Rocket Ride

Admittedly, I’m not a huge comic book fan. Not that I don’t like them, I just don’t care for them as much as some friends of mine, current and in the past. I actually did go through a comic phase when I was in my early 20’s where I was out buying them…randomly sometimes, other times methodically. But this isn’t about me and my two minute comic fetish.

Quick summary of the movie: The famous Tony Stark is the son of (not nearly as famous) weapons engineer. After a demonstration of his company’s latest toy, he’s captured by an outlaw-terror army who has forced him to build that exact weapon he demoed. Rather than build the weapon for them, he builds his way out (the MK I) and manages to get to safety and ultimately his little pleasure palace in Malibu. During his stay in terror-camp, he grows a conscious and decides he needs to take his weapon-manufacturing company down a more peaceful route and during that time he starts building MK II version of his suit. Meanwhile, his dad’s business partner, Obediah, is trying to have a more advanced version of the suit built back at the lab. Eventually, they have a fight, Iron Man wins, movie’s over. That summary was for all the folks who haven’t yet seen it…I chose not to spoil too much of it. Please be advised that it’s MUCH BETTER than my summary describes. I lack the words…..should have sent a poet…..

To start off, Robert Downey Jr. fit this roll very well. Again, I’m not a hardcore comic guy, so I can’t say for certain if he represented Tony Stark as the comic intended, but he sold me. I loved the one liners and his overall attitude….even at the post traumatic phase. The effects were great. Computer and advanced HUD effects were quite believable. Sound was nice..not really over the top…music kicked. Really kicked…hang for the closing credits and you won’t be disappointed. But what really got me was the fact that it wasn’t over the top.

Yes, IRON MAN is a super hero but he’s mechanically enhanced rather than a mutant with superpowers. I can’t compare him to anyone because there’s really nobody like him. And because of that, the concept is actually more believable visually as well as conceptually. What do you think would happen if you tried attacking little jet engines to your Timberlands? Yeah, that’s what would happen…and it did. What about attaching something similar to your gloves…right again. While it was all imaginary, it managed to be real. I have an easier time watching IRON MAN launch into the sky and outrun two F-22’s than I do seeing Ethan Hunt doing nose wheelies on a dirt road whilst shooting at the badguys. The latter just doesn’t make it for me.

All that aside, chalk it up as a winner in my book. Very much going on the list of DVDs I should buy when it hits the shelves (in the Fall?). Now I wait for Hulk and Dark Knight and hope they do not disappoint.