by: Geoff Wilmington

Flowing over the rim were accusations of whether or not this movie would live up to the hype that has been bubbling for months. We’ve all read the articles, but even I was starting to have doubts – had we seen the entire movie in the short preview we saw on Super Bowl Sunday and the longer two minutes and twenty-six seconds preview that was played throughout the final part of winter? Either way, I’ve been a comic book fan for quite awhile, and in the back of my mind I just knew they’d do this intellectual property right. 

My wife and I ventured forth for the sneak preview and were greeted by a throng of people anxiously waiting in line to get the first glimpse of what could be a great start to the summer movie scene. It was just as I expected it to be: There were kids and their parents, who rushed out of work to stand in line; the thirty-something crowd, who never truly grew out of their childhood (myself included); and the Comic Book Guy, who you know would dissect the movie down to the very last scene, arguing about the faithfulness to the comic. The local radio stations were there, too, giving out all the goodies to those who stood in line for hours to get a good seat. The turnout was about 500 people and we were split between two theatres. After I gathered the appropriate items for proper movie viewing – large drinks and large amounts of popcorn – we eagerly ran to our seats.

It started off action-packed right from the time the Paramount logo left the screen. Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark, the proverbial superhero, wealthy industrialist, playboy, and kid who has the most toys wins (in short, what every kid wants to be when they grow up). He plays the role well and keeps you laughing with the witty banter you’d expect from the other Marvel movies. His assistant and resident “trash” remover is Virginia “Pepper” Pots (Gwyneth Paltrow). She’s sexy and funny and turns a blind eye to the philandering of Stark yet always manages to get in gut-shot comments when she can. Stark Industries is jointly run by Obadiah Stane, played by a bearded and hugely bald-headed Jeff Bridges. My wife and I could not stop commenting on how large his head looks in this film. (I was quickly reminded of Mike Meyer’s in So I Married an Axe Murderer: “He’s got a huge cranium!”) Terrance Howard is Jim Rhoades, the military special weapons advisor for whom Stark Industries builds weapons. 

Stark Industries has built an incredibly powerful new weapon, the Jericho missile, which on its debut looks like it’s going to come through the screen when the explosion occurs. After showing off his latest creation, Stark is ambushed, fatally wounded and captured by radical leader Raza (Faran Tahir) and his group of guerrilla fighters who are using Stark’s own weapons. Stark is asked to rebuild the Jericho missile for them out of the parts and weapons that they’ve acquired. Slowly dying from the shrapnel in his heart, Stark befriends one of the other captives, a doctor, who keeps Stark alive by fusing an electromagnet to his chest and powering it with a car battery. Stark then proceeds to defy Raza and builds the first incarnation of the Iron Man power suit from the scraps that are all but destroyed during his escape.

After his escape, Stark is brought back to his company to make a statement and goes against the normal business model by deciding to stop building weapons, all while learning that his weapons are actually being sold illegally to the same group that captured him. He decides to build a new suit powered by an incredible technology. This not only keeps him alive but he also uses it against the forces that are using his weapons. The radical group, however, finds the remains of the first suit used by Stark to escape and makes a deal with Obadiah Stane to use it to mass produce suits of armor emblazoned with weapons systems for their own intentions. 

The action is tremendous and the humor is where it needed to be. The best part about the movie was that it didn’t show all the best action during the previews – there’s still plenty to go around. My wife and I both agreed it was worth the wait in line. The roar as we went down the escalator afterwards meant that others enjoyed it as well. Opening May 2^nd, I expect it to do very well in theatres and pull in some giant numbers money-wise. This really is a great start to the summer movie scene.