(out of 5)
Iron Man yields an almost pitch-perfect picture. Robert Downey Jr., while always a great actor, shows the kind of smarmy wit that makes him irresistible, but knows how to play it straight when the role requires it. When his character has a revelation in the movie, you see his burden and his pain dripping from his guilt-ridden eyes. What a great casting decision he was, there would be no one better at this point, and I can honestly say, that even though they could recast it, to say that someone else could play his character is like saying someone else besides Christopher Reeve is a better Superman. This part of the film is indeed perfect.
Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark’s personal assistant is fantastic. Watching her in this movie made me fall in love with her character. I’m not really a huge fan of her other work. I think she’s good, but sometimes a bit flat. (“Shakespeare in Love” was better when it was called “Just One of the Guys”) Here she’s incredibly likeable, incredibly pretty in that sort of nerdy girl-next-door kind of way. She hits all the right notes, and dare I say it, her chemistry with Downey is fantastic.
Jeff Bridges hasn’t been this great since the Dude. Actually seeing him in this kind of picture brought back memories of “Tron.” He is so good in this, every scene he’s in he steals away from the others, and based on what I’ve already told you, that is no easy feat.
Terrence Howard is very good as well, although memories of Cuba Gooding Jr. in “Jerry Maguire” come to mind. Not that that is a bad thing, however. He smartly chooses a character performance, and it’s one with a lot of heart.
In fact, Heart is what this film has in spades. The performances and the script were impeccable. Fantastic dialogue is what I mean by script.
Because the story is one you’ve seen a gazillion times before. While it works, it is a shame a little more time wasn’t focused on harvesting the story idea into something a bit meatier. Maybe it’s just me, but really, every scene was paint by the numbers. It’s not a serious drawback; the film was still very engrossing. But with a bit more flesh, it really could have joined the ranks as one of the best hero films ever. As it stands, it’s still great, but it doesn’t really become epic. The journey was a tad short of that.
The direction was quite good, but there were a few scenes in a cave and at the end where the hand held felt a little cheap, especially when contrasted with the rest of the picture. We’ll let that one slide.
So here’s where the other half star comes off, and this is the biggie: The score.
I’ve heard complaints from people about Zimmer, but I think when he does a score, it’s fantastic. I’m no real fan of his earlier purely synthetic scores, but the marching orchestral stuff is fantastic, such as in Batman Begins, King Arthur, or of course, Gladiator. Iron Man’s music was 'OK'. I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Aside from the perfect use of “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath and an AC/DC song (“Back in Black”), the rest of the soundtrack sounded like the movie was supposed to be a made for TV movie in the 70’s. It needed an awesome score, with great themes. Even Transformers showed us this can still be done. What the hell was this? There are a few good themes, but they are just merely good.
But, it did not ruin the movie. It just kept it out of the hall of perfection. Oh well. I’d rather have a great movie with a poor score than a crap movie with a great score (AVPR, thank you very much!).
This one is at least a keeper. Hopefully they’ll keep it up, and get us a better score next time.