Movie Review : Iron Man :

Today was our "movie day". My husband and I took our son to the theater to watch Iron Man. There has been a recent trend to make movies based on the Marvel comic characters. I have to admit I was expecting something totally ridiculous like any other action hero movie, but I was disappointed, in a pleasant way. I was kind of curious to see how they would transform the comic character that I grew up following as child into a big screen hero. I know there have been a few articles reviewing this movie but I will explain my own understanding of the movie and my assessment as to why it was different from the rest of the movies that fall under the same category. I'll try my best not to spoil the fun for you if you haven't watched the movie yet. I analyzed the film according the criteria that I think are important :

1. The cast : Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, and Terrence Howard....... they are all talented actors. I, for instance felt that the experience was all too real. I felt totally engaged. I have watched other movies with my son but on every occasion I had to suck it up and watch the whole trash. For example, the novice actors like Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in "Spiderman" have gained popularity, but the class / charisma is missing in their screen presence. Also, the newest "Superman" Brandon Routh looked appropriate for the character but with direction to acting, the whole project fell short of perfection. There were unnecessarily frequent flying over the clouds and the Superman himself was thinking what am I doing here ? and where the hell are my frequent flyer miles ?

2. The plot : Very realistic. The way the role of this fiction character has been tied to the current world affairs, gave the movie so much authenticity. Today, for the first time in an action hero movie, it felt like all the scenes in the movie were needed to explain the way the story unfolded. There was such continuous flow between the scenes. The powerful turn of events, building up to the climax was all too realistic. At no point did the movie lose appeal. I was at the edge of my seat waiting for what would happen next. Throughout the entire movie, the director, Jon Favreau was able to give us the sense that yes, it could happen ! The idealistic superheroes could exist in today's world and make a difference. Not only that, such heroes could use skills to turn things around and face the odds with bravery.

3. The audio-visual effect : Awesome. Big budget Hollywood movies are famous for the computer generated audio-visual effects. So, that was never a concern. However, which was laudable was that none of the action scenes seemed exaggerated, even if it was a fiction movie.

4. The use of language : Overall use of language was not offensive. At least 2 or 3 foreign languages have been used. I could not figure out all on my own (good that the subtitles were provided !). However, in the beginning of the film, Urdu ( the official language of Pakistan ) was used with great accuracy. Fortunately, it is one of the languages that I know. So, I could enjoy a different type of realistic experience. Their attire, set decoration, and everything else was all too perfect!

5. The lesson : Though the Islamic terrorists have been portrayed in the film, it was not in an offensive way. You could not disagree with any of the facts that were presented..........you cannot cry 'foul' about the truth. There was, however, this praiseworthy effort to present the story with neutral perspective. The film dwelled on very important issues like..... a) why and how the terrorists get the upper hand, b) what greed can do to us, and c) how we, the human beings with our judgment can make the right decision and utilize our resources to make the world the right place.

6. Rating (PG-13) : We took our son, who will be 10 this year. I thought a scene or two were not appropriate for him. He was monitored. But is he really that naive? I don't think so. The main point is he watched the movie in his parents' presence and we had a great time together. (We left our daughter with my mother-in-law at home, because she talks too much at the theater, which irritates her brother).

7. Total length of the movie : a little over two hours including the other theatrical previews.

8. Overall rating : "A" and I will recommend you to go and watch the movie (though you may want to assign a grade of "A-" to be fair...........okay, I admit, I do love superheroes !)

Note :

I think I have done a good job of not disclosing the full plot.............don't you agree ?