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Although the title doesn’t have nearly the same ring to it, Marvel Studios’ first independently financed superhero film probably should have been called “Tony Stark” instead of Iron Man. The film is undeniably more about the man inside the suit than anything else; the true red and gold version of the armor doesn’t even appear until almost two thirds of the way into the film. And after that it’s only featured in about two and a half set pieces, none of which run very long or feature the level of mayhem audiences may be expecting. But luckily for the film, Robert Downey Jr. is a complete crowd pleaser as the charismatic Tony Stark.

When terrorists kidnap the affable and fun loving Stark to force him to build them a devastating weapon, he instead turns the tables on his captors by crafting a crude but powerful suit of armor that allows him to escape. Back home in America, Stark becomes intent on using his inventive know how to help people instead of just coming up with better ways to blow them up. He refines his armor into a sleek and far more advanced suit and becomes intent on taking out the evildoers who are using his company’s weapons for nefarious deeds. With its terrorism heavy plotline and big business subplots, Iron Man succeeds admirably at feeling grounded in the real world - like the best parts of the Spiderman film series, what Iron Man lacks in stylized artistry it makes up for with audience identification. Though the technological advancements are dubious, we really feel like this story could somehow be happening in the world we live in.

With the aforementioned lack of armored appearances, it helps one’s expectations to think of Iron Man more as an adventure than an action flick. There is an undeniably slow pace to the film, with stretches of scenes that could definitely be considered more than a little bit dull - but this confident pacing helps give the film a sense of weight, helps one to take it more seriously. The emphasis is clearly more on character development and snappy dialogue than spectacle. There are few big set pieces in the film, but plenty of smaller moments that are entertaining in their own way. Moments of action, espionage, romance and comedy are all deftly mixed together by confident director Jon Favreau and his skilled and well cast actors. The comedy is the most surprising part, intelligent and actually quite laugh out loud funny.

Though he’s not around enough, Iron Man himself is an amazing visual - probably the coolest looking superhero ever put on film. And even if the suit doesn’t dominate the running time as much as I would have liked, whenever it is on screen its hard not to be caught up in the moment (proving the film’s status as a true crowd pleaser, the audience I saw the film with erupted into raucous cheers more than once over the armored avenger’s antics). Unfortunately, Favreau and Marvel shot themselves in the foot by truly showing ALL of the good stuff in the film’s multitude of advertising. If one has been paying enough attention to the trailers and advertisements they will have noticed bits of every single action sequence, and may even be able to piece it all into exactly how the film comes together. Perhaps with mainstream blockbusters such as this that is to be expected, but still I had hoped for one or two set pieces that were completely held back. But a film cannot be faulted for its advertising, and taken on its own Iron Man undeniably delivers. It’s a solid start to the summer movie season, entertaining and suitable for all ages without pandering to anyone.

Grade: B+

- Jeff Latta