Iron Man

john · May 03, 2008, 01:36:36 AM

Empty-headed and thoroughly entertaining.

It might be a sad reminder of how '08 is shaping up so far, cinematically, but this was the most enjoyable thing I've seen at the multiplex released in the last five months.

Like almost all big-budgeted extravaganzas, the action scenes are pretty much doled out as act breaks, one every forty minutes. The only difference is that what happened in between didn't bore me to tears.

Matthew Libatique was the cinematographer on this. Libatique is up there with Harris Savides and Christopher Doyle, as far as cinematographers who bring a vital and memorable visual stamp to a project. Communicating the directors vision while delivering images that are, also, completely their own. Though, this time, I couldn't really tell you what he brought to this project than any other hired hand would have. If you're gonna hire the best, you might as well let it show.

Alexandro · May 06, 2008, 01:06:03 AM

yeah this is overrated. appart from the cool downey performance there is nothing here except a bunch of cliches, common places and predictable plot points. it is visually boring, the musical choices are lame, and every supporting actors talent is wasted.

and it has like ten thousand commercials in it.

cinemanarchist · May 06, 2008, 12:15:16 PM

Quote from: Alexandro on May 06, 2008, 01:06:03 AM
and it has like ten thousand commercials in it.

I'll bet you think billionaires don't eat Burger King. I weep for you.

Pozer · May 06, 2008, 03:18:24 PM

i think that.

Alexandro · May 07, 2008, 10:34:20 AM

gwyneth should have cooked it for him.

cinemanarchist · May 07, 2008, 11:09:53 AM

I enjoyed that Favs was the one who had to parade the Burger King bag right in front of the camera. If directors are going to be big enough pussies to allow product placement that makes no sense in context of the character, they should have to personally hold that product in front of the camera. Way to take one for the team...THAT was so money.

Pozer · May 07, 2008, 11:53:44 AM

how did it make no sense in context of the character? he was held captive for 3 months. he SAID all he wanted was an American cheeseburger and a press conference. what did you want him to get? The Ivy to go???

pumba · May 07, 2008, 04:43:27 PM

is it weird that pepper and tony stark never kiss?

cinemanarchist · May 07, 2008, 04:55:52 PM

Quote from: pozer on May 07, 2008, 11:53:44 AM
how did it make no sense in context of the character? he was held captive for 3 months. he SAID all he wanted was an American cheeseburger and a press conference. what did you want him to get? The Ivy to go???

If he had gotten The Ivy to go I guarantee I would have been the only person in the theatre thinking, "fuck, they nailed it."

Chest Rockwell · May 08, 2008, 02:31:43 PM

Saw this last night. OK, so it was mindless fun, and maybe only because I wasn't expecting too much did I give it the benefit of the doubt. There were horrible scenes and horrible dialogue. Horrible music. Horrible pacing. This last one seems to be a trend in action movies these days, especially comic book-based action movies, so I guess I can't exactly fault this one in particular for it, but it bothers me when it just feels like a collection of scenes rather than a complete and logical story that flows. Obediah's confession on the red carpet and the Pepper-as-love-interest storyline both felt like they happened too soon.

The suit was awesome, though. And Robert Downey, Jr. was charming.

xerxes · May 11, 2008, 08:27:36 PM

I'm surprised that no one here seemed to really like this all that much. I thought it was really great. He should have gone to in n out though.

ponceludon · May 11, 2008, 08:40:03 PM

I thought this was really fun. Pretty good start to a superhero franchise, and pretty well-paced in my opinion. I don't really get all the complaints about the dialogue... it's a superhero movie, not the crime drama of the year. It's supposed to be cheesy, to a degree, and it is, but Robert Downey Jr has a really good personality for delivery of these lines with enough irony and humor to make it seem more clever than it probably is. I'm not the biggest (or even smallest) fan of Gwyneth Paltrow, but she could have been worse.

The first half was a lot better than the second half, only because I could predict everything that was going to happen. I am not the kind of person who can usually predict the endings of movies, but for this one, I could. However, it was forgivable because it had to set up the start of the franchise, and the most obvious obstacle is the corrupt false father figure, in this case, Obediah "The Dude" Stane. I expect the next movies to be better, and I hope that Samuel L Jackson is more interesting than he's been lately.

Kal · May 12, 2008, 01:01:47 AM

I really enjoyed it... it was fun!

brockly · May 13, 2008, 08:09:12 AM

Quote from: shnorff on May 07, 2008, 04:43:27 PM
is it weird that pepper and tony stark never kiss?

is it weird how iron man doesn't give a heartfelt speech at the end on that podium? or that t. howard didn't get into that spear suit to fuck up the ending? not really.

Quote from: brockly on April 30, 2008, 10:02:53 PM
the movie thinks it's clever by hinting at cliches that it doesnt conforms to

SiliasRuby · May 13, 2008, 10:13:22 AM

What a fucking great time. Right before going into the movie, I got some terrible family news and this really raised my spirits. Parts felt hollow and I really didn't get an emotional connection but I wasn't expecting one. RD Jr is fantastic but I already knew that going in.

I really forgot how beautiful Paltrow really is, that blue dress was intense.