Iron Man (2008)

This was obviously a big box office success but I wasn't all that impressed. It's the best Marvel adaptation so far other than Spider-man but they tried to pack far too much in.

As you can tell from the official Marvel biography, no wonder it was all so conflated.

Robert Downey, Jr., was amusing enough as Tony Stark and I expect the comic nerds will think he was perfect for the role. I never liked Iron Man as a superhero and have no real clue how much like the comic book character he is. I was much more into the X-men and Ghost Rider and I haven't been impressed by any of their silver screen portrayals so far.

Anyway, as I said, it tries to pack too much in. I think it's over two hours long (or at least it felt like it) but because of the pacing it all feels very shallow. You don't really get to see Iron Man's famous heart being created and it strains all credibility that he can make the Iron Man suit in a week out of bits and pieces of his existing weapons.

It's not something to really think too hard about anyway though. Let's face it, we're talking about a flying robotic suit of armour here that gives the wearer superhuman powers. At this point anyone looking for realism should really go elsewhere.

The action sequences are what sell this thing. It's a mix of CGI and practical effects but mainly CGI. It's on the same level as "Transformers" so kids will love it. I found it all far too rushed.

Characterisation was two dimensional at best and there was no chemistry between anybody that made you care one iota about them. Most of the dialogue was cringeworthy especially any scenes involving Gwyneth Paltrow.

I'll give it 4 out of 10. It has no rewatchability factor whatsoever and was just on the wrong side of annoying for me to enjoy. If I want to see robots fighting robots then I'll watch "Robocop" again instead.