Review by Brian Tallerico

It has a lot to do with the strength of the source material, but there’s a rule that you can follow when it comes to superhero movies - trust the “man." Batman, X-Men, Spider-Man - with the exception of a bit of poisoning by Schumacher and Ratner, they’re all great franchises. On the other end, both Fantastic Four movies, Daredevil, Elektra, The Punisher, and Ghost Rider range from just-bad to pure fanboy torture. One of the burning movie questions of 2008 was - would the pattern continue with arguably the most anticipated film of the year, Iron Man? The Marvel movie of 2007 may not have made it through the Hollywood machine completely flawless, but it’s good enough to make us wonder, is it too late for Edward Norton to get the name of his new flick changed to The Incredible Hulk-Man? There are definite weak spots in this major movie's armor, but, overall, Iron Man keeps the man-trend of “superhero movie quality” flying high.

Leave it to the star of Swingers to bring the swagger back to the superhero movie. Director Jon Favreau makes his intentions clear by opening the biggest film of his career with AC/DC before cutting to a suave Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) swirling a cocktail as he's driven across a war-torn desert. Stark's convoy is attacked, leaving our anti-hero bleeding on the side of the road. Cut to 36 hours earlier, as Favreau and his writers provide the necessary character flaws for our man of iron and scotch to overcome. Forget Bruce Wayne's half-ass attempt at player-dom in Batman Begins. Tony Stark would intimidate Snoop Dogg with his boasts of bedding a year's worth of Maxim cover models to the stripper pole in his private plane. Downey's brilliant, sly performance (arguably the best lead in a superhero movie ever) provides these early scenes of Iron Man with a crackling energy that's so often absent from flicks based on comic books. The audience is also introduced to Stark's gorgeous assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), loyal friend Rhodes (Terrence Howard), and business partner Obadiah (Jeff Bridges).

Flash back to the desert, where Stark is being barely kept alive to build a missile for terrorists. Assisted by a man who saved his life with a power source buried in his chest, Stark goes the other way, building himself a weapon (the first Iron Man suit) and kicking some nameless bad guy ass. After he returns to the States, America’s bad boy decides to shift his focus from war profiteering to peace, but that's easier said than done. Other than a few predictable, poorly-drawn baddies, the main villain of Iron Man is the entire Military-Industrial Complex. It almost makes you miss the simplicity of The Riddler.

Favreau, Downey, and a sure-to-be underrated Paltrow (she’s luminous and charming) do enough right in Iron Man to keep fans happy, but writers Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway hurt more than help. Iron Man is a case of talented people fighting against the numerous flaws of a screenplay. The casting agent who convinced Downey and Paltrow to sign on should get the largest share of the profits. The biggest problem with the screenplay is that Iron Man is surprisingly light on action. You've seen most of it in the previews with only one truly memorable CGI scene and a final battle that’s a let-down. The rest of the 126-minute running time is shockingly heavy on dialogue and techno-speak. Despite its talkiness, Iron Man is still strangely light on actual plot with barely a real villain, Howard reduced to a minor role, Bridges completely underdeveloped, and a half-conceived love story. At least a quarter of the entire running time of Iron Man involves building and testing the suit, and yet those scenes don’t have the same magic as the origins of Spider-Man or Batman. Like Stark himself, a man with few real friends, they’re distant and a little too cold. But every time you’re ready to write it off, Downey, Paltrow, or some clever touch by Favreau saves the day.

In the end, Iron Man won't be anyone's "best" or "worst" of the summer of 2008. It's a good-not-great movie that hints at the potential for greatness further into the inevitable franchise. With a fun villain and a little more grit (despite Downey's best attempts to make Stark's demons feel real, the whole project has too much of a superhero movie sheen a la the FF movies), Iron Man 2 could be brilliant. The man trend continues. How quickly can we get Ant-Man into production?

Rating: THREE BONES

Release Date: May 2nd, 2008

Rating: PG-13

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, and Faran Tahir

Director: Jon Favreau

Writers: Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway