Iron Man is where everything rested, as far as Marvel was concerned. This was their final shot in creating their own film studio and it was set in motion because comic books were dying. Marvel has had some great highs along with some historic lows, and Iron Man was what pulled it out of the pits of near bankrupcy. It did that, and it revitalized Robert Downey Jr's career after a long battle with addiction and unreliability in the eyes of Hollywood. This is the first movie that officially brought about what was coined the Marvel Cinematic Universe and pulled victory from the jaws of defeat. It not only brought Marvel back into full mainstream attention, but it also brought the comic books from the brink of destruction.
This is rather strange, because Iron Man is not what one would call a masterpiece, but it does what it set out to do. Even Stan Lee agrees that Downey Jr is definitively Tony Stark and he has remained as such throughout the MCU's run. Another great thing that helps this movie is the legendary Jeff Bridges, who plays the main antagonist Obediah Stane. While he doesn't make a very good giant robot boss, he does make a very devious, slick talking snake. No matter what the deal, he always has a way out and takes whatever advantage he can when the time comes.
The greatest victory this movie performs is Tony's backstory of being captured by Middle Eastern Radicalists who try to use him to create a massively devastating weapon system. Instead of building the missile attack device, he is assisted by his scientific friend in creating Iron Man's prototyical suit. Tony's escape is easily one of the best scenes of this entire film and is both heartfelt and action packed. It's even got a little dark humor when one of the terrorists tries to sneak up on him and shoot him in the helmet.
While Gwyneth Paltrow is a bit of a controversial subject all her own, she does well in this movie as Tony's love interest. Both her and John Favreau play their roles very well, as well as Favreau directing the film itself. The performances are stellar, and that elevated this movie to its highly favorable position. The only problem was the ending when Iron Man faces off against War Monger, Stane's iron suit. The banter is humorous and the fight is unique when the thought is put behind the icing problem at high elevations. Beyond that, though, they made Iron Man have a handicap because he's using an outdated energy core for the device in his chest, keeping him alive.
The movie is just flat out entertaining and gives you some great characters through amazing acting talent. The story has a great pace and the fact that they focused on making it a great movie rather than the start of a cinematic universe, only shows their dedication to success rather than weighing it down with hints of Hulk, Thor and Black Widow. They allowed movies to be movies and that really let people ease into the idea of a feature connected to another feature to make a series. This was normally done with one character in mind, not an entire barrage of main characters who were destined to form a team. There were so many factors that made this movie and series a success and it all began with this fantastic film that had minor issues but major impact. Virtua-Venger
