Review: Iron Man

Iron Man

OPENING DATE: 05/02/2008

STUDIO: Paramount

TRAILER: Trailer

ACCOMPLICES: Official Site

The Charge

Armor up.

Opening Statement

Well, they finally did it. They finally made a good comic book adaptation. Not just nerdy good, but actually really good. It might be the first sign of the Apocalypse, but after seeing Iron Man, I couldn’t care less. Bring it on.

Facts of the Case

Wealthy industrialist, weapons designer, charming playboy and billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., Zodiac) is the walking personification of success. The CEO of Stark Industries, the largest weapons manufacturer in the world, he dates beautiful women, drives fantastic cars, has access to the most incredible technology known to man, and uses it to make big bombs that blow things up. But on a trip to Afghanistan to demo his new missile technology to the eager US government, Stark’s convoy is attacked by armed militants. The last thing Stark sees before passing out is the name branded on the bomb that explodes in front of his feet: Stark Enterprises.

Imprisoned and ordered by radical terrorists to construct a missile, Stark struggles to survive, direly wounded by his own products of war. With the help of a fellow prisoner, Stark agrees to build the weapon, but decides to make a few… modifications. The end result: a towering behemoth of metal armor that Stark uses to escape the compound.

Rescued and returned to the US, Stark has a crisis of conscience. Having seen first hand the effects of his own brilliance in the hands of fanatics, he questions his company’s objectives, much to the alarm of his business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges, The Big Lebowski). After all, a weapons company that decides not to make any more weapons would be a very unprofitable decision…

Stark is adamant to find some sense of justice, and with the aid of his assistant Pepper Pots (Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare In Love) and his friend Colonel Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow) decides to refine the design of armor into something a bit more sophisticated… something that could help him undo some of the wrong he has caused on the world.

Hint: it is made of metal, it flies, and he paints it hot rod red.

The Evidence

Iron Man feels less a comic-book action film and more a classic Hollywood adventure film, one that soars and dives and laughs and thrills its audiences. This litmus test can be witnessed at any movie theater on the faces of wives and girlfriends dragged miserably to yet another stupid comic book film by their husbands or boyfriends, leaving the theater with rosy cheeks and grins from ear to ear (this Judge’s wife included). It might be slightly ironic to say aloud, but if ever a summer blockbuster adaptation of a comic book was made with love, Iron Man is it.

Eschewing all attempts to grab wads of cash and throw together a shoddy film of bad product placement, the franchise having been kicked between studios since the 1990s, Iron Man was spearheaded and financed by Marvel Comics directly, leaving nothing to chance in the hands of a third party. And by all appearances, Marvel made a very smart decision: Iron Man stands to be easily become one of the most profitable and critically acclaimed comic book adaptations of all time; a surprisingly accessible and heartfelt superhero film, perfectly balanced between political commentary and big explosions, gravitas and humor, with one of the most brilliant casting decisions ever put to celluloid. You know, for a comic book movie.

Despite the inherent action-oriented ramifications of the franchise, Iron Man is surprisingly character driven, giving equal screen time to mind-boggling feats of CGI as to good ol’ fashion dialogue, romance and questions of ethics. One could even go so far as to classify Iron Man as a character drama first and foremost, due in part to the complexity of Tony Stark as a hero. Modeled originally after eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, Tony Stark was envisioned to be brilliant, egomaniacal, alcoholic, charmingly reckless and just the tiniest bit nuts. Out of the gate, he is a flawed figure, one that only gets more flawed as the moral ambiguity of being a deliver of military death catches up to his ego. We are not quite used to seeing heroes in this fashion. He is not the goody two-shoes boy scout of the Superman films, nor is he the guilt-ridden hormonal college kid from the Spider-Man films, or the pensive brooding anti-hero from the Dark Knight films. Tony Stark is a man of action—usually drunken action—and his logic follows suit.

In fact, the dude is a pretty lousy hero. Tony Stark is not a martial arts expert training in some Himalayan temple, nor is he an alien, or blessed with magical powers or superhuman abilities. He is just a guy, admittedly a brilliant, drunken, eccentric playboy who fires first and aims second; a man whose solution to the dark realization of his weapons falling into the hands of terrorists is to build a bigger weapon and go blow them all up in the form of a hot rod red and gold suit of armor, even at the expense of his own bottom line. Stark is riddled with character flaws and self-serving agendas with the unshakable moral code of being a gigantic walking weapon. Hey, if you had a flying metal suit, you’d be a cocky bastard too.

Luckily for us audiences, this snappy attitude permeates the film throughout in dialogue, in hints of romance and perhaps most surprisingly, in social commentary. The character roots have been modernized, taking Stark out of the jungles of Vietnam and smacking him into Afghanistan, giving the film a surprisingly effective relevance in a modern-day climate of war, or at least as relevant as a superhero movie can be, you know, considering the whole “made up” thing. You feel for the character as he realizes the damage he has caused, and cheer for him as he puts his skills to good use and tries to undo the damage the only way he knows how—by blowing more stuff up. Despite the occasional moments of gravitas, the film is surprisingly light and fun in tone, the quirky dialogue reminiscent out of Jon Favreau’s early films with a surprisingly sharp wit most often reserved for small-budget comedies, not summer popcorn blockbusters. Some of the best scenes in the film come from Stark’s constant tinkering and perfecting of his model, like the flying boots. The science is imperfect to say the least, and more than a few miscalculations result that would make the Three Stooges take notes. Hilarity ensues, to say the least.

Despite the over-use use of non-existent fantastical technology, Iron Man sells audiences on its vision of a man in a flying suit surprisingly well. There are no gigantic leaps of logic required, no massive suspension of disbelief—we actually buy into the myth that a gifted engineer can craft for himself an absurdly large suit of iron in a cave in Afghanistan and kick some terrorist butt. The special effects, a nice mix of CGI and conventional props and the fantastic sound editing give every step and gear whir of the Iron Man suit a nice tactile feel, both visually and audibly. It looks and sounds like one would expect a totally bodacious suit of armor to look and sound like, and when the bullets fly, your brain throws up the devil horns.

It is a testament to Iron Man that the most outstanding element of the film is not the CGI, or the explosions, or even the plot, but the casting. It is nothing short of a dream casting to find an actor who so perfectly personifies the role of a fictional comic book character down to the threads on his shirt. The critical consensus across the board is that Robert Downy Jr. is it for Iron Man. The dude is perfection as Stark, bringing a mix of swagger, humor and humility to the role, remaining sympathetic and likeable while maintaining the egomania. This is important for future development of the franchise, because in the comic, Tony Stark is, well… kind of a dick. This is Downy Jr’s film from start to finish, soaring high into the stratosphere, and with anyone else under the metal suit, Iron Man would sink to the ground.

This is not to suggest the rest of the cast are asleep at the wheel; far from it. Howard gets a healthy dose of screen time as Stark’s personal pilot and military adviser, who looks longingly at the Iron Man suit (a prophetic nod to all comic book fans in the know). He plays the yang to Faverau’s buddy-on-buddy banter style of comedic delivery, with most of his scenes involving quick and hilarious argument-styled conversations with Downy Jr. that could be taken straight out of Faverau’s earlier comedies. Paltrow is surprisingly enjoyable as Stark’s tireless assistant, an uncharacteristically toned down leading lady role, and Jeff Bridges makes a surprisingly intense douchebag. The dude abides, let me tell you.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

If Iron Man is a film told in three acts, the first two acts bear almost the entire weigh distribution of awesomeness. The final act is far from disappointing, but feels less inspired, acquiescing to the obligatory showdown between superhero and supervillain, corny villainous monologues, needless wanton destruction of private property and random explosions of things that probably would not explode in real life. Good times will be had by all, rest assured, but if the film has a weak moment, it lays here, simply because we’ve seen this before.

Closing Statement

Iron Man is the first genuine blockbuster hit of the summer that lives up to its hype—it busts blocks and then some. Also, be sure and stick around until after the credits, comic fans. Trust us.

The Verdict

9/10

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