Iron Man

This is a belated post. I have other movies to post as it is one of my goal to put in here the movies I've watched. Iron Man deserves to be the first from my line up.

I have watched several Robert Downey movies. From Natural Born Killers to Less Than Zero and The Pick-up Artist to Zodiac. I particularly like him in Chances Are. Love him there as a matter of fact. But through the years I never really liked him the way I liked Tom Cruise (pre-TomKat and Scientology) or even Robert de Niro or Michael Douglas. Yes, I do love Michael Douglas.

I had reservations watching Iron Man with Downey playing the lead as Tony Stark/Iron Man. It was hubby who wanted so much to watch this so daughter and I got dragged going to the theater. But the movie's opening made me eager to watch this. It painted a would-be hero as someone who is not as clean-cut as The Cape Crusader or Clark Kent. I have not really read comic books so I have no idea who Iron Man is. It was good I met him a few weeks ago. I like it that way. That someone not so perfect could after all be a hero.

I liked it that the movie is fast paced and nothing overly dramatic. I like the hologram effect and the flying scenes. CGI has never been better here. It gives me goose bumps though whenever that 'gadget' is taken off from his chest. But that 'gadget' also was symbolic in capturing the film's sweet moment with Gwyneth as Pepper. Just see it and get mushy - 'this proves that you have a heart', it goes something like that.

It helped too that Gwyneth Paltrow gave an understated performance. She did not steal the scene but complemented Downey's character whenever they are presented in one frame. And I did not know till the end of the movie, courtesy of husband, that it was Jeff Bridges who played Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane, the greedy arms dealer cum business partner of Tony Stark.

The story with its strong political adventure - its stand against weapons and terrorism - and the seamless CGIs keep the audience, young and not-so-young glued to their seats intently watching the game. I was not big on the ending, how Iron Man defeated Iron Monger but I love the press conference where Stark declared, "I am Iron Man". It smells of a sequel. What super hero movie does not have a sequel?

Good thing hubby got a tip from his friend to stick to the end of the credits and watch some more. There were only six or seven of us who waited for the preview to the sequel. There's a scene with Morgan Freeman as Nick Fury telling Tony Stark something about The Avenger Initiative. More Iron Man, please.

*Picture from the movie's official website.