Iron Man (2008)
Iron Man (2008) 8/10
Together with The Dark Knight, Iron man is one of the best films of 2008. In a year that has been very good for superhero movies, Iron Man is a well produced film that shines above its comic book roots because of the excellent performance of Robert Downey Jr., whose slick interpretation of Tony Stark helps to bring what has long been a second tier comic book character into the big league.
The are actors who are “method” actors and transform into the roles such that you cannot recognize the man behind it (Heath Ledger). Then there are the “character” actors who use the same persona in every role. Robert Downey is a “character” actor who plays many different roles but you can always see his imprint on the character. The role of a suave playboy is a character that Downey himself probably identifies with and in his performance you can see alot of his own character in Tony Stark. Downey makes Stark really, believable and funny. The film itself is tightly plotted and lots of fun. While i felt the supporting case: Terence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges etc were ok, Iron Man definitely loses to The Dark Knight in terms of supporting cast.
On the basis of sheer fun, Iron Man gets my vote of approval as an all round crowd-pleaser and the fourth best comic book movie of all time (after The Dark Knight , Batman Begins and Spiderman 2).
