I just watched the Ironman movie. It was pretty good. Maybe I’m biased, because I like the core concept of the Ironman comic franchise, but I didn’t have any major complaints about the movie. The acting was good all around, the special effects and production details were good, and the writing was solid.

That last bit is where a lot of comic book movies fall apart for me. There’s usually some piece of writing that totally falls flat on its face. Sometimes it’s something fairly minor that I should probably get over, such as an Armageddon device (such as in Batman Begins). Other times it’s a joke that goes horribly long (e.g., Transformers). Or they feel the need to add something to provide comic book continuity that just has no place in the movie (Ghost Rider). Then it’s just a question of whether the rest of the movie was strong enough that I felt it justified the whole experience.

Ironman didn’t have many weak points. There were a couple of general plot points I thought didn’t play out as well as they could have, but overall it was pretty consistent and amusing. Action movies of the last few years haven’t taken themselves too seriously, and you can see that in Ironman. But even so, the humor is used effectively. They often use it to break up a fairly long origin story that might’ve been rather dry otherwise. It’s also used to wind down from a couple of minor action scenes. The overall effect works and gives the movie a rising-falling tension.

What else can I say? It was a good movie. The concessions were way too expensive. This may be the last time I buy a movie theater’s soda. Honestly, guys, I don’t mind paying a small premium. I know it’s where your margins come from, and we’ve all got to put bread on the table. All the same, I just can’t pay $5 for a soda.