Well, I saw Iron Man (technically gold-palladium alloy man) on Friday and I have to say, it was downright amazing. When it was announced a couple of years ago, I wrote it off as a harbinger of death for the comic book genre, until I heard that Robert Downey Jr. was cast in iron (apologies). That opened my mind up a bit, not only because of the talent he brings to the table, but because the fact that he was sought out suggested this was serious business, not a cash grab. It’s turning out to be both (in a good way).

Now, with the benefit of having actually seen the movie; I am going to talk about it.

The acting was solid, with the brand name cast taking their work seriously. There’s always a risk with A-list actors in genre movies feeling the need to wink at the audience, letting them know that this was more about the paycheck than the material. There’s none of that here, despite the quarter dozen oscar nominated performers in the film. I was excited to see the director, John Favreau (Vince Vaughn’s buddy!), show up in the movie. He had more than a cameo but he didn’t pull a Lady in the Water. If M. Night Shyamalan directed Iron Man, I imagine he’d be behind the armor more than the camera (cheap shots aside, The Happening looks to have potential).

The story was strong, with good to great characterizations for almost everyone involved. Tony Stark’s reason for becoming Iron Man not only made sense but felt inevitable. His skill set was presented in a way that made even his early design work in an Afghani cave seem plausible, which was probably the hardest part of the story to swallow. The take your interval side of me was glad to see them raise the issue of ‘legitimate’ arms dealing, although they didn’t take it beyond the actions of individual businessmen. They defanged the Afghani tribesman, too, turning them into an odd coalition of Arab, Soviet, and Mongolian warlords, rather than making them an Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda clone. I suppose he was one cave over.

Another interesting aspect of the story is Iron Man’s moral code. He has no qualms about killing those that are asking for it, and he does it with style. That, along with early Tony Stark’s liberal moral code (the man has lady skills, period), made me wonder if it took an edit or two to get the MPAA to hold back on the market altering R.

Finally, you can’t review this movie without talking about the humor. It is incredibly funny, with Robert Downey Jr.’s quick witted delivery put into overdrive. Who knows what was improvised or what was written, but there looked to be a lot of both, and every bit of it worked. I won’t ruin any of it here, other than the gold-palladium alloy line I opened with (I’m as bad as Carlos Mencia! [explicit]).

Speaking of special effects (play along), they were more than impressive; I imagine you would have to either be in the effects business or obsessed with it to know how each effect shot was done or more importantly, whether or not it was even an effects shot. I really liked how they weren’t afraid to ‘damage’ Iron Man’s armor. It really sold the idea that this was real.

The music wasn’t bad, but it felt like a video game score, functioning more as ambience rather than a work that stands on its own as the musical story of Iron Man. That seems to be a long term trend for movies for the most part, though. Spider-man, Batman Begins, and the Hulk all had great scores, but unless you’re a music nut like myself, you don’t come away with a clear theme to hum like you do with say, William’s Superman or Elfman’s Batman . Of course, the newer comic book movies have more conflicted heroes, filled with self-doubt and moral struggle, so it makes sense that the music reflects that with more subtlety and ambiguity. With Iron Man, though, it was clear that Stark knew who he was once he made the decision to go metal, so I would have liked a more heroic melody, rather than just the rhythmic chug of a distorted guitar.

The final fight was a bit anti-climactic, but only relative to how exciting everything else was. Speaking of endings, be sure to stay through the credits to see what the future holds for Iron Man. I’ll give you a hint, it may involve saving airline passengers from an army of snakes, but let’s hope not.

Iron Man is a great launch pad for the summer movie season, and if the previews of The Dark Knight and The Incredible Hulk that came before the movie are any indication, comic book movies aren’t going anywhere anytime soon (that’s a good thing).