Grasping for the Wind

Movie Review: Iron Man

The wife and I went last night to see Iron Man. I once was an occasional reader of the comic book. Such things were not approved of in my parent’s house, more for the expense than the subject matter, when the library starting having subscriptions I read it a lot more. This meant I sort of read Iron Man rather piecemeal as issues were returned, or I was forced to skip those issues that were not returned or replaced. (Maybe that’s a good deed opportunity for Marvel?)

We, I have to say, enjoyed the movie immensely. I generally do not like blockbuster hits (The movie grossed nearly $100 million in box office receipts in its first weekend; I heard that was some kind of record.) The visual effects were amazing, and there was no clunky integration of CGI and real life. Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jeff Bridges gave excellent performances, and each was perfectly picked for the role. Jon Favreau’s directing was neat and clean, with no extra scenes for explanation or political agenda purposes.

Iron Man’s terrorists are really bad guys, and the story doesn’t shy away from depicting evil as evil. When Iron Man destroys them and their weapons, you cheer for this hero who wants to fix what he broke. Favreau could have taken the opportunity to use the weapons-maker-turns-conscientious-citizen story to make a political statement, but he doesn’t. Sure, we see how weapons getting into the wrong hands can cause a lot of problems, but we also find out that it was not the manufacture of such that was the problem, but the greed of certain individuals. Truly, if Favreau feels one way or another about the politics of weapons manufacture, it doesn’t come through the screen. And that is as it should be. Superhero tales should entertain, not try and convince us to agree with certain principles, except perhaps for the universal ones of heroism, friendship, freedom and patriotism. I think there are very few who would think those were bad things to desire.

Robert Downey Jr. must draw on his own experience with making a turnaround in one’s life to create the emotions of the character of Tony Stark/Iron Man. Stark’s epiphany is believable and energizing for the viewer. Downey Jr. makes us believe that people can change their behaviors away from self destructive to positive.

Both my wife and I commented on how Gwyneth Paltrow is perfect with reddish hair. My experience with her as an actress is usually depicting strong female leads, whose personalities are nothing like Pepper Pots. But Paltrow gives an excellent performance as the demure, loving-Stark-from-afar, woman. Yet her character is not melodramatic, but efficient and caring. It’s an odd juxtaposition, as we normally do not associate one with the other, by Paltrow makes it happen with skill and grace. My hope is that the sequel (and of course there will be one) will retain her as Ms. Potts.

I also find it interesting that Favreau was able to do so much with so few settings. In particular, the cave and Stark’s workshop. Tony Stark spends a great deal of time in these settings during the movie, but it never gets dry or boring. Yet you would think you would. I mean we return to Stark’s workshop so many times, you would think Favreau would run out of ways to change camera angles. Yet somehow it works. This is first superhero movie in the recent revival of them where I felt that the “lair” of the superhero was really a useful place, and not some melodramatic tool.

I’m actually not qualified to speak to whether it follows the original stories closely enough. I will say this, from my occasional reading of the comics; it seems that the movie really has little difference from the printed matter, except to update the technology and bad guys to reflect the real world political situation. That isn’t much different from setting Spider-Man in NYC. The essence of the story and the characters remains the similar, if no the same, so to the casual viewer, or even the reader of Iron Man the story retains all that makes it great.

I highly recommend everyone go see Iron Man if you haven’t already. Stay till after the credits for a surprise visit from a well-known actor, and a little promo for what can only be a sequel.

Posted by John on May 9, 2008 03:44 PM | Posted to Movies, TV, & Film
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