*steps to microphone and taps it* Ahem....attention all movie executives out there in your towers of detached reality. Please heed this advice. If you are going to make a movie about an already existing icon, put it in the hands of a FAN! You will be guaranteed that if nothing else, the fanboys and girls will enjoy it. And let's face it; they are the ones rushing to blog about the success or flop that you have achieved. No longer can you buy off the reviewers to tell us what we like. We just look to sites like www.rottentomatoes.com to find out what we like. This incidentally, showed Iron Man rating 94% ripe at the time of writing this. Other movies I have seen that high opening weekend....Juno and Pan's Labyrinth. Pretty good company if you ask me. Jon Favreau took something that he knew would be a good story and made it great by sticking to what made it a successful comic book. First thing he did was find the man. That's right.....Iron Man is not about a suit. Iron Man is about Tony Stark. Think Bruce Wayne meets Dean Martin. Born a genius, Stark doesn't grow up to struggle in life like Peter Parker or Bruce Banner (Spiderman and The Hulk, respectively). Rather, the struggles he face are his own doing. Nothing hits home than a superhero that has a hard time performing because they are hungover. Who better to play this man but Robert Downey Jr. Who he, himself, has had his brushes with destructive behaviors. If I ask you which of the two were caught driving naked in L.A. while throwing imaginary rodents out of the window, who would you answer...Stark or Downey Jr? Well, it was Robert. I think he knows what it is like to have substance issues. Combine those struggles with the sharp wit and comedic timing, you have the perfect Tony Stark. Now, just as the suit is created, you build it around the man himself. Everything will start to fall in place.

Marvel Studios did this perfectly by removing the influences of studios more focused on the toy and clothing sales. Think how many X-men products you saw in the fast food restaurants, toy aisles and Target clothing racks. Now thing about how much you have seen Iron Man. I know it is a novel concept to focus on the quality of the product and let it speak for itself, but it does work. Marvel Studios was created in the late 90's and has done co-productions to this point. Well, that is if you don't count the animated movies created and released in 2006 and 2007. The Avengers, The Avengers II, Iron Man and Doctor Strange all proved to be excellent baby steps for the company.

Not a lot of people knew who Iron Man was before this movie. In fact, when discussing the upcoming release of it, I was questioned if it was about the Black Sabbath song or if it was about the famous Triathlon race. I am sure that a lot more people will know about the story now. Word will spread and this movie is going to kick-off 2008 Summer Movie Season with "heavy boots of lead" (thank you Black Sabbath for that description).

Oh and by the way, stay through the credits. TRUST ME!!!!!! I am not going to say anymore. I am going to be cool. Like two little Fonzies. And what is Fonzie? Cool. That's right. Now forget what I am talking about and go to the movie yourself to form your own opinion!

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