The summer's started? Already?

Went to see the new Iron Man movie this weekend. Suffice it to say that I had a great time, and the movie deserves the glowing reviews it's been getting. The two hours went by like a breeze, with a great mix of action, drama, and humor to keep things going, and I left the theater eager for a sequel.

It seems fairly obvious to me that director Jon Favreau (a) is a fan of the Iron Man comic book, and (b) has learned well from the recent slate of comic-book-superhero movies. Unlike other franchises-turned-into-movies that have suffered at the hands of uncaring leadership, Iron Man never insults the viewer, whether they're a casual moviegoer who has no clue who Tony Stark is or a lifetime fan who can debate the nuances of David Micheline's run vs. Len Kaminski's stint. As a lapsed comics reader, I was tickled pink at how the movie upgraded the Iron Man mythos to the screen, from his origins in Tales of Suspense #39 to the 21st century incarnation of Jarvis. The movie is IMO right up there with Spider-Man and the X-Men movies, and we'll will hopefully see more from this team in the future.

While Iron Man spends a good bit of screen time on gadgets and technology (appropriately enough), it still manages to keep its characters fairly nuanced and multifaceted. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) are especially developed, though Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard) gets some good characterization as well. And though Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) is a fairly uncomplicated baddie, I also have to give the movie credit for merely skirting -- but not falling into -- the trap of portraying all foreigners as bloodthirsty terrorists. Yeah, there's a whole passel of Evil Terrorists Who Want to Kill Americans™ in this movie, but their presence here makes sense.

Of course, being a summer blockbuster movie based on a comic book, there's a good dose of laughably silly comic book physics (a man survives a 500-foot-fall with nothing more than a few bruises) and Hollywood hyper-technology at work (just type "translate" and your computer will instantly translate videos in real time!). Product placement ranges from the "background prop that looks cool" subtle (apparently Stark likes to play Wii Sports in his down time ) to the ham-fisted -- which is rather appropriate for Burger King, I suppose. And as someone who's familiar with the southern California aerospace scene, I was surprised that the logo for Stark Enterprises was almost a direct riff of the logo for Lockheed Martin; yet another form of product placement, or did they loan Marvel Studios some filming locations?

Anyway, the movie's great, so if you have the slightest interest in the topic, go see it. Be sure to stick around after the credits roll, too, for the now-obligatory "final addendum" everyone loves to put in their films.