Iron Man

Iron Man (2008) is a very solid foundation that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was built upon. A charming cast of central characters, a lead whose charisma is nearly unmatched, and an overall fun premise make for an entertaining ride. The movie shows its strength when it establishes Tony Stark as a character and details his progression into a hero; however, the opposition to that very strength is where the film falls from great to just very good. Jeff Bridges delivers a good performance as Obadiah Stane; however, the character ends up as a one-note, corporate guy with a twisted agenda....something that becomes rather commonplace in the MCU. The third act of the film struggles to close out what had been two very impressive acts by delivering a climax where the action wasn't the greatest in terms of spectacle, choreography, or the right amount of tension, which stems from the less-than-stellar writing for the film's antagonist. Overall, the film's positives heavily outweigh the detractions; it is a very solid action movie that has its own flaws, but in the end, it does exactly what it needs to do and passes the test with flying colours.