Iron Man

Exactly one week after Iron Man opens in Malaysian cinemas (we opened a couple days before America), I finally caught this yet-another-superhero-movie-by-Marvel. Devoid of large crowds and long lines (except at the concession stand where the people in front of me where taking their own fucking sweet time... *seeth in annoyance* but that's another story), all for RM6. Woo hoo!

I'm not gonna rehash and paraphrase what Wikipedia has to say about Iron Man, if you want to know, you have to read it for yourself.

I tried, and it's pretty long for someone with my (short) attention span.

I might have remembered watching the cartoon series (60s one) a very long time ago, but I can't remember the theme song as all I could think of was the Speed Racer theme tune - I had to look it up on Television Tunes.com (yes, there is such a site - pretty useful in times like these) for it. And the 60s Iron Man tune is pretty funny - it tells you everything you need to know about Tony Stark in 22 seconds, haha.

Okay, so here's the lowdown:

Cast

• LOVE Robert Downey Jr as Stark - EVERYTHING: the snarkiness, suaveness, hilariousness, yadda yadda yadda. Even all the faux magazine covers that Tony Stark's been on: everything from Newsweek to Rolling Stone.
  
• Ms Gwynnie Paltrow - I don't hate her as Tony Stark's long time assistant Virginia "Pepper" Potts. Really. Had to wonder if the freckles are for real, though.
  
• Everyone else - I'm okay with it. Didn't recognise Jeff Bridges sans hair; that, or I got him confused with Beau....
  

Plot - Same old, same old: Obligatory story of origin, conflict, escalation, climax and resolution. The story's been "comtemporarised" (so I made that up - sue me) for the Naughtie-s audience. You know, Vietnam War, Gulf War, tomayto, tomahto.

I was laughing my head off at the interaction between man and machine (literally). Effing hillarious.

All in all, it's not bad - not as lame as some of the previous Marvel superhero movies. I thought it's pretty solid. And I'm still keeping to my one-movie-a-month schedule, haha.

Now, for the random thoughts:

• For a Merchant of Death (MOD), his home security is sure damn lax one - people can walk in and out, no problem one.
  
• For a genius, there was a lot of things he "didn't expect" : P
  
• Heck, it's a first time I've heard the term "Merchant of Death" since the movie Thank You for Smoking (which I also recommend watching).
  
• "Training exercise" explains EVERYTHING.
  

Last one: STAY FOR THE CREDITS. Here's why (don't click if you don't want to know).

P.S. Sequel in 2010.

P.P.S. Didn't know that Paul Bettany's also in this one, though not in person.

P.P.P.S. Also missed director Jon Favreau's role as Stark's driver, Hogan.