4.5 out of 5 stars.
I must admit. I was a bit dubious at first. How many superhero movies can they come out with? There is Superman, Batman, the Hulk, Daredevil, Hell Boy, Spiderman, Incredibles, Fantastic Four, Catwoman, etc. There have just been a whole lot over the last few years, and it seems like they were stretching on this one - I mean, who has ever heard of "Iron Man"? Obviously, Aqua Man cannot be far behind in his own movie production.
But early reviews came back very positive. Even the Wall Street Journal (which usually hates everything) liked it. My friend Jared Brown who is a big fan of the superhero genre called it one of the top 3 superhero movies of all time. With that recommendation, I convinced my brother Phil to come with me to see it upon my arrival in DC.
I was not disappointed. As my friend Jared assured me, it was a great mix of comedy, high tech gadgetry, action and plot (not necessarily in that order). Robert Downey Jr. is a surprisingly good superhero. The action is a bit too fast, but otherwise I had few complaints. Highly recommended for most audiences.
I did notice there were lots of young kids there. This is not a "young kids" kind of movie. There is only one overtly objectionable scene (makeout scene - no nudity), but the content of the film is not geared toward young children. I would say kids should respect the PG-13 rating and wait until they are 13.
One other side note: I encountered some blatant seat saving. We didn't think this would be a problem at a 2:30 show, but this was a very popular movie. This was my first trip to the theater in a while. So we sat down only to be informed that one seat was saved. If you are going to save seats, you need to put something there to claim it. Otherwise people will invest time in walking toward the seat and sitting in it and arguing with you when they could be looking for empty seats. At this point there are not two seats together in the theater. I have previously sat apart from friends in situations like these in a crowded theater, but it is not the preferred mode of operations. Anyway, we were able to have another group of teenagers move down the row to open up two seats together. Otherwise I would have been prepared to defend my seat against the whole principle of seat saving.
2 comments:
I saw this movie long after it came out and had already heard the hype, so unfortunately had some high expectations coming into this.
I was sorely disappointed. Of course, it doesn't help that I'm beyond the point of getting weary of Hollywood's incredible lack of creativity. We have got to move on past the Superhero genre (and the sequels done ad nauseam). This movie had no depth, was cliche and tried too hard--like nearly all action movies.
For someone who still lists the original Star Wars and Lord of the Rings as some of his favorite movies, I have to say action movies completely bore me now. And yet I found The Dark Knight to be very intriguing and couldn't get enough of how well-done the Joker was. But it had nothing to do with the action. The action should serve the story-line and the writing--not the other way around like most action movies.
You've got to keep expectations low - that's the key to enjoying movies. Currently Hollywood produces so much drivel that I am amazed it producing anything halfway entertaining. Just reading the plot summaries usually makes me roll my eyes.
Post a Comment