Release Date: May 2nd, 2008 Studio: Paramount Pictures Genre: Action •
Scifi •
Comedy Director: Jon Favreau Writers: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber, Don Heck Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub, Gwyneth Paltrow Synopsis: Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment’s big screen adaptation of Marvel’s legendary Super Hero Iron Man will launch into theaters on May 2, 2008. Oscar® nominee Robert Downey Jr. stars as Tony Stark/Iron Man in the story of a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Instead, using his intelligence and ingenuity, Tony builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity. When he uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, he dons his powerful armor and vows to protect the world as Iron Man. The film also stars Oscar® winner Gwyneth Paltrow and Oscar® nominees Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges and is directed by Jon Favreau. The Review: As you may have read I here on the site I made the massive long shot of claiming Iron Man would be the top movie of the summer. And now I've seen it...so do I still think so?
Hell yeah I do! I think this film has this sort of wildly fun flavor that people are really going to enjoy. It's joyous in celebrating the character of Iron Man and the world he lives in without bogging itself down too deep in the normal trappings of a comic book origin story.
Lets face it comic book fans have had to endure some pretty tough trips to the theater over the years since comic book films came back into style. While some have stayed true to the characters others have gone so far off the map you wouldn’t recognize your favorite characters had the title card not said the name. Even the ones that get it “close enough” still have the flaws of a Hollywood film all over them…or worse yet..Nic Cage.
Over the years I’d come to accept that it’s never going to be as true as I’d like it to be, things have to be changed and some things will just get altered because someone got a wild hair up their ass to try and make it their own. That said I enter any movie based on a book with as open a mind as possible and just try to view it as a stand alone project. Some days of course it’s easy to do this than others, sometimes you get served up a great piece of work like Batman Begins or Spider-Man…other times you get Elektra and Ghost Rider.
But what about Iron Man? Where does he land in the mixed melee of 4 color Hollywood flicks? Fear not true believers Iron Man is Money Baby!
While the comic book origin story has gotten a bit tiresome at the Cineplex it’s a given that we will see many of them still in the years to come. Especially as the studios dip into characters the general public may not know so well, or never heard of at all. Jon Favreau has taken the origin picture and really turned it into an art form in this one. He effortlessly paints a picture of Tony Starks world where you can understand this guy so quickly that you’d just as easily believe he’d build a metal suit and fly around saving the world as you could believe him in a threesome with the Olsen Twins. He’s not just an anti hero he’s a self absorbed arrogant prick with major flaws and a heart of gold as well..or in Tony’s case a heart of shrapnel.
And who better to play the anti hero / self absorbed arrogant prick with flaws than Robert Downey Jr? Nobody! You’d have to mix the DNA of several other actors to get what Robert already has in spades. Back when they started casting this thing I couldn’t think of who could play Tony, mostly I was just praying it wouldn’t be Tom Cruise as rumored in the years prior, oh that and sacrificing goats to appease whatever gods I had to in order to make sure it wouldn’t be Nic Cage. The only person I had on my fantasy casting list was Sam Rockwell (which I still think would have been good, but still Downey was perfect). Downey just didn’t occur to me, but once cast it was an obvious choice. Downey is so damn charming as Stark I think I’d have probably gone all gaw gaw over him and had wet panties along with all the other skanks…well wet and sticky…wow…lets move on from literally gushing about Downey shall we? Yeah….
Don’t ya just hate a love interest who can’t stop being the damsel in distress? (Yeah I’m looking at you Mary Jane Watson.) Sure they are fun to rescue once in awhile but that stuff gets old quick. Well Pepper Potts ain’t your average love interest, this girl can handle herself. She’s smart, witty, loyal, and damn resourceful. The kind of girl Tony needs in his life as a stark (pun intended) contrast to the skanks that surround him and Paltrow wears the role quite well.
Every super hero on the go needs a best friend right? Even the anti hero / self absorbed arrogant prick with flaws ones too. Outside of Pepper the only other real person in Tony’s life is Jim Rhodes (Howard). Jim is Tony’s moral compass for the most part, the guy who keeps him grounded…or at least a toe in reality. There’s not much to him in the movie really but what you get is touching and you can see where they are headed for a much closer knit relationship going into the sequel. (woo hoo bring on War Machine!!)
Naturally every anti hero / self absorbed arrogant prick with flaws needs a villain to with the package deal. For this we have two elements; the ten rings terrorist group (nice ref to the originally planned villain of the Mandarin) and Obadiah Stane (Bridges). Both sets work as natural enemies to Tony’s new found humanitarian mind set. Bridges is a scary mofo when he puts his mind to it and when he gets going as Iron Monger you actually have doubts Tony can take him down.
The downside of every movie; it has a normal bit of drag in the middle. That bit of movie where the hero transitions from a self absorbed arrogant prick with flaws to a anti hero / self absorbed arrogant prick with flaws. The drag here is minimal but totally necessary and honestly more like a small lull than a drag. It’s all still fun and entertaining while you catch your breath between the action.
The action and effects are damn sleek and impressive, half the time it’s tough to spot Robert in a practical suit or CGI. The action never hits that dull detached sot of fare that is all too common in movies today. It’s all quick paced stuff that hits you hard and moves on rather than drag you through some effects guy’s idea of fun while he shows off.
As I write this I’m listening to the score (by Ramin Djawadi) which I immediately went and purchased off Itunes the moment it became available. While most of you don’t know the name you certainly know his work in Blade Trinity, Mr Brooks, Prison Break and other places. He has a great ear for film scoring and matches the flow incredibly well. If you are a fan of movie scores like I am I highly suggest picking this one up.
Now as much as I want to be right about this being the number one movie of the summer, it doesn’t seem likely based on what its up against. Even if I’m wrong I know I’m right about a five other things; 1) this is one of the best damn comic book movies ever made 2) it’s a fun film that’s enjoyable and accessible even if you’d never heard of Iron Man before 3) I will be seeing this again at some point in theaters 4) The video game kicks ass 5) I’ll be picking this up on High Def DVD (here’s to hoping I own something to play it on by then).
Few movies are ever what you hope they will be, fewer still overshoot your expectations. I’m here to tell you Iron Man overshot the runway by a good 300 yards.
Lastly keep your eye out for the best Stan Lee cameo ever!! Rating:
