Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Review - Iron Man


Studio/Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Director: Jon Favreau
Release Date: May 2, 2008
Genre: Superhero/Action
Strong Points: Exciting, naturally flowing plot, top notch action, humor throughout.
Weak Points: Somewhat stereotypical in some places; doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the genre.
Technical Score: B+
Artistic Score: A
Final Score (not an average): B+
Moral Warnings: Mild cursing, a brief scene of sensuality, action-oriented and somewhat violent at parts.


Superhero movies have been part of movie culture for decades. Some establish themselves as being very unique (Tim Burton's Batman movies come to mind), some go beyond the typical superhero design to deliver a message (V for Vendetta), and some focus on what these movies first and foremost are all about - the classic tale of good verses evil.

This would be the latter.

Iron Man has all the makings and the formula of your standard super hero film - a likable protagonist; an originally friendly, then turned evil antagonist; a best buddy to help in dire situations; and, of course, a compelling love interest. If you've seen any superhero film that's come out in the past eight years, you should know this formula well. But what separates Iron Man from most of its competitors is that it brings all these elements together with near perfection and more than a little bit of flair.

A lot of Iron Man's charm is made with Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of our protagonist, Tony Stark. He's the owner of a billion-dollar weapons manufacturing industry (affectionately named Stark Industries... cute, eh?) with plenty of confidence, wit, and a touch of simple, sarcastic humor. But after being captured by a group of terrorists in the Middle East who use the weapons he created, Stark realizes that his industry isn't saving the lives he thought it was. After escaping, he decides to build something a little special to help him destroy the weapons being used to kill innocents.

Fortunately, his experience as a captive does not leave him traumatized. His character deepens with a desire to do good, but all of the wit and humor remain. This provides for some excellent and often laughable dialogue that keeps things balanced and enjoyable without drowning the audience in misplaced drama (Spiderman 3, anyone?).

While almost all of the characters fit perfectly in the movie, my one complaint would have to be with the antagonist, Obadiah Stane. Jeff Bridges brings a lot to the character in the first half of the movie, but when he is revealed as evil, Stane becomes too stereotypical. The depth was lost, and instead replaced with the usual bad guy role. It works, yes, but there could have been a bit more in comparison with the rest of the film, which strove to provide that 'bit' more all the way through.

The developers used Stark's Iron Man suit to perfection, balancing the comic-book feel with realism that is visually very impressive. Spandex and tights are OUT. Golden and red metal - IN.

Of course, what good would such an awesome suit be if it didn't allow the wearer to do equally awesome things? And awesome things Iron Man does. Bullets are cool (which he also has), but blasts of pure energy from his palms are even better. In the first scene that Stark fights with his suit, I thought that the palm-blasting was all he could do, but there are plenty of other weapons and gadgets that keep all of the action entertaining as you wonder what Iron Man will do next to defeat his foes.

Oh yeah...the flying scenes? They make Superman look like a pansy. Sorry, Clark.

As for moral elements, Iron Man is fairly clean. There is plenty of action to go around, but none of it is too violent and there isn't any blood. There are two scenes in which people are paralyzed by a special gadget that makes the veins in their face stick out out a bit, but that's about as far as that goes. One can also expect some mild cussing throughout the film, and there is a brief scene of sexuality between Tony Stark and a reporter, but this is thankfully quite short and doesn't get very far before the scene change.

Iron Man takes all the classic elements that we'd expect from a film such as this and combines them together better than any super hero movie since Spiderman (and maybe even better than that). Any of its kind that are set to come out this summer have big shoes to fill. The bar has been set, and it's very high.

-Zak Mellgren (zak@revolve21.com)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think this and The Incredible Hulk were some of the better movies this summer, and good examples of how do to superhero films. Downey did an excellent job capturing the role of Stark, making an excellent character.