Monday, October 6, 2008

As good as it gets


The comic book movie gengre has taken HollyWood movie makers and audiences by storm over the last 8 years. Since the dawning of the 2000 release of X-Men, directed by Bryan Singer, a new standard has been set for the gengre. No longer would viewers tolerate the movies of the abomidable quality that was Batman Forever.


When Spider-Man 2 burst onto the movie scene viewers thought comic book movies had reached the pinacle of their potential as the second installment of the wall crawler's heroics dazlled audiences with scenes like the airborne fights with notorious villan Doc Oc. Things only got better as Chris Nolan and a team of dedicated comic lovers created an origin story that topped all origin stories: Batman Begins.


At this point we were convinced comic book movies were as good as it gets. This new approach to movie making used a serious approach bringing a sense of belieability to our favorite childhood characters. In the summer of '08 Iron Man flew onto the scene as Robert Downey Jr. took on the befitting role of Tony Stark with all kinds of pinash. The movie is only good things. Like most first super hero movies it is an origin story, and it follows the typical hero movie plot line.


But I've never seen it done better.


I will admit, there were aspects to Batman Begins that I liked as much or better, but over all Iron Man rocked! Moving at a fast pace the story gives adequate attention to character development, plot motive, special effects, and all around fun. Audiences love soaring through the air with the metal hero, struggling to create the perfect gold alloy suit, and moving ever closer to a love interest with protagonist Tony Stark. The movie is fun and thats all she wrote.


In my opinion, Iron Man nudges the movie making bar a little bit higher to a new starndard of exellence. I can only wonder if this is now as good as it gets for comic book movies. If so, then I'm happy with the high quality they've reached. But I do hope movie makers will continue to push themselves to get even better.


Is Iron Man as good as it gets? I hope not.

1 comment:

Tom Hehenberger said...

Hey Nathan--I agree with on IM, very good as comic book movies go and Marvel has been somewhat hit or miss latel--Spiderman 3 or Daredevil anyone? But the latest Hulk movie, Iron Man, and DC's recent Dark Knight have been very good for us Comic Book Geeks!