Iron Man

[Zeke]

DA DA DADADA! DAAA DAAA DANANA DA DA DA!

You'd better believe I was there on opening night. Iron Man is one of my three favourite comics (the other two being the Flash and the Fantastic Four). And while the movie wasn't perfect, it was damn close -- maybe the best superhero movie to date. These guys get Tony Stark, they get Iron Man, and they clearly love their work.

Who else has seen it? What'd you think?

[Nate the Great]

Well, I haven't seen it yet, but my sister, who is NOT into comic books, has. Twice. And she liked it. Take what you will from THAT.

[Derek]

I've heard enough positive things about it that I now want to see it.

[Chancellor Valium]

Seen it, thought it was great. Would pay to see it again.

[Nate the Great]

Okay, to change the direction a smidge...favorite Iron Man villain, anyone?

This'll sound a bit twisted, but I still have a soft spot for The Living Laser. It's amazing how many tricks that guy has. Straight laser blasts, creating holograms, setting the air on fire, ultrabright light bursts to blind his opponents, the list goes on and on.

[ijdgaf]

It was really good. Mostly because it was essentially "Robert Downey Junior: The Movie"

Otherwise it was rather formulaic. But in not taking itself too seriously and having one of the best leading genre actors this side of PotC, it was a home run.

Batman Begins is still better.

[Nate the Great]

All Too Flat reviews Batman Begins

I'm not gonna shoot myself in the foot by stating how much of this I do or do not agree with, so it looks like you guys miss out on at least ONE Natemiliation.

[ijdgaf]

that review seems entirely up your alley, Nate. tons and tons of minor nitpicks about excedingly minor points that don't matter. very little focus on mood, tone, acting, or anything else that's actually important to the artform.

[Nate the Great]

Uh, where did I say that those were MY opinions? Is there some unwritten rule that a guy can't enjoy people ranting about stuff that disagrees with his feelings on a subject? After all, rants on a humor site are supposed to be, you know, humorous? Funny is sort of what these guys do.

[PointyHairedJedi]

Hmm. Methinks my mod powers need expanding.


Muwahahahahahahah.

[Zeke]

I dunno man, I dunno. On the one hand, faster spam removal. On the other hand... you with more power. The evil cackling can't be a good start.

(For those looking now, there were spam posts above PHJ which I've removed.)

I agree with both Nate and IJD here. I dig AllTooFlat, and I think they make some very good points in that article. But Batman Begins, flawed though it was, was still a smart, impressive movie that gave the franchise new life. Same goes for Superman Returns. We can argue about the ideas in both films (Superman as deadbeat dad? No thanks), but that means we're taking them seriously -- something that's impossible to do with Batman & Robin or Superman IV.

favorite Iron Man villain, anyone?

It's gotta be the Mandarin. The only constant in Iron Man comics is that sooner or later, ol' Mandy will turn up with some new tricks and pose a major threat to whoever's in the suit. I'm a big fan of John Byrne's run, where the Mandarin was practically a co-star; while Tony was caught up in Armor Wars II, we watched him take over half of China, a storyline that gradually built up for over a year before the big payoff. Byrne pushed the idea that these were enemies linked by destiny -- we even found out the Mandarin had been involved behind the scenes during Iron Man's origin.

Tony's got a better rogues gallery than people give him credit for. Living Laser's a fun one all right (though I liked him better before he had real powers... just like Tony himself). The Crimson Dynamo, Ultimo, Firebrand, and the Ghost are other favourites. And let's not forget two big characters who got their start fighting Iron Man: Hawkeye and the Black Widow.

[Nate the Great]

Putting aside the racist aspects of Mandarian, I suppose I never really got into him because, quite frankly, he's just another villain that SHOULD be a lot more formidable than he seems to be. By setting up this guy with education, wealth, followers, his own army, and those ten alien rings, you'd think he'd be up there with Dr. Doom and Magneto, but he's not. At least, I never got that impression.

[Grayvorn]

Without a doubt one of the best superhero films I have ever seen. Downey Jr is simply the perfect Tony Stark, I can't imagine anyone else in the role now.

The action and the cool armor variations were also brilliant and the humor was just spot on, especially the laugh out loud moment when Stark tests his flight repulsors for the first time

I simply cannot wait for Iron Man 2, and Tony's involvement with the Avengers