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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: Iron Man (2008)...
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 Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 12:18 pm |
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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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