With this weekend’s release of the big-screen adaptation of Iron Man, the summer movie season is officially upon us, which means it’s once again time for me to submit you, my IAC faithful, to my idiosyncratic take on nerd-friendly cinema. I know it’s only the first weekend of May, but Ol’ Shellhead just threw down the proverbial repulsor-equipped gauntlet.

Since I’m always prefacing everything I write for this site, allow me to preface this review by saying that Iron Man has always been one of my absolute favorite comics characters. Iron Man was the first book I can remember ever reading on a regular basis, and I’m pretty sure I jumped in somewhere around John Byrne and John Romita Jr.’s Armor Wars II storyline, which also probably explains my eternal fondness for at least one of those aforementioned creators.

The book’s combination of cutting-edge technology, corporate and political intrigue, moral dilemmas regarding war profiteering, proliferation, and accountability, and the drastic personality flaws of its main character have resonated with me for as long as I can remember. To say I had been looking forward to the Golden Avenger’s big-screen debut is something of an understatement.

The basic plot of the film, as one would imagine, is an origin story. As has been done previously in the comics, Afghanistan is substituted for Vietnam, but beyond that, the circumstances surrounding Stark’s injury, outlook change, and construction of a powered suit of armor are more or less unaltered from the 60’s version of the character.

Once Tony arrives back in America and constructs the streamlined suit, the plot shifts to incorporate elements of Armor Wars, or basically any other Iron Man story ever. It involves a lot of Obadiah Stane, back-room arms deals, corporate backstabbing, and oh yeah, dudes in robot armor hitting each other in the face with motorcycles. I don’t want to describe the plot any more in-depth than that. It’s a movie about Iron Man, what do you think happens? I’d prefer to instead talk about the things I liked (of which there are many).

You can’t talk about this movie without dedicating a large portion of the discussion to Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark. RDJ looks very much the part but he’s also a good enough actor to express the various elements of Tony’s personality. He’s a billionaire playboy, a womanizer, and a boozehound. He’s an educated man of sophistication and taste. He’s a genius-level inventor and engineer. He’s a tinkerer and a gearhead. He’s insecure, lonely, and forever in his father’s shadow. He’s idealistic, driven, and above all a futurist. Downey plays it to the hilt and even exaggerates Stark’s cockiness and sense of humor to some degree (blame Favreau). The bottom line is that Downey plays Stark as a complex, intense, unique guy who the audience wants to love despite his significant foibles. In other words, JUST LIKE IN THE COMICS. WEIRD.

Jeff Bridges as Stane is intense and intimidating. He stabs Tony in the front with a smile on his face. Okay so yeah I kept hearing the Dude’s voice but that’s my own fault. Terrence Howard as Rhodey isn’t exactly the fiery personality we know from the comics, but the relationship between Jim and Tony is presented well and their personalities balance one another nicely. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Pepper with grace, dignity, and a sarcastic edge that I absolutely loved. Tony and Pep are not bf/gf, they’re 007 and Moneypenny. It was great to see a female co-star in a superhero movie NOT be a total wet blanket and instead actually have a proactive, important role in the plot.

The effects are a seamless and amazing blend of CGI shots and practical dude-running-around-in-armor type shit. Luckily Favreau has a brain and brought Adi Granov in to help with the suit design. The first suit pays the utmost respect to the Don Heck/Jack Kirby design, and the modern suit is more or less what Adi designed for the comics a couple years back, with a few minor tweaks here and there. The suits are unmistakably Iron Man, and they look, move, and sound just like you’d expect (or hope) they would. Stan Winston’s studio doing robot effects is something that’s been missing from the big screen for way too long. Tony also has all kinds of cool tech in his house, like his holoprojector and his robotic friends.

My two favorite scenes in the film were Iron Man laying a Robocop-esque smackdown on the Ten Rings back in Afghanistan, and the extremely powerful dialog scene between Tony and Pep that follows upon his return home. Downey really plays up the obsession and intensity of Stark’s personality here, and for me it was the final piece I needed to feel like the filmmakers “got it.” I thought I had a minor gripe with the film, until I sat through the end credits, and even that was assuaged by the time I left the theater.

I really don’t know what else I can say about this movie. I expected it to be the best superhero adaptation thus far, and not only did it deliver in every regard, it actually exceeded the impossibly high standard I was holding it to. Again, I am a pretty huge Iron Man nerd so I’m obviously kind of biased, but I can’t imagine anyone with a pulse NOT having a good time with this flick. Favreau somehow managed to combine a picture-perfect depiction of the comics character with a well-paced, well-acted popcorn movie, something that conventional wisdom and prior experience had told me was impossible. Basically, what I’m trying to say is:

HE LIVES! HE WALKS! HE CONQUERS!

My Score: A+ for comics nerds, B+ for everyone else. Go see this immediately if you haven’t already.