Just got back from this, and I really enjoyed it. My biggest complaint? That they didn't give some of the major players names until well into the picture (Rhodey, Yinsen, even Happy).
I knew who they were, being an Iron Man reader, but I'm sure a lot of people didn't, and it's one thing that really struck me (and often does when watching movies).
(Personally, I'd imagine it's probably one of those things that gets dropped during edits and overlooked because the people working on the film are so familiar with who/what everything is that they forget other people aren't and don't pay any attention.)
In any event- like I said, that's my biggest complaint. As for the effects:
Krug said:
They're good but didn't blow me away. Downey actually spends a lot of time outside the suit. You won't find anything in there that exceeds Transformers for sure.
I thought this was heads over Transformers by far. The original suit was awesome and pretty believable, and then when Tony takes the mark II version out for his first flight- blown away. Utterly. It's like the old tagline from the Superman films- "You Will Believe A Man Can Fly!" Seriously.
I really would have liked to see more of the suit, naturally, but its only a two hour movie and there wouldn't have been any time for any story.
The fight with the Iron Monger was a bit anticlimactic*, but Jeff Bridges did an amazing job as Obadiah Stane. Everyone did a great job, actually. I even warmed up to Terrence Howard's Rhodey by the end (he's just a little too
unlike comic Rhodey, at least thus far. Comic Rhodey is hardly a by the book guy, but movie Rhodey is a spit and polish Air Force Colonel. The scene where he looks at the Mark II suit and considers for a minute was priceless though. Next time, indeed.)
As for other little bits and pieces:
1) Wonder how the Woz feels about having himself photoshopped out of the Apple article? (It was funny, though.)
2) Was the evil terrorist leader (Raza, from the credits- though, again, I don't think we were ever given a name in the movie) the head of the "10 Rings" organization, making him the film's Mandarin sub, or is the Mandarin yet to show his real face? Hmm...
Anyway, will definitely be seeing this again.
*Of course, one of the problems with the fight was that for much of it, I couldn't keep focused on the fight because I was too busy staring at the familiar sights of downtown Long Beach and trying to figure out how they'd shot certain scenes, where the cameras had been placed- oh, there's the Aquarium parking structure!- etc.
