Genre: Action/Comic Book Films
Released: 2008

THIS IS HANDS DOWN THE BEST SUPER HERO/COMIC BOOK MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN! Screw any of the Spiderman, Batman and X-Men films, which I do like, but this movie just blows them out of the water. This has everything you need; amazing special effects, great acting, hilariousness and just hell of a lot of fun. THIS IS MY SECOND (5) BDK rating of the year; with the first being CLOVERFIELD. Jon Favreau, whom I thought was a very odd choice for directing the film, completely proved me wrong. He is a great actor (Swingers, Made), but I didn't know he was a phenomenal director. He also directed Elfand Zathura, which was basically a Jumanji remake. Robert Downey Jr. He gets his own sentence because he honestly deserves all of the respect he will be getting for this performance. It is very rare that you see an actor go from the worst part of his career, into the best role he has ever played. The dude was in rehab for years and I don't think anyone expected him to ever snap back out of it. Well, like I have said on the air a couple of times, 2008 will be the year for Downey Jr. Not only is he starring in this masterpiece of a film, but he is also starring in one of my most anticipated movies of 2008; Tropic Thunder, where Downey Jr. will be taking on a role as a white actor playing a black character in a Vietnam film. Ben Stiller is directing and starring and the movie is about a movie being made about Vietnam and how the actors are unknowingly dropped into a real life war zone. Ok enough about that. Iron Man stars Robert Downey Jr. (A Scanner Darkly, Tropic Thunder), Terrence Howard (Hustle and Flow—great film if you have not seen it), Gwenyth Paltrow (Great Expectations, Shallow Hal) and Jeff Bridges (Blown Away, The Big Lebowski).

I don't want to give too much away, so I will tread lightly on the plot line. Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is the head of Stark Industries, which is pretty much the world leader of military weapons. He is pretty much a billionaire and one of the most hated/loved people in America. People are against the fact that he makes products that are used to kill people. He is over in Afghanistan one day to test and show off his newest weapon, the Jericho, and he ends up getting captured by a bunch of angry Afghans. They want to use him to help build this Jericho weapon so that they can use it for themselves. What they don't know is that Stark is actually creating an IRON suit to get the hell out of there. He is not alone though. He has the help of a very generous man named Yinsen (played amazingly by Shaun Tolib), who saved Stark's life. When Stark was captured, a bomb went off, which threw shrapnel in his chest. In order to keep this shrapnel from getting to his heart, Jensen had to create a device in the middle of his chest that acts like a magnet keeping the shrapnel from getting near his heart. Ok, I don't want to give anything else away. Basically, once he escapes from Afghanistan, he has a change of heart about the business he is in and wants to actually help the people who are being hurt by his weapons. He becomes IRON MAN. Just in case you are wondering who the other characters are; Paltrow plays his assistant Pepper Potts, Bridges plays Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger; Starks partner at Stark Industries, who actually use to work with Tony's Dad before passing the business onto to Tony and Howard plays Stark's inside military man; Jim Rhodes.

Overall, like I said above, this is hands down the best superhero movie I have ever seen. Downey Jr. COULD NOT HAVE BEEN CASTED MORE PERFECTLY FOR THIS PART!! He was such a bad-ass and extremely funny. He was basically just being himself.

I was talking to someone about comparing special effects from this film to Transformers. Transformers is on a whole different level of special effects, having the greatest special effects I have ever seen. Iron Man compares in the fact that the special effects were flawless to the point where I didn't even think for a second that I was watching a movie; all of the scenes where he is creating the suit with his bad-ass computer system, to the scenes where he is testing the flying mechanisms of the suit. They were all perfect.

My only real complaint about this perfect film was that Paltrow's character had some cheesy lines at the end. It almost seemed out of place at time, especially her line about this lock picking device. You will know it when you hear it.

Anytime I watch a movie that is based on a Stan Lee comic, you always wonder where Stan Lee will pop up. Let me say this, without ruining anything, it is easily his best cameo in a comic book movie; obviously leaving out his great cameo in Mallrats. I also really like Favreau's appearance in the film as Stark's driver. It was pretty funny seeing that.

THIS IS A FILM YOU HAVE TO SEE IN THEATRES. HANDS DOWN!!!! This is worth every penny you will pay at the theatre this summer. THE SOUNDS of IRON MAN walking around the cities is just INSANE to hear with all of the bass. Make sure you see it in a really nice and big theatre. My best suggestions would be to either see it at AMC TYSON'S CORNER in theatres 3 or 11 or at the AMC UPTOWN (which I am guessing it will be opening there.) THIS MOVIE IS ALL OUT FUN. IT HAS EVERYTHING. GO SEE IT!!!!