Iron Man (PG-13-2008)

"Iron Man" kicked off the summer movie season with a bang and generated a lot of hype. As the superhero genre goes, this was an excellent movie. One of the best qualities is a top-flight cast. I don't just mean big names, of which there are a few, but the quality of the acting here is extremely good. Robert Downey Jr. takes the reins as billionaire Tony Stark, who will become the Iron Man of the title. Downey hits all of the notes, playing Stark as the care-free millionaire playboy as the movie opens and then getting much deeper into the other sides of him as the movie progresses. The "billionaire who creates his own persona" element is very similar to "Batman", but still different enough. Stark does not have all of the emotional baggage that Bruce Wayne does, so he is a more "fun" character. After being captured by terrorists in Afghanistan, he is told he must make them a missile. While pretending to do so, he actually fashions the first, somewhat primitive Iron Man to use in his escape. His experience being captured changes him and he announces he is changing the direction of his weapons manufacturing company, much to the chagrin of his president, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). This conflict sets up the rest of the movie. As this is the first "Iron Man" film, the origin of the superhero needs to be set up, so considerable time is spent doing just that. This is the disadvantage of an origin movie. If it is done right, the origin is not rushed, but is developed early enough to give you the action and adventure a superhero movie is supposed to provide. "Iron Man" spends just a little too much time developing the suit. They do give you some early action and the rudimentary suit to keep you interested, though. Overall, this is a great film with a great cast and it is definitely recommended. It did fall just short of all the hype that came before it. I'm sure there will be more "Iron Man" movies and this can rival the "Batman" series for the superhero movie crown. The PG-13 is earned, so parents of younger kids should be aware that there is some harsh violence in this movie, which may not be appropriate for that crowd.

Grade: B+

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