Movie Review: Iron Man (2008)
Iron Man (2008)–***1/2
Iron Man isn’t high art, but it certainly is high entertainment. It’s a savvy, slick summer film that all Hollywood blockbusters should aspire to emulate.
So few May-to-August action-taculars even try anymore, going through the CGI-driven motions or trying to discover their inner art film/soap opera. Iron Man, it turns out, is great because there is a dearth of movies like it – movies with the notion that sometimes entertainment doesn’t have to be overdone or over thought in order to be spectacular.
Oh, and Iron Man is a superhero movie. I mention that because while watching the most recent Marvel Comics adaptation I nearly forgot that it existed in a world — and a genre — outside the movie I was watching. Much of the credit can be given to Robert Downey, Jr., who may well have given the first Oscar-worthy performance in a superhero flick playing the gazillionare, genius, military industrialist, playboy Tony Stark.
Stark and his company Stark Industries have made a fortune from selling military technology that is used all over the world. Somehow (wink) those weapons end up in the hands of Afghan insurgents who attack the military convoy escorting Stark from a test of his newest weapons system in the country’s mountains. He survives the attack, but is captured and forced to work with fellow prisoner and native engineer Yinsen (Shaun Toub) to recreate this new missile.
During the attack, Stark’s body was pelted with shrapnel from a Stark Industries-built weapon. Yinsen builds an electro-magnetic device that must be hooked up to an energy source to keep the shrapnel from killing Stark. Yinsen, he tells Stark, knows about the deadly shrapnel because he’s seen it kill people in his homeland. With access to loads of technology and resources thanks to the insurgents want of a weapons system, Stark makes his own, self-sustaining energy source, along with a high-tech suit of armor. The insurgents have a bad day, Yinsen is unfortunately killed, and Stark makes a daring escape.
Upon his return home, Stark vows to quit selling military technology and to protect the people from the weapons his company built. On a forced leave of absence from the company thanks to Stark Industries’ ambitious Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), Tony builds himself an upgraded version of the suit, with a little hot rod red to match his personality. But when Stark discovers Stane is more than just gunning for his job, the real battle begins.
Iron Man is the first film independently produced by Marvel Studios. Oddly, it’s only the second Marvel production to successfully break out of its genre and work on a purely cinematic level. The other film, X2: X-Men United, contains a more harrowing story, a notion Iron Man never seeks to entertain. Instead, Swingers director Jon Favreau and lead actor Downey address the dramatics with a wink and a nudge. And it works.
It’s been five years since any summer movie has succeeded in the same way Iron Man does. With little pretense and a commitment to shear cinematic delight, Pirates of the Caribbean surprised audiences. Its unexpected freshness and one commanding leading man, Johnny Depp, resulted in the must see film of summer 2003. Thanks to Robert Downey, Jr., whose arrogant, glib Tony Stark changes more in principle than he appears to change in habit, we are able to indulge in a character that thrives of being the center on attention.
Downey isn’t the only surprising cast member in Iron Man, though. As Pepper Potts, Stark’s dutiful assistant, Gwyneth Paltrow goes toe-to-toe with Downey, and often comes out on top. Combine her performance with those of Terrence Howard, as Stark confidant Jim Rhodes, and Bridges, and you get a comic book movie that is cast like a Hollywood prestige picture. For Marvel Studios, Iron Man is a picture to be proud of, one that we can only hope will encourage more films like it.
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