Iron Man Review
by [email protected] (sdo230 AT gmail DOT com)May 6th, 2008
Iron Man
reviewed by Sam Osborn
This stage of superheroes is getting pretty crowded these days. The good news is that I'm still enjoying it. The summers jam-packed with flying capes and chiseled chins--they haven't grown tiresome just yet. Iron Man's a fair entry into the weighty genre. We're a jaded audience, though, shrugging our soldiers as Robert Downey Jr. does battle with tanks and fighter jets. John McClane did that last year, we think, and he didn't even need to fly.
Iron Man is one of the older comics Marvel has in its vault, and not one I've read. But judging by the random cheers from the midnight audience I screened the film with, Director Jon Favreau and his four writers have done a loyal, satisfying job with the source material. It's an origin story, much like Batman Begins, where the unlikely playboy toils in a cave until he emerges heroic and quite super. This particular cave dweller is Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), president of Stark Industries, the nation's largest weapons and defense distributor. Mr. Stark, brilliant, rich, and a corporate figurehead, is a little like Bill Gates. But a slutty Bill Gates.
An ambush from Afghani terrorists amidst his presentation of Stark Industries' new missile system results in Tony's captivity in the militants' cave system. Here the film turns on the switch of a Big Dumb Movie, with shouting, turbaned men gunning down crying babies as the heroic white male makes a technological breakthrough to blow the evil bastards back to their strange, foreign god. It's American Hollywood stereotyping at its lowest and even the smart-ass guile of Mr. Downey Jr. can't scrape the brute ideologies from this segment's offensive gullet. The sands of Afghanistan, however, are soon left behind and Mr. Stark has more important things to attend to. Saving the world, for instance.
Iron Man succeeds most when it seems to try the least. The truly heroic thing about the film is the casting of Robert Downey Jr. He's a mature player in this boy's world, paired up with an equally satisfying Gwyneth Paltrow (as Pepper Potts) and Jeff Bridges (as Obediah Stone). When the dialogue is bouncing about on its pogo stick of comic book joy, Iron Man is a delight. But every time the characters step into robotic costumes rippling with weaponry and boosters, the film drops into cruise control. We're a tough crowd to impress, granted. Impressive graphics and a thorough sound work-up aren't gonna spin my motors anymore.
But it doesn't help that Iron Man faces the same ironic dullness facing Superman. They're too powerful of superheroes to continue being interesting. They can stop bullets, missiles, heights, and girls. And if only kryptonite can cripple Superman, a loose wire is the only thing stopping Iron Man.
Nevertheless, Iron Man is a promising new franchise. The right people are behind the levers, so to speak. And for those who stay past the credits will know, Marvel Studios has no intention of stopping the story here. Oh no, they've got designs. Designs to avenge.... Sam Osborn
Iron Man: Directed by Jon Favreau. Written by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard. Rated: PG-13.
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