Iron Man

The official beginning of the summer movie season kicks off with Iron Man and what a way to do so.

Believe everything you've heard, folks, this movie rocks. Great cast, great special effects, excellent story ... s'all good.

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man was a stroke of casting genius. I've always liked RDJ as an actor and he absolutely nailed this part. And Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane was excellent. Reminded me how much I like him as an actor, as well.

And, of course, Gweneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts ... well, you can't go wrong with Paltrow being in a movie, IMO. Man, she is beautiful.

Best of all, there's a great "Hmmm, didn't see that coming" moment about two-thirds of the way through the film ... very cool and cleverly done.

If I had one complaint about this movie it's that once Stark becomes Iron Man, there's really only one sequence in which he does the superhero thing (other than the big fight at the end). It would've been great to see him flying around doing more good deeds. But then again, Stark addresses in the movie his motivation for becoming Iron Man, so the story line does make sense.

I found it interesting that the ending also didn't make it blatantly obvious there would be a sequel (usually, movies like this bash you over the head and scream that Part II is in the works). Still, I can't imagine them not doing a sequel. The Iron Man comic provides tons of story possibilities and there's one very strong hint in the movie at what a sequel could include ... stay 'tooned.

That and this movie no doubt is going to make a boat load of coin, so does anyone really think the studio isn't going to greenlight another potential blockbuster?