Iron Man has been out for over six weeks now, and I managed to catch a matinee last weekend. It is one of the best reviewed movies of the year so far with 93% at Rotten Tomatoes and 79/100 at Metacritic. These are rather high numbers for a super hero movie. Compare to The Incredible Hulk which is now playing opposite Iron Man, and received scores of 67% and 61/100 from those respective websites.
Much of the credit for Iron Man goes to Robert Downey, Jr. Most critics noted that his performance kept the movie going, and that is undoubtedly true. I really enjoy watching Downey. He usually gives a fun performance even if the movie is otherwise bad. He is a lot like Alec Baldwin in that way. Say what you will about the rest of the Baldwin family, but Alec is entertaining as hell.
But there are two other aspects of Iron Man that really push its ratings up. First, it's a tight film. There isn't a much wasted time--the plot just effortlessly flows forward. Credit for this has to go to John Favreau who put it all together, but the writers also deserve credit for not overburdening the script with expository dialogue. Too many superhero movies get bogged down in that sort of thing. In Iron Man, there is a short sequence explaining that Tony Stark is the son of an arms dealer and that he has his own genius when it comes to weapons design. That's about all you need to know and that is all the movie tells you. Favreau and the writers avoid unnecessary explanation, and in doing so, they keep the film focused on the immediate story and the action. Simple, but it works.
The second thing that really helps the film is that its plot is tangentially related to current events. Most superhero movies are designed escapist fun. That means avoiding politics, avoiding our actual wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and when necessary, using stock military characters. The Hulk movies are perfect examples of this. You would think by watching those movies that the army isn't up to anything besides chasing down big green men. Iron Man is different of course, as it features an arms dealer who is captured by terrorists/insurgents in Afghanistan and who has to come to grips with the moral implications of making a fortune off dealing in weapons.
I have been looking for movies that are relevant for a while now. With the state we're in, mainstream movies should have a lot more to say. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is an excellent movie even if you are not a trek fan in large part because it was bold enough to talk about the collapse of the Soviet Union. Iron Man isn't Star Trek VI, but it's a step in the right direction.
