Before i start my review, i'd like to note that it's impossible to criticize this film without putting the ''comic book googles'' on. Because it's such a mess in terms of reality, even for a sci-fi film. I mean, even if you could come up with an indestructible material for your armor, it won't save you anyway when you hit the ground at 200 mph, g force will kill you no matter what kind of armor you wear. And the character wasn't established as a super human, he's flesh and bone. So, the technical premise of the film is very weak and b movie level, made me laugh so many times. But as i said, i'll put the comic book googles on and ignore the ridiculously nonsensical technical side of the film. Because the film is not about that.
The first thing that has bothered me, aside from the above-mentioned issue, was the starting point of the character arc. We were supposed to dislike Tony Stark a little bit at the start. Because he comes off as an arrogant, war profiteering, misogynistic, cynical hedonist at the start. But the film failed to reflect him as such. And instead Tony Stark was portrayed as a very likable, rockstar-like character - despite all his negative qualities shown- from the very beginning of the film. In fact, i believe most common audiences(especially American, no offence) didn't see anything wrong with Stark's character by the way it was delivered. But maybe the director was trying to be subtle in the way he delivered his negative sides. Nevertheless, i think it failed there.
For me, the most enjoyable part of the film came after this failed character introduction; the escape from the death cave. I could have enjoyed a film solely based on this escape alone. I loved the idea of him making the robot-armor under such difficult conditions, out of different equipment, while being monitored by the terrorists, and i loved that crude armor mark 1. Following that, came the most disappointing part, where he rocketed into the sky with the crude, bulky armor. This was the turning point of the technical side(which i was enjoying up until that point) of the film.
Generally, humor was done very well and Robert Downey Jr. did a great job with the character. And this is the main reason why these Iron Man and Avengers films are so successful. Another positive thing was the love interest part. I liked how they had a history together and how they took it slow, it felt real. Because in such films, most often, the character meets the love interest during the story of the film and then they fall in ''love'' even though they know nothing about each other and they are ready to die for one another(stupid thor). So it didn't do that. The villain was too comic booky(wink wink), and i wish they had done more with Jeff Bridges, he's such an interesting actor.
In conclusion, i had fun watching this, despite all the negative things that bothered me. Robert Downey Jr. carried this very well and made it a memorable, fun film.
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