Iron Man is a very well done, very entertaining superhero film.
My discussion doesn't really reveal anything I'd call a spoiler, but probably it's better if you've seen the movie.
Most of the film's virtue lies with one man, Robert Downey, Jr., who is perfectly cast as Tony Stark. He inhabits Stark's life of privilege and he understands Tony's addictive behaviors, yes, but far more importantly, he exactly captures Stark's enormous, restless intellect and the overwhelming confidence it gives him. Throughout the character's career, he has been the pre-eminent practical scientist and applied technologist of the Marvel Universe, and his character here does not deviate from that one micron. Stark is always in the zone of maximum mental productivity, and RDJ conveys that by radiating fierce concentration but still always having enough spare capacity for a dry quip or sarcastic remark.
RDJ is not alone on the screen. Gwyneth Paltrow, as executive assistant Pepper Potts, walks a fine line among the possible failed outcomes--the asexualism that would make her a non-entity, the crush on the boss that would make her pathetic, and the twu wuv that only feels false and tacked-on in a big loud adventure film. Instead, there is a mutual attraction between Potts and Stark, and there is Pepper's maturity in recognizing that her boss lacks the maturity--or the ability to focus--to have a real relationship. Indeed, in a measure of the script's solidity, Pepper gets to zing Stark but good by recalling an incident earlier in the film that the audience was subtly led away from noticing at the time.
Jeff Bridges, of course, is superb as Obadiah Stane, carefully concealing his ambition and malevolence. At the very end, though, he gives in to the supervillain temptation and chews some scenery.
Terence Howard is good as Rhodey, but doesn't have a lot to do. But that segues into the contributions of Jon Favreau and the two credited writing teams on the picture. Fundamentally, this is an Iron Man comic brought to the screen; it is not "interpreted" or "re-envisioned" for the screen. Instead, as we saw with Spider-Man and X-Men, the filmmakers have gone back to the comic over and over again for inspiration--what works for the character, what is the character's appeal, and, significantly, what details makes the character's world feel like the character's world. Rhodey's looking at the armor and saying "next time, my turn" isn't just an Easter egg or sequel bait for War Machine fans. When done right, Easter eggs like that, or like Stark's driver being named "Happy" Hogan, are details that make the movie feel larger than just its text, and that's something to strive for.
Speaking of the character's appeal, Iron Man satisfies the adolescent fantasy for speed and power. When Stark opens up the throttle or lets go with a repulsor-assisted punch, it delivers that thrill in the gut.
Incidentally, Stark's heart problem is escalated in the movie, to the point that he's practically Metallo. What was a "heart regulator" in the comics is here an immensely powerful "arc reactor" power cell that occupies a significant volume of his chest cavity, a sort of ventricular assist device that incidentally puts out enough excess power to run the armor. (He still has a heart, but it is weak.)
The movie is by no means perfect. The final battle could have been improved significantly, I think; Stark is weakened far enough before it starts that he doesn't put up a really impressive fight, and Iron-Monger doesn't seem to have a sensible plan. I think I would have re-blocked his method of defeat, as well. I also think that the movie needed Iron Man doing something heroic in public, outside of the final battle, to ensure that the public would be on his side. Otherwise, the final battle from the public's perspective is almost a corporate proxy fight; possibly interesting, but really just kinda two rich guys arguing over who's going to get richer how.
Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby get a decent nod with a creator credit. It's not above the title or anything, but it's more than they would have gotten fifteen years ago.
Stay through the very end of the credits.
Posted by Greg at May 2, 2008 10:58 PM
My discussion doesn't really reveal anything I'd call a spoiler, but probably it's better if you've seen the movie.
... I don't understand why you're writing a review of a movie and then saying that people should see the movie before reading your review.
Spoiler for the tone of the final fight scene....
Yeah, my only significant problem with the movie was that Stane's personality suddenly got swapped out for Bridges apparently auditioning for the lead in The Incredible Hulk...and I'm not talking Bruce Banner here. There's a more subtle gotcha that while it took Tony (correctly) a fair amount of debugging and practice, Stane was able to fly and work the armor quite well in what seemed to be his first try. But the main bit is Stane suddenly roaring and acting Hulklike rather than the competent, PR conscious, exec type we'd seen up to then.
Kynn: I didn't call it a review for a reason. Now, the piece may still end up being too much of one thing and not enough of another to be any good.
Tom: Right, well put. I sort of took the approach that this is what Stane is like when he takes the breakers off line. He's normally very tightly controlled, but what he wants to do is rant and rave and hit people. Very powerful superego, very powerful id. Bet he never gets drunk in public.
Though I agree that it would have been nice for more heroics in front of US citizens, we did get a piece of this in the Afghan fight scene. That is sometimes missing in superhero flicks and his "at the last moment" arrival was spot on for what I like to see in my superhero movies.
I think the last fight scene, though not superdynamic, fit the story. Stane was desperate and by that point already "lost." He essentially "lost" when Tony lived and changed the course of the company. He was trying to find a way to get rid of him. The last straw was when Potts clearly "got away" with the SHIELD agent. He knew his clock was ticking. Go down in the papers and courts or go down swinging in giant mecha. I know what I would choose.
But honestly, this was one of my favorite superhero movies and the best parts of it were not in costume. RDJ and cast did such a splendid job that the superheroic stuff was just great icing on a well thought out origin movie. Can't wait to see what comes next.
Now Hulk just has to bring in a boatload, too, so that we get more of these movies.
I agree that the Final Fight could've used some tweaking; Tony never really gets a chance to face Obadaiah head-on before running out of juice, and the exact stakes of the battle beyond Tony's survival are unclear.
Nevertheless, I ALSO agree that this is probably the most sublimely satisfying comic-book movie since the original "Spider-Man": a film that works both as its own story and as a fan-boy vision of the comic book brought to life. RDJ is the perfect Tony Stark, and his supporting cast is likewise rock solid. The little teaser after the end credits is also promising, but given my less-than-thrilled attitude in regards to "The Incredible Hulk", the other half of that equation, I'm not sure how excited I can really get at this point.
I have to say that the new Hulk trailer makes it look more interesting than the teaser trailer. I know Ed Norton is poo-pooing it because he didn't get his epic length cut (allegedly...we won't know until release) but it seems like, as with Iron Man, they will spend some time focusing on the characters. Likes like Banner Ultimatum/Identity/Supremacy in some respects.
My biggest disappointment with the final fight scene is that it ends long after it should have. Tony figured out the IronMonger suit's weakness, and that should have been the key to victory. Tony's superpower is that he is so smart that he builds the best version of everything; that should have been his key to victory.
Other than that, I don't think I had any complaints with the film at all, and I was quite pleased with its substantial virtues (including, of course, the metatextual joke of having a heavy-metal soundtrack).
I think that filmmakers are more often servants to motifs than masters to them, and I think the resolution of the final fight was dictated by the felt necessity of involving the arc reactor. In addition, that resolution enabled Pepper to play a key role, which the icing up might not.
I'm also very much sick of superheroes pulling their masks off all the time, especially during the final fight, and especially especially when the mask is part of your freaking superpowers, Mr. Armor Suit Guy. Ditto even more so for Stane.
I guess we're getting pretty deep into spoiler territory here.
I would have been fine with Stark blowing up the arc reactor during the fight, thinking that it would be enough to take out Stane, and then having to finish him with the key weakness of the IronMonger suit.
During the climactic fight, Stark's mask is *blown off*, not taken off, and Stane is given a perfect reason to remove his mask--he's blinded.
Well, *can* Stane really fly? Seriously...he makes one jet-assisted leap, and thereafter it's just "straight up like a rocket". Essentially, the Iron Monger suit's only significant flight is not much better than the Mk01's escape flight, just with enough power to keep going.
As for stability, there's probably a metric ****ton worth of gyroscopes in that huge suit, something Tony doesn't have room for, preferring dynamic stabilization. The comics Iron Monger, after all, was all about building in ways to keep Stane from having to actually know what he's doing.
Oh, and I agree that Obi was in full "I'm screwed, might as well settle as many scores as I can before I go down" mode as soon as Pepper and Coulson walked out that door. She had enough evidence on that jumpdrive to get him executed for TREASON, forget about attempted murder. No more time for subtle stratagems or trying to wheedle Arc Reactor plans out of Tony, just smash and grab and start settling old scores the messy way (and he probably got sloppy there, assuming that Tony was going to die, or at least that there was no need to get his suit messy shooting Tony in the head).
Iron Man was practically flawless as a super hero flick; it drops pretty obvious hints that would indicate a sequel as well... i'm thinking the next one should be equally great
Kevin wrote: "Tony's superpower is that he is so smart that he builds the best version of everything; that should have been his key to victory."
Ah, but he didn't have the 'best version of everything' for that fight. He had the older power source. Stane had the good one.
I *like* how the final battle went.
It demonstrated that Iron Man, for all the power of the suit, has limitations. If he didn't have Pepper there to blow up the arc reactor, he would have lost.
It'd be pretty dull if viewers expected future foes to be as easily beaten as tanks and fighter jets. Yawn.
The Dude is Obidiah Stane?!!!! Greg, you starting to get a sense of why I started my weekly posts a certain way back in the day....