I am IRON MAN...

Went out and caught the advance showing of Iron Man last night, and must say I came away pretty impressed. I read Iron Man comics when I was growing up, but they were never my favorites. I remember his story lines consisting of a rich alcoholic playboy SOB, that for some reason I didn't relate to. :)

The movie has 'updated' the surroundings of Iron Man's origin where the movie backdrops Afghanistan instead of Vietnam from the comics. Since I was never a big fan of the comics the movie didn't have any glaring mistakes that I caught, his secretary is Pepper Potts (Paltrow), and I think even Obidiah Stane (Bridges) is from the comic book. After seeing the film I think casting Robert Downey Jr. as the rich SOB Tony Stark was an excellent choice, although the movie never really delves into the alcoholism, that came later in the series so maybe Iron Man 3 or 4 will cover that.

There are a couple of great product placements in the movie, a big one for Burger King, and in a scene in his living room there's a Nintendo Wii on the bureau under the flat screen. It also contains the Stan Lee cameo that we've come to expect from Marvel features, and a couple of comic book tie-ins. Make sure you stay through the credits as one of those tie-ins pops up at the very end. Good superhero movie, not my favorite, but I'll give it *** anyway.