Ten years ago, the Marvel Universe was born with the release of Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark aka Iron Man and man, how it’s changed when he first took flight as the Armored Avenger.

The movie stars RDJ and is joined by some of Hollywood’s A-Listers like Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes and Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stand. It’s also directed by Jon Favreau.

The movie is an adaptation of the comics and a damn good adaptation too. We see Robert Downey Jr. playing Tony Stark to perfection. A man that’s brilliant while at the same time haunted by the things he’s done in the past. You can say Downey was born to play the role. He locked down the look, the mannerism and even gave some quirks to Stark that made him such a loveable asshole in the comics.

Favreau definitely tried to make the Iron Man movie as close to the comics as possible. In hindsight, his direction steered the MCU into what it is right now; a multi-media juggernaut that earns billions with movies that fans can cheer and rally behind.

Other cast members for this film also made such a stunning effort to portray their characters. Paltrow’s Pepper Potts is a woman that’s behind her “employer” 100% of the way making sure that Stark gets what he wants and what he needs. Terrence Howard’s James “Rhodey” Rhodes is a serious military man who creates some of the best moments in the film. Rather than play second fiddle to Downey’s Stark, he commands respect whenever he’s around.

Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane (Iron Man)

Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane was also great. He laid the foundation for what it truly is to be a good MCU villain. Too bad he had to go towards the end but maaaannn, was his work here impressive, especially in that scene with the piano and pizza and subsequent stealing of Tony’s chest reactor.

I loved the fact that they also started building towards the Avengers as early as the second act of the movie with Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson making an appearance to get an audience with our protagonist for SHIELD.

Phil Coulson and Pepper Potts in Iron Man (Gwyneth Paltrow and Clark Gregg)

And speaking of the Avengers, WOW, that Nick Fury cameo as a post-credit scene really was the gamechanger for how Hollywood movies were made.

Now let’s talk about visuals. The armor, at the time of the film’s release, was BEAUTIFUL. Every moment where we see the armor is pure geekgasm. Then we get to see it go toe-to-toe with Obadiah Stane’s Warmonger armor and it’s twice the fangasm.

The dialogues are fast and furious and when they choose to be funny, they actually are. Even characters like Stane and Ho Yinsen can deliver dark humor to break tensions once in awhile. Good job on that.

Iron Man Review – Verdict

10/10.

Iron Man has it’s flaws but considering how HUGE it’s impact is today and how BIG it shaped the movie industry, i wouldn’t even bother giving the movie less than perfect.