Friday.May.02.2008

REVIEW: Iron Man (2008)

By Arya Ponto

For a movie touted as the official mark of summer’s arrival, Iron Man certainly fills the metal boots as a provider of popcorn thrills. The summer season is synonymous with big blockbuster spectacles, packed with plenty of fast action and big laughs. As the season opener—let’s call it that—Iron Man sets the bar pretty high, and very few films that try to entertain audiences the same way this summer will be able to top it. What is perhaps ironic—but nonetheless what makes it special—is that it’s one superhero movie where the level of fun actually drops whenever the action starts.

The reason for this, of course, is Robert Downey Jr., an absolutely pitch perfect casting choice. No other comic book movie has ever gotten an actor who’s not only an excellent thespian, but also completely and irreplaceably a dead ringer for the ideal way the character should be played. The high points of Iron Man are not Iron Man’s high-flying stunts or the climactic battle between him and the bid bad villain, the Iron Monger; it’s the comedy that cheerfully fills in Tony Stark’s life as a billionaire entrepreneur / genius inventor / jet-setting playboy. Scenes of Tony Stark building the Iron Man suit and discovering his heroic potential are so entertaining, I found myself disappointed when the suit’s finally completed and he becomes a full-fledged superhero. More silly Tony Stark, less Iron Man badassery, please.

The playboy aspect of Stark’s character is particularly interesting, because director Jon Favreau portrays Tony Stark as a flawed hero, but not of the tortured variety. His flaw is that he has too much damn fun—a rarity in the age of angsty Bruce Waynes and lovelorn Peter Parkers—to the point of drawing envy. Tony Stark is a boyhood fantasy bedding Maxim cover models all year long, getting drunk often, and even shown to be a lover of gambling. But rather than the selfish rich prick these starting personalities often are, Stark started off as already quite likeable—again, thanks to Robert Downey Jr.’s innate charm—thus making his transformation into a noble hero even more impressive; while at the same time rendering the moral more potent: not being a bad person is one thing, but it takes something extraordinary to actually put your comfort aside and fight the good fight. It makes up for the otherwise fairly humdrum character progression that follows the usual superhero beats (meaningful death as a motivation for personal growth, the realization of an invisible close friend as a potential lover, betrayal of the mentor).

What elevates the film even more is the stellar cast, consisting of three Academy Award nominees and a winner. Jeff Bridges is smooth enough to be believable, yet slimy enough to be mustache-twirling, the kind of villain suited for a movie like this (he would’ve made a fantastic Lex Luthor). Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts is neither a damsel in distress nor easily smitten by Tony Stark. Even to the very end, she holds her pride, refreshingly subverting the usual female roles in these movies. Let’s just say, she’s not Mary-Jane, who existed in the Spidey movies just to fall in love with someone—or fall from something. Terrence Howard’s role as USAF Colonel Jim Rhodes is minimal, but he has some fun with his friendly comic banters with Stark (watch out for the nod to him becoming War Machine in the inevitable sequel). A lot of the dialogue during the first half of the film feel like they were improvised by the actors—I’m betting they were—getting plenty of laughs and rooting the larger-than-life characters in very familiar grounds. When Tony Stark takes a picture with a nervous fan and he says “I don’t want to see this on your MySpace page,” it rings as something Robert Downey Jr. had said to a fan once upon a time. Unfortunately, at the same time those naturalistic back-and-forths directly contrast the hokier, more comic book-y dialogue during the dramatic moments.

All that said, this is still supposed to be an action powerhouse. Although Favreau delivers the goods, the action scenes are nicely spread out in the film, so it feels more like a comedy than an action movie. Even the action feels slightly lifeless, similar but less seat-rocking than the robot battles in Transformers. The difference is, in Transformers it was all about the CGI spectacle and nothing else, while here you care about the outcome of the fight because the human side matters. Maybe Michael Bay and Jon Favreau can exchange notes next time. Either way, with tons of high-profile comedies and big FX-heavy action adventures arriving in the coming weeks, this relatively smaller film—only the first movie Marvel independently financed—is the fitting launching pad.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Make sure to stick around until the end of the credits, trust us on this one.

Click to Rate it!

Click to Comment (4)

Hello, stranger

Share this page

Movie Info

Search

Headlines