Hey folks, Valkor here. I had the chance this weekend to hang out with the Krush-Man and catch Marvel’s latest film outings. Not being a big fan of the character Iron Man, I went into the new Jon Favreau directed a bit skeptical that I might not enjoy it. But as it turns out, Iron Man kicks all ass!

Iron Man’s story is pretty simple and straight forward and let’s face it, if Jon and Co had dropped the ball on this one, they should hang themselves, shoot themselves, then beat themselves with a bat all at the same time. Thankfully they nailed the story which goes like this, Billionaire playboy Tony Stark gets captured in the Middle East (Either Pakistan or Afghanistan) by a terrorist sect and in the process takes some shrapnel to the heart. But luckily a scientist/ fellow captive makes a device that keeps the shrapnel from entering Tony’s heart. His survival works for the Terrorist because they need Tony to make a weapon, the Jericho Missile, which is the same missile that caused him to get captured in the first place. However Tony has other plans and instead of making a weapon the Jericho for the enemies, he decides to make a weapon he can use to escape. Thus the creation of the Iron Armor, which he uses to free himself from his captors. With this new power, and some enlightenment, Tony decides to take Stark Industries out of the weapons game and sets his sites on perfecting the Iron Armor. However the same terrorist that captured Tony in the beginning, find his original Iron Armor plans and thus the Iron Monger is created. It is now up to Tony to use his new suit of armor to save his company, his friends, his city, hell even the World from total annihilation. Of course there’s more to it than that, but the film never deviates from the course, following the comic to the letter. Yea some liberties were taken, but essentially you’re getting the best comic to film adaptation ever!

The Good

Awesome! Stupendous! Exhilarating! I could go on, but damn it Iron Man is the perfect comic brought to film. This was a film by a fan for the fans and Jon Favreau really knocked it out the park. The pacing was tight, nothing rushed or too slow, I’m talkin just right. The acting was spot on perfect. Just as Christian Bale is Bruce Wayne/Batman Robert Downey Jr. you are Tony Stark/Iron Man. Gweneth Paltrow does an amazing job as Pepper Pots, Terence Howard was a surprise to me. Ok I had my doubts about the guy, I didn’t think he could do Rhodes justice, I’m eatin crow now because he plays off of Starks well, plus now I really wanna see him in the War Machine outfit. Jeff Bridges was a shocker, because I had no idea he was Obediah. Either he’s really chunked out or that’s a damn good make up job. Ok I’ll even give props to Jon Favreau and his portrayal of a body guard, again the timing between him and Downey, freaking awesome. It’s a perfect cast with everyone getting just enough screen time. The film isn’t special effects heavy, but what’s there does the comic justice. We get all versions of the Iron Man armor (well not all thankfully or the story would have really drug out) and the Iron Monger done by the hands of Stan Winston and Co. If there will be a second, and it looks like there might, I can’t wait to see how Winston handles the other versions of the Iron Man armor. Finally there’s Jarvis. He’s not a man but a computer, but he’s still pretty damn cool. I mean do we really need another on screen Alfred anyway?

The Bad

Anything I say badly about this film, would be nitpicky, but nitpick I shall. First off S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, they couldn’t get these guys into uniforms? The presence of S.H.I.E.L.D. is suppose to weigh heavy, I mean when they’re on the scene, shit is gonna go down big time. They don’t show up for the small stuff. It’s cool that they were there, but they should have been more prominent. The ending, while it wasn’t THE ending (to get the really good ending, you gotta sit through the credits), was kinda quick. I mean I liked it, but it could have ended a lot smoother then just BAM! But it was freaking funny.

The Ugly

Nothing ugly here

When Marvel got back the rights to there properties, to bring their characters to film, the hope was that they would finally do the films based on their comics justice; Not that Spider-Man, Hulk, or even Fantastic Four weren’t good because in my eyes they were. But Iron Man surpasses them all, even Spider-Man, which was the best of the bunch. You get the perfect cast, the perfect plot, perfect action, this is the perfect comic book film and I hope Jon Favreau knocks it out the park with Iron Man 2. I’m gonna give Iron Man 5 stars, even with my nitpicks and it’s been Valkor tested, TOV approved.

Valkor out!

Email: valkor@the-other-view.com