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Iron Man
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Worth the hype, Iron Man (rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, as well as a brief sexual situation and language) is an imposing addition to Marvel’s big-screen superheroes. Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a playboy and the grown-up whizkid head of Stark Industries, a weapons manufacturing company started by his father.
After an ambush in the Afghani desert, he’s holed up in a cave for three months, ostensibly building a missile for his captor. Upon his escape, having discovered that the weapons he’s built to defend his country are being placed directly in the hands of the bad guys, he vows to reform his company and starts tinkering in the basement. Meanwhile, his business partner Obadiah Stone (Jeff Bridges) is out trying to save the company . . . or is he?
Iron Man is certainly backed by some political undertones. The original comic book placed Stark’s saga against the Vietnam War, but it’s been easily updated for today; these familiar terrorists hide out in caves and prey on innocent villagers. Stark Industries’ logo bears a striking resemblance to that of Lockheed Martin. Tony’s change of heart doesn’t equal simple pacifism, but rather a desire to come up with something to save the innocent while punishing the bad guys.
Director John Favreau has pulled together a tour de force film, equal parts adventure and drama, in which stuff blows up with impressively satisfying force. Robert Downey, Jr. is, simply put, brilliant - rather than succumb to the melodrama that often pops up in this genre, Downey mumbles his way around screen, rarely taking his wealth or braininess too seriously, but is downright frightening when he is doing what he feels is right. He doesn’t have any particularly magical superpowers. All of his clout lies in his wealth, brains, charm, as well as his canny assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and a handful of near-future technologies.
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Topic: Movies & TV, Reviews |  |
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Keywords: Gwyneth Paltrow, Iron Man, John Favreau, Robert Downey Jr. |  |
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Don’t blame racism
Sounds promising. I’ve been generally pleased with the recent screen adaptations of Marvel superheroes, but Iron Man is the first where I don’t have some familiarity with the comic-book stories. (Never read it as a kid, unlike X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four.)
Looking forward to seeing it.
As a very young kid, I had an Iron Man comic book. It scared the bejeezus out of me. Iron Man and bad dreams about black ghosts. Hope I don’t have a reocurrance of the heebee jeebies this weekend.
Pepper Potts - what a great name!
Can’t wait to hear Black Sabbath’s Ironman riff!
I too was unfamiliar with the Iron Man story, but I saw the movie last weekend and really liked it. I was a bit disappointed that there was no real moral unlike Spiderman (it seemed the moral was “try to be rich and lucky,” or perhaps “don’t trust anyone”).
But yeah, the Black Sabbath riff kicks it — people were even playing it on their cell phones before the movie started.
You don’t know how many Iron Man comics I own; it would scare you.
Saw the movie. It was great, except for the last line, where Stark admits to a roomfull of media that he is indeed Iron Man. Didn’t like that part.
But most everything else was waaaay cool.
Of course, the U.S. government would have annexed him right away for the development of energy independence. Can’t have a civilian with that when the constitution gives the U.S. the authority to grab the technology when it presents itself. I’ve always wondered about that part of the constitution.
Great movie, though. Last line was okay, too; it fit with his independent character.
My husband is excited about this, but will wait until it comes out on DVD because we know we will buy it anyway (we get all the superhero movies) - unless the boys he works with in the middle school ministry at church want to go. (He tried to take them bowling on Sunday, only to discover that the bowling alley had changed its hours.)
Iron Man is a proven creative property from Marvel, and is a welcome relief from Hollywood’s habit of remaking everything in sight, demonstrating their lack of creative thought in general.
And, as most Iron Man fans know, Tony eventually faces his demons (alcoholism, drugs and substance abuse, et al), meaning stories of redemption lie in his future. Just give it time to have some moral stories told.
On a personal note, the Armor that he had until issue 199 was the best; it hasn’t quite been “downhill” since them; but none of the armors has been as good.
great movie!!! cant wait for part two.
I never read Iron Man very much (more of an X-Men fan), but I like the period when Tony Stark wasn’t in the armor (the ’80’s, I think; help me out here, Jon Rowe!) and Rhodey was in the suit. I did read a few of the West Coast Avengers comics where Rhodey was Iron Man.
One of the most humorous things I remember reading about this occurred in one of the Secret Wars (original series) comics. Iron Man (with Rhodes in the suit) suffered minor injuries to the armor in a battle, and Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four) needed to fix it. Richards had to remove a sleeve of the armor, which, of course, exposed Rhodes skin. Rhodes (keeping his identity a secret, of course), said something like, “I bet you didn’t expect to find a black man in this armor.” To which the no-nonsense Richards replied, “I never thought about it.” I just thought that was a cool response.
Also, I have a question for you Iron Man fans: who do you think the super villain will be in the next (inevitable) movie? As I said above, I never followed the comic book very much, but I always thought The Mandarin was supposed to be one of IM’s top villains. I can’t see having such a character today would go over well, though, in such a PC climate.
Speaking of PC, though, that reminds me that the film’s director, Jon Favreau, will always be beloved as the baked stoner rasta-dude who somehow managed to get George Clinton to play at a college frat party in the movie “PCU.” That, and he tutored Rudy so he could play on the Notre Dame football team.