Ironman

It seems that any and every comic book you can think of is becoming a big screen movie. With that said enter the newest in the line of Marvel comic books to be made into a movie. This is Iron Man!

Iron Man is another one of the creations to come out the the genius that is Stan Lee. Most notable though by Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah, who adopted the alias Tony Stark/Ironman. Director Jon Favreau (Made, Elf) takes on this comic book and transforms it into a blockbuster hit. Robert Downet Jr. (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Zodiac) dawns the suit of weapons creator Tony Stark and the armor of superhero Iron Man. Terrence Howard (Crash, Hustle & Flow) plays Jim Rhodes, an Air Force liaison to Stark Enterprises and friend of Stark himself. Gwyenth Paltrow (The Royal Tenebaums, Shallow Hal) portrays Stark’s assistant Pepper Potts. The number two man at Stark Enterprises is Obadiah Stane played by Jeff Brides (The Big Lewbowski).

Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) and Jim Rhodes (Howard) are in the Middle East of show the military Stark’s new weapon that will change the face of the weapons industry. The weapon is called the Jericho and ince fired it splits apart and all the componets come back to create a devistaing blast. Terrorists ironically using Stark Enterprises’ weapons attack Afetr the demostration, Stark and his convoy of soldiers. During the attack Stark is hit in the chest with shrapnel from a missle and passes out. Stark the awakens to find out the a doctor named Yinsen (Shaun Toub) has removed some shrapnel pieces, but couldn’t get them all. Yinsen places an electromagnet into Stark’s chest so that the other pieces cannot travel towards his heart and kill him. The magnet is hooked up to a car battery. Stark builds an Ark Reactor, a tiny version of a new type of power that fuels Stark Enterprises, and places that into his chest and is to run his heart for 50 lifetimes. Stark and Yinsen are then forced to recreate the Jericho missile for the terrorists. Instead Stark builds a make-shift iron suit that he uses to escapes the terrorists and is the then found by Rhodes and the military that was looking for him. After three months of captivity, Stark returns home with a new sense of what he should be doing with his life.

Iron Man the comic book was just a b-shelf comic, b meaning it was in the shadows of the bigger comics like X-Men, Wolverine, Superman, Batman, etc., but Iron Man the movie is most definitely an A-lister. This is one of the better movies to be made out of a comic book. Favreau does a fantastic job handling the explosions, battles and storylines of Iron Man leaving nothing to speculation exect when will Tony Stark show up next (just a hint on that…check out The Incredible Hulk staring Edward Norton, coming soon). Robert Downey Jr. was born to play the role of Tony Stark. Stark has an arrogance and confidence about himself and Downey Jr. has that also.

Iron Man gets a 4.3 out of 5.

This is a must see in the theaters and a definite must own dvd.