And so i saw it yesterday.....and it sucks
No, it doesn´t, and i´m man enough to say that i was wrong (first time i was, so, it´s one for the books) and pleasantly surprised by it.
There are movies that i have to watch again just to make a more sincere review, and this one of them, because i was so surprissed i have the feeling that my judgement might be a little cloudy.
All in all, it´s a great movie.
The Good
- Robert Downey Jr is the main reason why the movie worked, he makes a hell of a job, he is to Iron Man what Depp was to POTC, he is that good.
In fact, all cast was amazing, imo, stealing the crown of best cast in a comic book movie from Batman Begins, Paltrow was amazing, (except in the damsel in distress part), but especially the great Jeff Bridges (the best comic book movie villain, imo).
- One of the few comic book movies that care more about the man inside the suit then the suit itself, and that is, imo, the thing that made me like the movie way more than i was expecting.
- Great moments, being my favorite the one when Potts goes to change Starks "battery". Great scene, great acting from both actors, great chemistry.
- Armor is great
- As storyline goes, it was the best in any comic book movie so far
The Bad
- Even totally amazing, i still feel that Downey Jr wasn´t perfect for the role. Better yet, the role wasn´t perfect to begin with. It was extrely exaggerated (the all playboy attitude, don´t care for anything, just drink, women and money), badly done (Stark doesn´t get women because of his money, but because he knows how to "play the game", he is suave, he puts James Bond to shame....he isn´t in the movie, and he needed it.
The all change of hearts is not great either, the role needed a more dramatic flair, some more powerful scenes in it, because it takes more than a "i was kidnapped by terrorits and all i got was this lousy t-shirt, so, i´m done with making weapons" attitude.
- I like humor as much as the next guy, but the movie overuses it in some points, especially in the only totally ridiculous scene in the movie, when he tries to fly for the first time. Everyone laughed, i did too, but the first idea anyone has is, Tony Stark died, no one could have survived that going against the wall like that, with that power and velocity. It goes from laugh to a WTF moment in seconds.
- Terrence Howard. The man is great, he really is, but he was badly cast for the role, and the role of Rhodes was not all that in the first place.
- Beside Iron Man´s first appearence in Afghanistan (which is great), all action scenes are...meh
The Iron Man vs Jets is not needed and the last one could have been way better (and the Iron Monger flying in slow-mo or extremely slowly is stupid, imo)
- The armor was great, but......he was too damn robotic. First, the suit was too damn heavy in the first place, than it would take minutes for him to get inside it.
It´s totally realistic for him to need his hands to give him balance during flight, but it is as needed as Hulk (in Lee´s movie) to grow in size to show he grows in strenght.
Both make sense in a realistic way, but both aren´t needed (what does Iron Man do if he needs to fight in flight?)
All in all, and that is my greatest problem with the movie, it takes away one of the things that had to be there, the unique quality of Tony Stark, that he is the hero, that even without the suit, he is the superhero. In the end, all i took was, anyone can do what he does inside it, it doesn´t need to be Tony.
- The second worst thing was, the movie is too damn much on the Ultimate side of things.
Sure, it mixes both universes, which is great, but endeds on falling in the Ultimate one with the all black Fury (i like Jackson and he kicks major ass in the last scene, but i´m old school, i don´t find a reason for him to be black when the character is white), needing "101 robots" for Tony to get his ass inside the armor, the all Jarvis AI (even if it doesn´t happen in the Ultimate line, it just screams it) and the Avengers initiative, which is The Ultimates with a diferent name.
All in all, when i watch a comic book movie i don´t always except for it to be perfect (not only it never happend so far, it´s difficult), but i always ask for it to have a acceptable direction, a story that works in the right places and makes it about the man inside the suit/behind the mask.
The movie is not perfect, but it makes a very good job in the last, so, for that, i give it a 8 out of 10.