Iron man review # 12345600000003

Hello all, we made it back safe and sound! Got back to Tijuana yesterday around 8:00 p.m. but I felt so tired that I only unloaded the van an went to sleep. This morning I checked on the blogs and saw a couple of new comments (nice to meet you (s)wine) and a question from Will. Did I like "Iron man" the same I liked "Definitively maybe"? I decided to answer with my review of the movie. but first I asked my family about it: my daughters and my wife liked it,my brother and mother in law (which went on their own to watch it) loved it.

A little background here: I lived in Guadalajara (central Mexico, Mexico's second city) for eight and a half years; I attended college there and stayed working as a college teacher for almost five years. When studying I had to attend a couple of courses unrelated to Engineering (I have a BSEE) and one of them was "Cinema appreciation" (in 1987) and several years later (1993) I found myself alone in the city and to fill my Saturday mornings decided to attend an "advance" course of the same (I learned to appreciate my time on Saturday mornings more and to love Peter Greenaway movies!!). So, every time I go to the movies I could use the critical eye I "developed" during those lessons or (as usually happens) just sit down and drop my expectations to the point where if I do not get sleepy with the movie then it's considered to be OK. I had almost left a movie once in my life ("Salo, 100 days of Sodoma and Gomorra" by Pier Paolo Pasolini, not for the faint of heart) and actually left a theater twice (one with some friends in Guadalajara, when they became offended by the homosexual theme of "My own private Idaho" and one in TJ with my wife when they call her from her work because of an emergency). Then my opinion of a movie could be very optimistic.

"Iron man" got me entertained for the duration. Then gets the "it's OK" treatment. But, I would have to complain (and if you have not seen it read lightly because I might spoil it for you) that if you see the trailer you almost saw the movie. Because you "know" what will happen (if you are a comics' follower) and therefore there are not much surprises.

Now applying the critical eye: Robert Downey Jr. gives a very good performance; you can not say the same of Gwyneth Paltrow or Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges is so-so (he is a believable villain). But I think that, considering the small amount of effects the movie has, acting should have been more important. There is no "click" between Paltrow and Downey Jr.; and the friendhip between Howard and Downey Jr. is close to nothing. The script is just enough, the music gave me nothing (I saw "August Rush" a month ago and I got to know Kaki King from there!) and the camera work was adecuate.

The one thing I liked was to have all these actors in the movie. With Edward Norton as Hulk (coming soon!!) and the teaser scene at the end of the "Iron man" you can expect at least some buzz regarding comic-to-film transformations. Let's hope is going to be more than OK.

See you around.