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Created May 05, 2008 12:39AM PST • Edited May 27, 2010 10:08PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   2001 was the year the first rumors were spread of an Iron Man film. After all the gossip, time, and hype, were we given a decent live action movie of this heavy metal superhero? The viewers say yes, the box office says yes and this reviewer says HELL YES! What a rollercoaster of a movie packed with the perfect formula of action, adventure, drama, and comedy. The best thing about this movie is that it doesn’t require you to know anything about Iron Man from the comics or cartoons in order to understand what is happeneing in the movie. For those of us that have followed the comic and cartoon series, we were given “special treats”.
   I remember back before this movie had a script, the two actors “rumored” to play Iron Man were Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage. Those rumors started in late 2001 and were not extinguished until late last year, so you can imagine the shock when Robert Downey Jr. was offically announced to be playing Tony Stark. I personally, thought it was going to be a mistake and for a second, I wasn’t going to give this movie a hope in hell but after watching just the trailer, I was sold on this movie.
   Jon Favereau is a terrific actor and with some help I’m sure from Marvel, his directing skills were most excellent for this high flying, fast paced superhero flick. If you are wondering whether or not to sdee this or you feel it’ll be a waste of time, believe this reviewer when I say, GO SEE THIS MOVIE. You don’t have to be an Iron Man fan to like it. I’m not his biggest fan and in all honesty, I’m a DC Comics guy but I cannot deny how great this movie was. From soundtrack to acting, special effects to the script, Iron Man has it all and what a start to the Summer season!

4. Acting

   Perfect 5.0

   Robert Downey Jr, through all the controversy, bs, and small, meaningless roles he’s been dealt with in the past, really showed off his skills and proved to me that he is far from done and he’s only just begun. His witty, sometimes subleminal, humor makes for some much needed comic relief when the movie is in its most suspensful and horrifying moments. Jeff Bridges also gets som ekudos for this one. His performance as the seemingly caring, loving, and concerned, Obadiah Stane is golden once he shows his true colors and brings out the emotionless, stone cold killer that becomes the Iron Monger. Terrence Howard had a few moments of glory in the movie especially with the hint of him becoming War Machine but other than that, he just puts his two cents in. Gwyneth Paltrow. while not on screen for much of the film, still manages to have an impact of the overall film. Granted her character is a main character in the Iron Man story, the movie didn’t really want to focus too much on her which I though was a good thing for now.

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Perfect 5.0

7. Female Costars Perfect 5.0

8. Male Costars Perfect 5.0

10. Film

    Perfect 5.0

    Beginning with AC/DC’s (my favorite band of all time by the way) “Back in Black” and ending with Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”, the soundtrack including the original score is excellent. There are more than a few moments when the tension is almost as high as you can get but then the music kicks it up another notch.
    Special effects were amazing. From explosions to machines to the suits, the effects team was top notch and really impressed me. I’ll admit that going into this, I was expecting an effects clusterf#@$ much like DareDevil. Thankfully, I was proved wrong and the movie had effects that were so detailed, it was hard to believe they were not real life machines and suits but merely computer images.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

13. Music Perfect 5.0

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.5

    The first half of the film is the most violent what with the capture and escape of Tony Stark. Just deal with a little blood and you’ll get through it just fine. The language is pretty family friendly with curse words only being used in moments of extreme emotions which is nice. Sex, with your usual superhero innuendo scenes plus one scene of drunk ravaging that begins on a bed and ends on the floor, the sex is very mild for Iron Man. That’s right kids, mom isn’t going to have to cover your eyes for this one.

17. Sex Titillating 2.5

18. Violence Fierce 2.5

19. Rudeness Salty 2.5

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.5

    The ideas behind Iron Man are fantasy aren’t they? Who knows nowadays, with the improvements of technology and science, who’s to say that man can’t develop a way to fly around? We already came up with the airplane and space shuttle, what’s next?

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.5

23. Biological Surreal 2.5

24. Physical Surreal 2.5