Does Iron Man hold up?

Let’s find out:

 So we start off by meeting Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). Tony is in Afghanistan where militants go after his convoy and he gets a hostage video.

 James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Terrence Howard), who is in the Air Force, is trying to give Tony an Apogee award; but, Tony has skipped out on the ceremony. Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges)- Tony’s surrogate father- becomes Tony’s surrogate award receiver, and…

Well-written and well-acted, Stane is, in my humble opinion, one of the most underrated villains in the MCU.

Tony has a one-night stand with reporter Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb). Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Christine have a battle of wits, and…

Before Iron Man, you probably would not have paired Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow in a movie together; but, the two have chemistry and a fun His Girl Friday-vibe.

Anyway, Rhodey and Tony take a flight to Afghanistan, and…

Robert Downey Jr and Terrence Howard do not have friend chemistry…

and, in Afghanistan, Tony demonstrates the Jericho missile.

We get a brief recap of the opening, Tony comes to, discovers that he is with Yinsen (Shaun Toub), and…

Yinsen is (obviously) Uncle Ben dead meat; but, he is well-acted by Toub and well-written.

…and Tony finds out that he has a heart transplant. Yinsen explains that Tony’s heart transplant is a shrapnel-blocking device. A terrorist (Abu Bakar (Sayed Badreya)) “greets” Tony. Abu wants a Jericho missile from Tony.

Yinsen and Tony bond and they start working on the Iron Giant suit. Yinsen tells Tony about his wife and kids.

 Raza (Faran Tahir)- the head of the Ten Rings-visits Yinsen and Tony and he threatens them. The Mark 1 Iron Man suit/Iron Giant suit is having some technical problems; so, Yinsen sacrifices himself. Yinsen dies and Tony fights the terrorists.

Rhodey finds Tony, they return to the United States and Tony calls for a press conference and a Burger King burger. Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) wants an appointment with Tony and Pepper offers to arrange it.

Anyway, Tony says that he is no longer in the weapons business because he realizes the damage that weapons can do. Tony decides to focus on arc-reactor technology.

Tony has Pepper perform arc-reactor surgery on him. Tony visits Rhodey; but, Rhodey is less-than-enthused. 

J.A.R.V.I.S (voiced by Paul Bettany) and Tony start creating a new Iron Man suit. While this is going on, the Ten Rings are finding pieces of Tony’s old suit.

We then find out that the board of directors is blaming Tony’s new strategy for his company to PTSD. Tony takes his suit on a test run and he decides to attend a ball. Tony and Pepper flirt, dance and they have a rom-com almost-kiss; but, Christine interrupts. We find out that Stane has been selling Stark weapons to the Ten Rings.

Tony saves hostages in Afghanistan. Rhodey finds out the truth about Tony. We find out through Pepper that Stane arranged for the Stark actions of the Ten Rings. Obadiah finds out that Pepper knows, Obadiah visits Tony, he performs some arc reactor surgery on Tony and Tony becomes a walking dead man. Rhodey assists Tony with the old arc reactor and we get a sequel hook for Rhodey that does not happen for this Rhodey.

Stane puts on his Iron Giant suit and we get an Iron Man vs. Iron Monger battle because it is contractually obligated by Marvel. Obadiah dies and Tony reveals to the world that he is Iron Man.

Iron Man is still a good comic book movie. The writing is good, Downey Jr fits the part like a glove, Downey Jr and Paltrow have chemistry and Jeff Bridges is an underrated villain.

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