thoughtnot

Last week, I had the opportunity to see the movie “Iron Man” as part of a vendor-sponsored event at a local theater. That means in order to see the movie (for free!), I had to sit through a 2.5 hour presentation. Of course, they fed us danish and coffee prior, and popcorn and coke during. And our rep took me to lunch afterwards, so I can’t complain. Oh, and I won a cheap t-shirt, too! LOL! The presentation was OK, but it turns out I had seen most of the content before.

For the most part, I’ve never really been a “superhero comic book” guy. Sure, I enjoyed some Superman comics, as well as Archie, GI JOE, and perhaps a smattering of Spiderman and Fantastic Four. But I was never a collector, and never really sorted out all the good guys from the bad guys. I consider characters like Iron Man, Ice Man, The Flash, Green Lantern, etc. to be “minor” superheros (because Superman could kick all their butts). But I have enjoyed the movie versions of most of these.

Anyhow, I really wasn’t expecting much from this movie, other than perhaps to see a half-dazed Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark / Iron Man) try to reinvigorate his career. So I was surprised to see that Downey did a great job, along with Terrence Howard (Jim Rhodes), Jeff Bridges (Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger), and Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts). I was particularly impressed with Jeff Bridges, who has a whole new look in this movie as a bald guy with a beard. I won’t give away too many details other than to say it was jam packed with action, was pretty funny (typical comic book style one-liners), and had good music. Certain elements were a bit implausible, but it’s a movie about a comic book character so don’t set your expectations on realism. 

Even if I had paid, it would have been worth it. And I don’t say that just because it’s the only movie I’ve seen in a theater since… well… I can’t remember. But once it comes out on DVD, I’ll probably rent it again just to see what I may have missed. If you haven’t seen it already, check it out!