Iron Man
When the previews for Iron Man started, I had mixed expectations for what the movie would be. For one, it looked like an Iraq-War based movie (which would be kinda lame), also Iron Man isn't exactly a favorite of mine (or anyone that I know, really). However, on the plus side, it was Robert Downey Jr. playing a super hero whose alter ego is basically himself with more money, so that might not be all that bad. Then the movie came out and everyone who saw it said it was really good. Expectations were leaning toward the positive.

Upon seeing the movie, I can say it was actually really good. An excellent origin story where the writers/directors/other film maker people wanted to leave room for an on-going story, so not everything was perfectly polished by the end (similar to the new Batman franchise -you can tell there's going to be a lot of character evolution as it goes on).

Robert Downey Jr. was indeed the perfect choice to play Stark. Pretty much nothing he said was serious. He was over-confident and super cocky, just a couple of the numerous character flaws that Stark is supposed to have. Others were hinted at buy not fully explored, but again, I view that as good thing - leaves room for the series to grow. Jeff Bridges played the Iron Monger (what?!)/Obadiah Stane - the villain of the movie, and did so quite well. This was a character that had some depth to it, and it was done quite well. Gwyneth Paltrow was Pepper Potts, Stark's assistant, and she was done quite well. She was actually one of the funnier characters in the movie. I think that was the major strength of the movie - it had some serious parts, but the overall film didn't take itself too seriously like other Marvel films do (Spider-Man was a very serious series, for example).

I usually have a problem with CGI in movies like this. I wasn't big on it in Spider-Man; wasn't big on it in the newer Star Wars movies; wasn't big on it in most movies. However, almost all of it worked really well in Iron Man. I think it's because most of the things that were CGI looked like robots (I find robots usually look fine with CGI where organic things don't). Also, there didn't really seem to be too much of it. If they could use actual actors or settings instead of CGI, they did. Good call.

Everyone involved in this film has said they wanna make a trilogy out of it. If that's the case, this is the opening "Tony Stark is a pretty good guy" chapter. However, it easily sets up the eventual "ya know what? Tony Stark is actually a total douchebag chapter" as well. That will be an interesting movie indeed.

Perhaps my favorite thing with this movie is that - with the upcoming release of The Incredible Hulk - Marvel is finally connecting their movies. Fantastic Four and Spider-Man took place in the same city, and they never mention one another! Stark will be in the new Hulk movie, and there's rumors flying around about movies in the 2010s that could be very interesting as well. There's some other stuff mentioned throughout the movie that has other Marvel universe connections, so pay attention.

Oh, and in case you havent heard, stick around for after the credits - it's pretty cool, and worth the wait.

4 / 5 - I would give it a higher mark, but I'm saving that for the 'douchebag chapter.'