Ebert Reviews "Ironman"

Good to see that Ebert loved Ironman as much as me and J. did. Strangely, since he reviewed it in his journal, he didn't appear to give it a star rating, but his enthusiasm is similar to that which he showered on Spider-man 2 (4 stars), Superman (the original - 4 stars), Batman Begins (4 stars), and The Incredibles (3.5 stars). I'm guessing his review is functionally equivalent to a 4-star review, but maybe he'll update his page later and tell us outright. In my own opinion, I think Spiderman 2, Batman Begins and Ironman really hit the high bar for the comic book-inspired superhero cinematic version. I'll have to give some thought as to what makes each of them so good and so valuable later. Here's a good last closing part by Ebert on Ironman in the meantime:

That leaves us, however, with a fundamental question at the bottom of the story: Why must the ultimate weapon be humanoid in appearance? Why must it have two arms and two legs, and why does it matter if its face is scowling? In the real-world competitions between fighting machines, all the elements of design are based entirely on questions of how well they allow the machines to attack, defend, recover, stay upright, and overturn their enemies. It is irrelevant whether they have conventional eyes, or whether those eyes narrow. Nor does it matter whether they have noses, because their oxygen supply is obviously not obtained by breathing.

The solution to such dilemmas is that the armored suits look the way they do for entirely cinematic reasons. The bad iron man should look like a mean machine. The good iron man should utilize the racing colors of Tony Stark's favorite sports cars. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun to see a fight scene between two refrigerators crossed with the leftovers from a boiler room.

At the end of the day it 's Robert Downey Jr. who powers the lift-off separating this from most other superhero movies. You hire an actor for his strengths, and Downey would not be strong as a one-dimensional mighty-man. He is strong because he is smart, quick and funny, and because we sense his public persona masks deep private wounds. By building on that, Favreau found his movie, and it's a good one.