Just got back. Loved it. Best Super-hero movie I've ever seen. Minor gripes:
SPOILERS
I agree with G-Man...Terrence Howard's voice was off to me. I liked his performance but most of the movie he sounded like he'd like to War his Machine up Stark's pooper.
Gwyneth has always been 'meh' to me...she's just really basic; skinny, kind cute but not all that. She's what we used to call 'cold cheese pizza' back in the day: you'd eat it if it were the only thing in thne fridge but even ramen noodles or White Castle would be better. I could have done without all the Stark/Pepper romantical stuff. I never really read Iron Man all like that...is a romance between the two canon? I would have preferred they kept him as the wealthy playa/pimp type. I get that Stark noticed her after he had his whole life-altering experience and all but, let's keep it real: He woulda fucked at least 3 different hotties on the plane before getting abck to L.A. AND he woulda been gettin' a buffie behind the podium at the press conference.
For that matter, he never woulda stopped at B.K. Lounge to get a burger when Fattburger, In-and-out Burger and Sonic were options...
I didn't think that the killing of the terrorists when he rescued the town rang true. I would think that the whole 'saw American soldiers die/No more weapons' thing would have put him off killing. Seems like he would have built additional less lethal weaponry into his armor. Though I must admite that I did like how he left the 2nd in command terrorist to face justice at the hands of his victims. That seemed real to me.
Things I really liked:
When Stark was crawling back to his lab to get the power source. R.D. jr. performance evoked his acting in Less Than Zero which has always been his defining role for me.
All the stuff with the suits. The tech stuff was kewl. The testing/results was realistic. The suits were faithful to the comics.
Jeff Bridges as Stane. Really understated and well played. Brings to mind Liam Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul. Stane didn't really seem evil or whatever...he's just a guy making business decisions. Regardless of the consequences. Bet he's a Republican...
Would have preferred Jarvis be flesh and blood but his personality was spot on. The A.I. aspect allows for character development.
The possibilty that the H.T.I.C. returns in the sequel...or maybe the Avengers flick...as The Mandarin(notice how he kept playing with his ring?). I know that they wanted to be more realistic in the opener but The Mandarin is to Iron Man what Luthor is to Superman or The Joker is to the Bat-Man. He's got to show up at some point. The 10 Rings refence was cool but still...he could be introduced in the Thor movie with the rings being an aspect of Norse Mythology. That would be a cool lead to the Avengers flick.
The scene after credits. I haven't been on the boards or anywhere else lately to read the spoilers so I didn't know it was coming. I usually stay thru the credits on most movies and I ALWAYS do on comic movies. I love Sam Jackson. When he spoke and then stepped out of the shadows, I actually applauded. One of my attractions to the Ultimate line was Nick Fury being modeled after him. And yeah, I have to acknowledge pariah in admitting that he is over exposed but, I heard him on a talk radio show a while back. He knows that he's out there a lot but his attitude is that he's going to do what he has to do to get paid. He cited Snakes on a Plane, The Man, The Great White Hype, S.W.A.T. and Shaft among others as movies he did strictly for the loot. Can't really blame him, though I was really disappointed with Shaft...
None of those movies damage his rep as a fine actor or negate his performances in Unbreakable, Jackie Brown, A Time to Kill, Jungle Fever, Pulp Fiction, Fresh...hell even Star Wars, ep. 2 and 3. His voice work on The Incredibles and the Boondocks was cool, too.
All in all, Iron Man was awesome. Dark Knight has some work to do to match the quality...though the trailer looked really decent. I'm sure all of you have seen it by now but, this was my first time. I also liked the trailer for The Spirit. The Happening looked ok as well...though M. Night Shawhatyamacallit is over-rated to me.
Oderint, dum metuant.
You are a god damned idiot, you know that? You ought to be smacked upside your dumb-fuck head, even after all these years. Shame on you!
