I just saw Iron Man and it made me like Tony Stark again. Sure, he did some really terrible things during Civil War and yeah, he might be an egotistical monster but at his core, he’s a hero. The new movie, directed by Jon Favreau, delivers that message in a very impressive mesh of great writing, directing, acting and effects.

Rather than the usual start-to-finish setup, Iron Man opens with an action sequence but then quickly flashes back to events leading up to it. At the end of that segment, we’re returned to the present and the rest of the story carries on from there. Maybe it’s just me but, with the jumps back and forth though the time line of the film, it felt very comic-book-like. Since I’ve personally always been a fan of the movies that don’t typically follow the cookie-cutter formula of storytelling, this movie won me over fairly early.

The rest of the film stayed extremely close to the comics in terms of the actual origin of Iron Man as well as the character of Tony Stark. Robert Downey Jr. was at his best in this movie and, like I thought as soon as I heard that he had been cast for the lead role, he became the character from the comic books. To me, it didn’t feel like I was just watching an actor play a role but rather like I was watching the character I had read about in all of the Iron Man comics come to life on the screen. The other characters such as Pepper Potts, (Gwyneth Paltrow) James “War Machine” Rhodes, (Terrance Howard) and Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) we also casted perfectly which made the film come to life with great performances by all the actors and actresses involved.

As far as the action is concerned, Iron Man is piled full of great fight sequences and battles that show off just what Stark’s high-tech armor can do. The highlight of that being a mid-air battle between our hero and two fighter jets, some of which was shown off in trailers, that shows Iron Man not only outmaneuver the planes but also take one down accidentally while doing so. The battle between the Iron Monger and Iron Man is also another highlight of the film that really makes it so much fun to watch from start to finish. Spliced into the action are interesting political and social undertones that really make you stop and think about just how big of a role weapons and war play in our modern world.

With all the stars of the film signed on for two sequels, I think it’s safe to say that we haven’t seen the last of Iron Man on the silver screen and I, for one, am certainly not complaining about that. So, while it might not be the greatest movie ever made, Iron Man manages to become arguably the best comic-to-movie film ever made by Marvel. It’s sure to excite longtime comic fans as well as anyone out there looking for an awesome action flick early in this summer’s movie season.

- 8.5/10