"Iron Man"-Robert Downey Jr. stars as a cocky and wealthy industrialist Tony Stark who builds and armored suit to escape a kidnapping in the middle east and becomes a superhero to fight evil! 

Sure it's another comic book movie, but Downey plays the role with a swagger perhaps not seen in the typical superhero movie. He's a fine actor, but often Downey comes off as just plain weird. In "Iron Man" he plays the Stark role with a lot of confidence and thanks to a sharp script and some amazing action scenes it works extremely well. 

Of particular note on the action front is the dog fight between Ironman and some fighter jets which might remind some viewers of Top Gun. It's dazzling. With every new comic book type movie you have to go through the motions of figuring out how the character becomes the particular superhero---and there are some moments early in the film that drag.  But once you get past that 45 minute mark it soars. There's great support work from Terrance Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow. I'm not sure why Jeff Bridges looks so much like Jesse Ventura in this movie, but he's great too in the role of Obadiah Stone. In movies like this I'm looking for a big fun and wow factor---and "Iron Man" is solid on both fronts. I couldn't think of a better start to the summer movie season. 

4 out of 5

 

 

Also opening this week "Made of Honor" with Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan.

 

I'd also like the strongly recommend "The Visitor" starring Richard Jenkins playing for a limited engagement at Landmark's Plaza Frontenec. Jenkins is a character actor that most people would recognize (he played the dead father in HBO's Six Feet Under) but he doesn't often get a lead role and in this story about a college professor who travels to New York City and discovers a young couple living in his apartment he makes the most of it. It's a great performance in a really moving story that's getting a lot of word of mouth. Jenkins stopped by KMOX for a visit this week and you can see his picture here ---and listen to my interview here.

 

This week on DVD--one of my top picks from 2007 "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", the true story of the french editor of Elle magazine who suffers a stroke and is totally paralyzed except for the use of his left eye. It's with that eye that he tells his story. Stunning.