Review: Iron Man Starts The World's Biggest Film Franchise Properly
- Jan 28, 2018
- 2 min read
Ten years ago, two major things happened to cinema. A new frontier of film was introduced to the world when Samuel L Jackson broke into Tony Stark's house to tell him that he was putting together a team. But before that - by about 120 minutes - the other major thing: the superhero movie landscape was changed forever by a movie called Iron Man.
Even if you somehow haven't heard the story of how Tony Stark was captured by terrorists, and while pretending to build them weapons, built a suit of robotic armour and escaped, everyone knows the plot outline of Iron Man from another movie.
Maybe you saw Doctor Strange, a movie about a self-centred rich man who suddenly found himself in a horrible situation he couldn't control, so he became a superhero and overcame his situation and his ego.
Maybe you saw Ant-Man, a story about a man in a suit that gives him incredible abilities, fighting a businessman in a knock-off version of the suit.
Or maybe you've seen Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, a story of a rich genius who wants to use his skills and gadgets to save the world, and ends up putting a team together with the help of his powerful friends.
Iron Man isn't just a film that changed Hollywood and started a new trend. It's also a fantastic film. It cannot stop being entertaining - from Stark being kidnapped, to the construction of the Mk 2 suit, to the final showdown against Stane's Iron Monger.
It was also one of the first times that a superhero movie had a lot more to it than a superhero trying to balance his daily life with fighting villains. It showed a detailed world full of people and their roles, and it painted a picture of Tony Stark outside of just his superhero life. Robert Downey Jr shines as himself, a rich former alcoholic bursting with charisma and charm
Iron Man isn't the perfect movie, with a number of dated tropes and a fairly uninteresting climactic battle. But its CGI, acting, writing, and new approach to the superhero origin story truly set it apart from the rest, marking a wonderful turning point for the genre.
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