says ...

Not ashamed to say I dug the hell out of it. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did, frankly, due to the somewhat tempered reactions of most of the positive reviews (which I honestly don't get, now) and I was very pleasantly surprised. The thing just WORKS. You're invested in the characters, the story clips along, the dialogue is leagues better than usual for this sort of thing (even the SPIDER-MAN movies have some real clunkers in them), the special effects are exciting and not overdone and (like everything else in the film) actually appear to exist in the real world... it just works.

I'd also say that claiming the "only" thing that raises this film above the norm is Robert Downey, Jr. is awfully reductive. That's a HUGE thing. You have a lead character here whose reaction to becoming a superhero is completely different than any I can think of. That, in itself, changes the game. Its like saying the only thing that raises DIE HARD above the norm is that John McClane is a regular guy. There's no "only" about it.

Now I'm not a Marvel comic fan, honestly came into IRON MAN pretty blind about the character... and I had a hell of a fun time with this movie. Of course there's no accounting for taste, but I'd personally put it up there with my faves of the genre (the first SPIDER-MAN (yes, I know everybody else likes 2 better) and X-2).

comment #29

Dan Revill says ...

Nobody's saying it should be an Oscar nominee for Best Picture Jeff...but that being said, it's definitely the best superhero film I've seen since Batman Begins. Not quite that level of great for me, but certainly better than the dreck we've witnessed for the past couple years.
I really dug the whole vibe of the film and Downey owned the character. I wish I had known that there was a scene at the end. Ah well, I guess I should pay more attention to AICN right?

comment #30

Luke Y. Thompson says ...

Arguably not a "great" movie...but definitely great fun.

comment #31

futureman says ...

Great reviews, $90+ million, wonder if Murphy is going to stop saying it looks like crap?

comment #32

K. Bowen says ...

My problem with the film (and I'm slightly on the positive side) is that there just isn't anything great about it. Other than Downey, of course.

The thing that really disappointed me was the look of the film. I thought it was pretty bland. Batman Begins and Superman Returns had unique looks tuned to their characters' psyches. These just look like sets or standard CGI backgrounds.

comment #33

iamwhoiam says ...

What there's to explain? You see a summer movie, you go out, you say "That was a great ride", and you go home. In its genre, Iron Man is great. RDJ is a given, but the story is smarter than the usual summer blockbuster, i like the "bland" look, it gave a human touch to a comic book story. I thought it was well done, very relevant to our days and had a surprising ending.
And y the way, if so many people loved it, why do they have to explain themselves just because you didn't love it as much?

comment #34

romeoisbleeding says ...

Well said K. And I loved the look of the movie. It was meant to feel real.. not like it was set in some alternative universe. Loved the surprise after the credits too. I think they did this so they could keep it a secret from the early screenings. I have friends who went to press screenings etc and they said the movie stopped before the credits and they had to leave right away. One other funny side note here. I read that the cheeseburger idea was Roberts. He based this on his personal experience.. after being in prison for one year near Fresno, the first thing he wanted when he got out was a cheeseburger! So he remembered this and it was added to the movie.

comment #35

romeoisbleeding says ...

Yikes.. my mistake. I meant that I agreed with the poat after K. Sorry about that. so yes "iamwhoiam".. I liked what you wrote. thanks!

comment #36

mtgilchrist says ...

1. Jeff, I actually agree with you that the movie is good, but not great, but that's my OPINION, not a fact. Who cares if other people like something more or less than you do? It doesn't change your opinion, does it? Comments like that remind me of the readers on my site who blast our writers any time they disagree because they're terrified of not having a critic validate their own opinion. As a person who is in the public eye and regarded as an authority on matters of pop culture, I would have assumed that you were confident enough in your opinions that you could just offer them without flourish without presenting them as fact.

2. For the record folks, just because someone disagrees with your feelings about a movie, album or anything else doesn't mean they are wrong. It doesn't mean you are wrong. What is wrong is this mentality that there is an absolute truth to quality when all opinions are subjective, and therefore NOT A FACT. There is no mathematical equation for quality - good actor + talented director = great movie. Just look at The Ladykillers, Cinderella Man, Amistad, to some, A Good Year, etc.

3. Speed Racer is f*cking awesome. Seriously.

comment #37

The Winchester says ...

mtgilchrist, you're wrong!

comment #38

Mumbleboy says ...

Let's just post the spoiler and say what the stinger after the credits was. I left before credits fully rolled because I figured that I had read enough reviews and none of them mentioned a scene after credits.

To repeat something I said at the end of the previous Iron Man post after it was passed by...

My opinion would be best described as a solid B movie with an A+ performance from Downey.

Both the tone and effects were as they should be, but I still couldn't help feeling that it looked under budgeted. There were many scenes that looked like a sound stage or a location and not that I was watching something that was happening. IronMan doesn't fall into the upper echelon of comic book films (Spiderman, Superman) but it is heads and shoulders above the C level ones (Ghost Rider, Daredevil). I can only hope that the box office success of this first film allows Faverau to get a bigger budget and stretch this film world out a bit.

comment #39

Rich S. says ...

I was surprised by how funny it was, without the humor feeling forced. Downey was clearly having a ball. Not a world changer, but the crowd I saw it with clearly loved it.

I'm glad someone told me there was a stinger after the credits. If they're serious about it, hoo-boy! (But Jeffrey's head will likely melt from the strain.)

comment #40

K. Bowen says ...

I should say I liked the film, on the whole. But I'm just trying to point a couple things out that I thought could be improved.

comment #41

leepe says ...

Did you see the same movie as I?

Yes, its an origin story, how else can hollywood explain the story about IM?

Terrorists? You missed the whole indictment of the military-industrial complex.

You are the typical critic that hears "superhero", or "comic book-based" and have a stock criticism to this genre.

Downey's performance is supported by Bridges, Paltrow, and Howard. IM works because of them not in spite of them.

You want an indictment of the pack mentality? Sound's like another 'bitter' art (not film) critic to me.

comment #42

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