Popcorn and Pen

As I child, I was never very into comic books. Instead, a majority of my allowance and loose change went into buying and collecting baseball cards. So going into “Iron Man,” I couldn’t tell you who his enemy was, what his special powers were or any basic info about the self-made superhero – although, I coulda probably of gotten who he got his name correctly.

But the great thing about the movie is that you don’t need to be a comic-book lover to enjoy the film. Where previous comic-based movies have left me feeling detached, “Iron Man” succeeds. There is no romantic love story, it has the proper dosage of humor, the CGI was amazing and despite being 135 minutes long, the film moves quickly but still keeps the audience informed in the plot.

Tony Stark (Downey) is the CEO of Stark Industries, which produces advance weapon systems for the U.S. military. His father started the company after WWII, and after his death Tony inherited the company, worth billions. He followed in his father’s footsteps – as a genius he graduated at the top of his class at MIT at 13. After his father died, Stark Industries was led by Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), who looked after Tony like his own son.

Tony lives the life as a hard-drinking, rich, playboy ladies man, but he is also a genius who has invented many high-tech items for the company. He flies to Afghanistan to demonstrate a new weapons test to the army. On his way back to his plane, his convoy is attacked by terrorists, and Tony is wounded by a Stark Industries missile.

He is captured and held hostage in a cave with Raza (Faran Tahir), a doctor who saves his life by installing a metal contraption in his chest to keep shrapnel out of his heart and causing him to die. The terrorists force Tony and Raza to reproduce the new destructive Jericho missile Tony was demonstrating to the U.S. Army, by creating it from parts of other Stark Industry weapons.

Instead, Tony decides to build a suit of armor with Raza’s help. The suit gives Tony the strength and protection to escape from the terrorists. Back in America, he decides to build a better suit of armor which gives him superhuman strength and the ability to fly.

Tony also decides that his company will no longer manufacture weapons anymore after seeing the astrospheres of war and how the enemies of those he builds the weapons to protect are using them against the U.S.

With the help of his personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who has a very small role in the film, and Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard), Tony vows to protect the world as “Iron Man.” That is until the pieces of his of initial suit which helped him escape the terrorist camp is rebuilt and out for revenge.

The casting of Robert Downey, Jr. was perfect – even before you learn Stark is a self-absorbed alcoholic, who struggles with his own demons. The film mainly focuses on Stark and doesn’t allow many other characters to get a lot of face time, which helps keep the movie focused. Howard, like Paltrow, has a small role, but is a nice-guy, sidekick to Stark.

“Iron Man” is one of the best comic-book movies I’ve seen – up there with Tim Burton’s “Batman” films and “Batman Begins” – because it’s enjoyable to the comic-book guy and those who have never picked one up.

Oh, and make sure you stay to after the credits to see a small glimpse of the future of “Iron Man.” It includes Samuel L. Jackson.

“Iron Man,” a Paramount Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content. Running time: 135 min.