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Even if I wasn't a comic book nerd, I'd be looking forward to the big screen version of Iron Man. Terrence Howard. Gwyneth Paltrow. Jeff Bridges. Robert Downey, Jr. Directed by Jon Favreau. It is definitely a movie geared to go mainstream.

The premise, well... playboy genius billionaire, Tony Stark, has a brush with death and is forced to re-evaluate his life's purpose and direction. In the comics, he was caught by the Vietnamese (although his origins have been updated to the Gulf War) and ends up with a piece of shrapnel trapped near his heart. He has to build a device to keep himself alive and eventually a suit of armor in order to escape.

I'm expecting this movie to be a more grown-up version/story than the one in the original comic books. Considering the cast, there will be a level of intelligence and sophistication often lacking in many comic book adaptations (I'm looking at you, Ghost Rider).

Plus, there's the whole idea of Tony Stark's end-of-self moment: when he looks in the mirror and realizes that he isn't where he was meant to be, not doing what he was meant to do, not living how he was meant to live. The story of Stark's fall and redemption curiously echoes the tale of the actor portraying him, Robert Downey, Jr., who has wrestled with his own share of personal demons. He too is on a comeback from the professional and personal brink.

That kind of undercurrent will only add to the energy of the movie. But mostly I'm in it for that big reveal shot when the armor is first introduced.