Stripping away the hype - the "summer is finally here" hype, the "Robert Downey Jr. is finally going to be a big movie star" hype, the "Iron Man is such a great character, how can this fail" hype - Iron Man is a good film. It's not a great achievement by any means, but it's very solid entertainment, if not from beginning to end.

And because it's easy to get caught up in the moment with the first big ticket item of the year, we're going to pump the brakes and really dissect Iron Man.

First, the good news: Robert Downey may become a huge movie star. Seriously, let's hope so. He's in a class of his own when it comes to remarkably capable dramatic actors who can play comedy so well.

In fact, you might be better served to call Downey a comedian with a dark soul instead. After all, he did spend a season on Saturday Night Live (1985 - 1986). Tony Stark is a tortured guy, and that fits Downey perfectly. And partly because of his natural skills as a comic actor, Iron Man works better as a comedy than an action movie. More on that when we discuss the bad news.

More good news: The suit, that beautiful Iron Man suit, is genuinely jaw dropping. And not just the first time you see it. We've seen bad CGI ruin comic book movies, but not here. Very nice, indeed.

Also, Gwyneth Paltrow, who like Downey has never truly been a "movie star," does a heckuva lot with very little as Tony Stark's assistant, Pepper Potts. It's easy to get the sense that her role will have increased significance if sequels are in the cards for Iron Man. I don't like when movies set themselves up for sequels within the characterizations like that because it predicts too much of the future, but that's not Paltrow's dilemma. She's actually really good, certainly better than Kirsten Dunst or Kate Bosworth has been in superhero efforts.

That's about it for the good, regrettably. That much good will go a long way, true. But there is some bad news.

For starters, Iron Man works better as a comedy than an action movie. In fact, the action, minus one pretty terrific fight scene in an Afghan village, falls somewhere between nonexistent and not important. There's an explosion, a dimly lit shootout, a sortie, and a bad fight. Understanding that Iron Man is an origin story, we don't expect two hours of thrills, but more (or at least better) action scenes would've helped tremendously.

The casting of Jeff Bridges as Stark's mentor-turned-nemesis Obadiah Stane, which seems inspired on the surface, is in fact a very wrong choice. Or perhaps it's just that Obadiah is not a major league comic book villain. He's a self-serving a-hole, sure, but he's not truly psychotic and he's out for profit more than world domination. What's the fun in that? It's like Iron Man is fighting Kenneth Lay from Enron...well, if Ken Lay hadn't faked his own death, that is.

And we've said it over and over, villains are integral to the success of superhero movies. Obadiah Stane just doesn't move the needle.

I thought they could've done more with Terrence Howard, like, oh I don't know, give him a purpose. Again, they're setting up future films with Jim Rhodes, but that's not enough of a reason to waste scenes on a character who literally stands around watching all the time. He's Jimmy Olson in a uniform and nothing more.

Another negative, sadly, is the big finish, an absolutely forgettable fight scene for all the marbles. Two men in big metal suits fighting on the freeway. Not interesting.

Iron Man is not Spider-Man or Batman Begins. Not even close. It's a good popcorn movie and there's nothing wrong with that. Does the good outweigh the bad in the end? Sure, there's no question about it. But the bad weighs down the good, too.

Iron Man

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges

Directed by Jon Favreau

Rated PG-13

Review by Colin Boyd

May 2, 2008