Iron Man

Iron Man (2008)

93% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 226 reviews)

Runtime: 126 minutes

Directed by: John Favreau

Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard

From: Paramount/Marvel

Here is a movie that I’ve seen only two times, but the circumstances were interesting both times.

The first time was in late May of 2008, when I was up in the Midwest as a close family member had a wedding and I had some free time before the day of marriage. I was in the Chicago-area one night and my plans went totally awry, so I had free time and I decided to see this and then the midnight debut of the new Indiana Jones film (which I didn’t really care for, but that’s another topic for another day). This turned out to be better than I thought it would, given my thoughts on comic books in general and all that. The second time was just on Thursday night, when I saw this and then the midnight debut of the sequel. More on that tomorrow. I only found out by happenstance that theatres were showing the first film one time only on Thursday.

I’m sure that by now you’re familiar with the plot of this film; still, I’ll explain that this is about Tony Stark (Downey, Jr.), a billionaire playboy type who is the figurehead of Stark Industries, a military contract company, which he inherited from his deceased father. Obadiah Stane (Bridges) actually runs the day to day operations of the company. He’s in Afghanistan with his buddy James Rhodes (Howard) to show off some hardware, when he gets attacked and kidnapped. A scientist he’s imprisoned with comes up with a contraption that prevents fragments from entering his heart and killing him. He’s supposed to build a WMD for the terrorists imprisoning him; instead, he and the scientist create an iron suit that allows him to escape; the scientist is killed in the midst of all that action. He manages to teach Tony an important lesson, and that is to leave a great legacy behind him. So, once he gets back to the states, he changes his ways and he announces that Stark Industries will no longer build weapons, which greatly upsets Stane. He builds a better Iron Man suit using some rather fantastical technology at his palatial home, and adds a different dynamic to his long-time relationship with his assistant, Pepper Pots (Paltrow). I won’t give away more.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It was a great story that not only introduced the character to the people who have not read the comic (or hell, only knew the name from the unrelated Black Sabbath song), but also told a story of how an unlikeable ass in Stark turned into a more likeable ass (it reminded me of how Downey acted in Sherlock Holmes, except that I always thought that Holmes was an unlikeable ass, but I talked about that movie already late last year). The performances of the main cast (especially Downey, but also Bridges) was a big asset, along with some nice action scenes that are actually easy to follow and aren’t frustrating to watch. So, it was a very enjoyable comic book film that worked for everyone, and that’s why it made so much money at the box office. I enjoyed seeing it for a second time on the big screen, as it held up pretty well. The sequel, though… it’s not a film I particularly enjoyed, and I was quite disappointed with it. The reasons why will be explained tomorrow.