Yes, Iron Man was superb... I've a feeling it's going to be a more enjoyable experience than the Crystal Skull, actually.
Concerning the terrorists, they WERE watching them. But Tony and Yinsen took great pains to hide what they were working on. Tony wrote out the prototype suit plans on multiple pieces of translucent paper, so that by themselves, the parts didn't appear like a suit. And the terrorists knew something was amiss; they were commenting how it didn't LOOK like a missile, and they eventually brought the boss in to investigate. Who also knew something was up, but frankly, who would have expected Tony to create a suit of powered armor? And none of them got the significance of the mini-arc reactor that Tony built for himself either. (If you check on Wikipedia, someone noted that 3 giga-joules of power is over 15 times the reactor output of an aircraft carrier.)
I rather enjoyed Jeff Bridge's Stane interpretation because he really seemed like a regular Bridges character, affable, friendly, and a good guy. I agree that his transformation into pure evil at the end was very shocking... enough to be a bit unbelievable. The inference is that he's not only greedy and meglomaniacal, he also has a low opinion of Tony Stark. Possibly he was jealous of Tony's inherent genius? In the movie time-line, I could see the possibility that Stane was the one responsible for Howard Stark's death.
And wow did I like Gwennyth Paltrow's version of Pepper Potts. I especially liked her reaction when Tony showed up at the charity event, and she was really nervous dancing with him... Not because she didn't like it, but because she's worked hard to keep her professional relationship with Tony separate from her own feelings. Tony, of course, sees no problem with this, like any typical guy. :)
Yes, Iron Man was superb... I've a feeling it's going to be a more enjoyable experience than the Crystal Skull, actually.
Concerning the terrorists, they WERE watching them. But Tony and Yinsen took great pains to hide what they were working on. Tony wrote out the prototype suit plans on multiple pieces of translucent paper, so that by themselves, the parts didn't appear like a suit. And the terrorists knew something was amiss; they were commenting how it didn't LOOK like a missile, and they eventually brought the boss in to investigate. Who also knew something was up, but frankly, who would have expected Tony to create a suit of powered armor? And none of them got the significance of the mini-arc reactor that Tony built for himself either. (If you check on Wikipedia, someone noted that 3 giga-joules of power is over 15 times the reactor output of an aircraft carrier.)
I rather enjoyed Jeff Bridge's Stane interpretation because he really seemed like a regular Bridges character, affable, friendly, and a good guy. I agree that his transformation into pure evil at the end was very shocking... enough to be a bit unbelievable. The inference is that he's not only greedy and meglomaniacal, he also has a low opinion of Tony Stark. Possibly he was jealous of Tony's inherent genius? In the movie time-line, I could see the possibility that Stane was the one responsible for Howard Stark's death.
And wow did I like Gwennyth Paltrow's version of Pepper Potts. I especially liked her reaction when Tony showed up at the charity event, and she was really nervous dancing with him... Not because she didn't like it, but because she's worked hard to keep her professional relationship with Tony separate from her own feelings. Tony, of course, sees no problem with this, like any typical guy. :)