"Iron Man" may be a breezy, wildly entertaining superhero flick, but at its core is a very timely, post-9/11 revenge fantasy. For the film's first half, Iron Man is a one-man anti-terrorism unit before turning his sights on the ultimate villain for the strangely anti-climactic final battle, at which point the film loses some of its momentum.
Downey's performance is doubtless the highlight of the film, which he infuses with a wink of ironic humor that adds buoyancy to the movie's comic-book atmosphere. This is not a serious film by any means, but it has a kind of unifying theme (weapons are bad, but terrorism must be stopped) that will contribute to its massive universal appeal.
I have to disagree about the final battle. I really liked it. It was less violent and less action filled than most people seem to have wanted. But, one of its basic messages is fairly anti-weapon. So if you consider what literally happens to the Iron Monger (I would be more specific but I don't want to write spoilers)than I don't know if the final scene needed to be or could be as action filled as the rest of the movie. But, as always, great review.
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