To review the latest Marvel comics film adaptation, Iron Man, I have to start with this disclaimer: I am going to speak in extremes here. My friends will probably laugh when they read this. “But Brandon,” they’ll say, “you always speak in extremes!” To my friends, my opinions are one radical phrase or another. It was amazing! It sucked! It was a million degrees out. I almost died. Well, this is the single greatest comic book film adaptation ever. Let me explain.

I almost didn’t go to see Iron Man. I really thought the trailer looked good. The casting choice of Robert Downey Jr. as the iconic Tony Stark seemed perfect (and boy was it ever… but more on that later). Visual effects looked fine. But like many of my friends, I was feeling pretty burnt out on comic movies. Don’t get me wrong, I am still drooling with anticipation for The Dark Knight. But Spiderman 3 just plain pissed me off. Hulk, Daredevil, and Electra were pathetic. X-Men and X2: X-Men United were pretty decent, but X-Men 3: The Last Stand left me in shock. I am still not sure if I like it or not. I go back and forth, picking one extreme or another… unable to commit to any middle ground. But Iron Man (so far at least) has accomplished something that none of the Marvel Comics franchises has so far. Something I hope to see more of now that Marvel has its own film studios. They captured the mood of a comic book universe perfectly for the first time.

The Tim Burton adaptation of Batman is one of my favorites visually. Dark, and very 1950’s. But they sort of screwed it up by contrasting it with this overtly 1980’s culture, added I guess for hipster credibility. That irritated me, but despite that they came close to capturing what I wanted for Batman. Visually at least. Superman Returns was way too over the top, blurry and campy. Even Batman Begins, which is still probably my favorite so far for story, felt a bit too modern and explanatory. No film just felt completely right for a comic book film. They either went too realistic, or too ridiculous. But everything felt right in Iron Man. Even the parts that should have felt over the top didn’t. Instead of focusing all their time trying to make every in and out believable, they just told a great story and let our imaginations run wild. And without coming across as campy and lame. Perfectly fluid.

As I mentioned earlier, Robert Downey Jr. was born for this role. I’m sure most every review you will read will say something like that, but it is absolutely true. Jeff Bridges was a pretty awesome villain, Obadiah Stane. Unlike I have ever seen him, and I am a huge fan of “The Dude.” Terrence Howard was an excellent Jim Rhodes (who we all expect to see later return as War Machine) and even Gwyneth Paltrow was the perfect choice for the famous Pepper Potts, and I usually don’t like Paltrow for some reason or another.

This is the first of what I hope to be many improved comic films from Marvel. Marvel, like DC and all the others, used to sell the rights to their franchises to other studios and let them make the films. And most of them sucked. Now Marvel has done the smart thing and created their own film studios, and though this may be confusing for the first bit (like the new Incredible Hulk movie being a complete reboot just 5 years after the last major Hulk movie), hopefully we will soon have on cohesive Marvel Comics universe on film. A universe where the characters can interact with one another (oh yeah, stay after the credits for the love). DC should be taking advantage of this concept, but they are pretty much in bed with Warner Brothers. And a beautiful film such as Batman Begins should never have to interact with a miserable failure like Superman Returns. In my opinion anyway. And talks for a Justice League film have literally been going nowhere. And the way things usually go, I hope it stays a dead concept. Please don’t ruin Batman now. Please?

All this aside, if you were like me, you need to head to your local theater to see Iron Man immediately. You’re missing out. Iron Man is a lot of fun. It’s funny. It’s action packed. It’s interesting. It’s pretty much everything you’ve been wanting in a comic film without the bad aftertaste. Strange to finally get it right with this character, but I’ll take what they give me. Happily.

Watch the Trailer