Iron Man

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard
Directed by: Jon Favreau

Okay, so where do I start? I LOVE this movie adaptation! ;p

Tying closely to the comics, elite engineer/playboy millionaire Tony Stark is abducted by a terrorist group (Ten Rings) to recreate a weapon Stark has recently provided for the US government. During the abduction, he was injured but was saved by a fellow captive, Dr. Yinsen, who installed a "life support battery" which keeps a shrapnel from going through Stark's heart. Instead of creating the weapon his captors asked him to, Stark instead makes an armor which ultimately helps him escape his captors and thus return to the US. Stark, having realized the destruction that his own creations have brought others, has decided to recall and stop productions of the weapons much to the dismay of his partner, Obadiah Stane. Much to his surprise, his weapons still keeps being sold illegally. Stark then made the decision to take it upon himself to stop the weapons and the terrorists by making a much upgraded armor that helped him escape his captors. Hence, Iron Man is born.

The movie is actually really good. The obvious star here is Robert Downey Jr. I was definitely excited when I heard he was cast as Tony Stark months ago. I knew the movie will be good, but I didn't expect it to be this good. Robert Downey Jr has practically made Tony Stark, as much as Johnny Depp made Jack Sparrow! After seeing him as Stark, you can no longer imagine another actor for the role. He's that good.

The support is great too. Gwyneth Paltrow, as Stark's secretary/confidant Pepper, provided that great 'romantic but weird' chemistry with Downey's Stark. Jeff Bridges, another great actor I've admired, was excellent as the ruthless and greedy Obadiah Stane.

The special effects were pretty good too. Iron Man zooming in on the the skies and firing those repulsor beams. Good stuff.

The story for this movie adaptation is pretty good too. The producers made a great job by changing the setting the story to the present. For instance, the terrorists were from Afghanistan instead of Vietnamese. The scientist Dr. Yinsen was originally Chinese from the comics, but he's an Afghan in the movie. Since the original comics were from 60's/70's when the US was at war with Vietnam, the producers made the necessary adjustment to the present where the US were at war with Afghanistan instead.

The movie also sent out a subtle 'anti-war' message as shown with Stark's character. Stark, having been a victim of his own created weapons realized that he's contributing on the war that made other people miserable. This made a change of heart for the hero to stop producing weapons.

I think the movie gave out the message without being too preachy.

In my opinion, they set the movie to be ready for future sequels. Terrence Howard is set to play War Machine in the future. Also, I heard they will be including the 'alcoholism' theme on the second installment. This is actually the theme that made me like Downey Jr.'s casting as Stark because Downey himself WAS an alcoholic. A little 'art imitating life' if you will.

The few flaws were so little that there's no need to actually point them out. The biggest one being the plot hole: how the hell did Obadiah Stane learn how to fly his own version of the Iron Man suit that same night where he just got the battery from Stark and finally activating it? Remember, Tony Stark was shown documenting (which shows it took some time) on how to fly his own armor properly and that was already his second suit... while Stane just inserted the battery on his own Iron Man, went inside, turned it on, then battled Iron Man... almost beating the hero.

Other than that, no other loop holes. ;p

All in all, this is a very good adaptation of Iron Man. This definitely ranks on my top 3 comic book movie adaptations:
1. Spiderman 2 - X-men 2 (tied)
2. Batman Begins
3. Iron Man

Can't wait for the sequel(s)! Rating: 9/10