(Originally published on www.passionforcinema.com)

Rating: 9/10

I haven’t read any exclusive Iron Man comics before. I’ve only seen him in guest appearances or as part of the Avengers. As a kid, I read all the DC and Marvel comics that I could lay hands on, and as an adult, I’ve bought almost all the Gotham comics with the superheroes that I’m a fan of – Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, The Fantastic Four, The Justice League of America, Hulk and some very special series like JLA vs Avengers, DC Elseworlds and JLA drawn by Alex Ross.

 I’m fresh off Zodiac, a great film from one of my favourite directors, David Fincher. So I was definitely looking forward to seeing Robert Downey Jr in another movie. Iron Man had been given the thumbs up by critics all over, so I was even more excited about another great superhero movie.

 I wasn’t at all disappointed. Far from it, I watched it last night, and I still can’t wipe the smile off my face. There are great movies which you appreciate on an intellectual level – you think, “Oh, that’s a great scene”. But the truly great movies for me are those which get my emotions or adrenaline pumping. The best term I can find right now to describe my state of mind while watching Iron Man is ‘childish glee’. There were many times I felt like cheering and clapping.

 It’s not necessary to have read the comics to enjoy Iron Man. Like I said, I haven’t read any exclusive Iron Man titles, and at no point did I feel at a loss to understand. Those who follow Marvel comics, however, will get an extra inside joke or two, such as creator Stan Lee’s cameo, coming after his brief shots in Spiderman and X-Men. The man has one heck of a brain. Look at the characters he’s created – Spiderman, X-Men, Hulk, The Fantastic Four, Daredevil…

 The movie Iron Man is a superhero origin story, on the lines of Batman Begins. Inside the gold-titanium suit (it’s not actually iron :-) is Tony Stark, a billionaire MIT-graduate genius. He starts out the movie as the world’s biggest arms manufacturer. On being kidnapped by jihadis in Afghanistan, he sees the harm his weapons are causing in the real world and needless to say, turns over a new leaf. Standard stuff for a superhero story, all right, but that would be akin to judging a book by its cover. Director Jon Favreau and writers Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby have created many, many magical movie moments and great lines, which I believe are among the chief essentials for great movies (what an original thought!). And they haven’t come overnight – Jon Favreau has said he spent two years getting inputs from all over, and it helps immensely that Stan Lee is an executive producer and the movie comes from Marvel Studios. Thanks to these, the characters are true to the comics and not Hollywoodized versions like Batman & Robin.

 I had only one minor gripe – I expected the final showdown to be more than just a one-on-one, but that’s okay. I’m sure the sequel will have more great stuff.

 Welcome, then, Iron Man, to the list of all-time great superhero movies:

Batman Begins                                                                   

Spiderman (I like all 3)

X-Men (all 3)

Superman (1 & 2)

The Only True Batman Movie

Batman is my favourite superhero, because he’s become what he is is through determination and training, not through a nuclear accident. Of course, the fact that his father was a billionaire helped. I didn’t mind the earlier Batman films, but none of them showed Batman for the complex character that he is. Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin (oh god!) all just skimmed the surface of Batman’s personality. Only Val Kilmer showed a little depth to play Bruce Wayne for the melancholy soul that he is. In fact, Tim Burton’s films paid more attention to the villains. Batman: The Animated Series was truer to the noirish atmosphere of Batman comics than these first four movies.

 Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale finally got it right. I had my doubts about Bale’s physicality, but his performance as the troubled Bruce Wayne is so, so very perfect that I’ve become a lifelong fan. I had no reservations about Nolan - I loved Memento and Insomnia.

 Apart from a kiddie-friendly series or two, Batman comics are heavily shrouded in atmosphere – dark, brooding, shadowy, rainy. Astounding works like Jim Lee’s Hush and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns contain more intense drama and better camera angles than many big-budget popcorn flicks. Batman himself sticks to the shadows and doesn’t give press conferences in broad daylight. Fear is his main psychological weapon – genuine fear, not Hollywood stunts. Nolan’s been the only person to understand this. Off the top of my head, another director I can think of who’d be great at creating the right Batman atmosphere would be David Fincher.

 I have only one complaint against Batman Begins – the action scenes needed to be done more clearly. I’ve read explanations that they were done that way to create the effect of a Batman fight, but that’s not good enough for me. A skilled martial artist will easily be able to choreograph fights which show how actually Batman takes on gangs of thugs. I hope The Dark Knight does better in this department. I’ve been waiting to see this movie for two years, and after I heard Heath Ledger’s laugh in the trailers, I’ve been trying hard to not get my expectations too high.