I took this long to finally put my two cents about this movie because of several spoilers that are in it. That being said, cue obligatory:

SPOILER ALERT

I’m going to preface this by saying I’m a HUGE Iron Man fan. I loved the character since I was a kid, even owning one of the Secret Wars Iron Man figures. I can always say my absolute all-time favorite comic cover is Tales of Suspense #39. My favorite armor will always be “Silver Centurion”. My love for the character waned a bit, but after reading the Civil War story arc I didn’t hate the character, I respected him more because the decisions he made seemed to be the right thing to do in the situations presented. (Let me say am by far and large a BIGGER Cap fan than of ol’ Shell Head. Steve Rogers lives!)

My anticipation for this movie was hampered by everything I had seen up to that point. The trailers were amazing, but I thought that was all there was to the movie. But, after forcing my girlfriend to wait in line (with the payback of I had to watch the “Sex In The City” movie with her in June. *shudders*) I obtained my ticket and eagerly awaited the next showing.

I absolutely loved this movie, it was everything you were expecting, not just from the trailers and the comics, but there was “more” there than you would know. First, I loved the nods to the United States Air Force. Seeing Marine and Navy jets in movies over the past decade made it seem like those branches of the service owned all the jets (or worst, they have the best pilots!) Â I also liked the movie’s real-world feel, in line with the X-Men movies. Robert Downey, Jr. nails Tony Stark’s both playboy side and his tortured weapon’s-designer-with-a-heart underpinnings. The rest of the cast was pretty good, nothing too spectacular, but this was Iron Man’s origin, so nothing was lost in presenting his character prominently.

The pacing was dead-on. Very few movies have no dead spots in them. This is one of them. Downey chews scenery with Stark, and little humorous instances keep the plot going. Some argue that this could have been two movies, and the jump in decades of continuity was a bit much, but I though it was perfect. You didn’t need to tell the story of Iron Man over 5 movies. The ending (the first one) was the best ending to a Super Hero Movie ever. Every hero movie ends with at least one character knowing who the hero is secretly, and invariably that person dies or “keeps the secret safe”. This idea was turned on its head by having Tony reveal to the world who is. Absolutely perfect, and in line with what is going on in the comics now.

Little nods to us fanboys littered the movie, whether it be a reference to Rhodie eventually becoming War Machine, agents of SHEILD running around trying to keep a handle on all the shady dealings with Stane, or the ominous “Ten Rings” terrorist organization that may or may not be the coming of Mandarin in the sequel. Oh, and lets not forget that ending after the credits rolled: Sam “THERE’S-A-M*F’ING-NICK-FURY-IN-MY-M*F’ING-MOVIE!” Jackson. Classic!

I can’t lay enough praise on this movie. If you’re a fan, see it. If you like Summer Blockbusters, this movie is why you wait in line during the Summer time. Highly recommended.