Iron Man Lives Up to Expectations

Iron Man is a big summer adaptation of the classic Marvel Comics character. Iron Man, a.k.a. Tony Stark, a wealthy industrialist, receives a life-changing lesson about his life's work of arms manufacturing and has a turnabout of conscience, becoming a mechanized defender of the powerless...or something like that.
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges.

Review by Junior.

When I heard that Robert Downey, Jr. was to play Iron Man I was psyched. Despite his substance abuse problems, reported gleefully in the media the past couple of decades, I considered him an outstanding actor and had seen him do good work recently in such films as Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. Coming fast on the heels of the news that Ed Norton was going to assay the character of the Hulk in the upcoming re-boot, I connected the two films in my mind, counted my blessings but still wondered at these two, seemingly serious actors, signing on to these crowd-pleasing but kind of silly roles. Then it quickly occurred to me that these actors are people, like me, a similar age to me, and even if they take their craft seriously how can they deny the impulse to play these characters that they---we---grew up with? Perhaps not coincidentally, Downey plays Stark in a cameo in the upcoming Hulk movie. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The film opens to the immortal strains of AC/DC's "Back in Black." This was a good sign, because I wondered if the people that marketed the movie were the only ones who realized how good that footage played to rock and roll. I shouldn't have worried. The soundtrack is peppered with it throughout, culminating in Black Sabbath's classic "Iron Man," heard in the ads. The movie doesn't have a lot of surprises if you've watched the trailer---the popularity of which, BTW, is parodied to hilarious effect on at theonion.com --- let me just say that it's the film the trailer promises, probably the best film you could make out of the material. The film's success is largely due to the casting. The actors are all first rate: Downey, Bridges, Howard, and Paltrow in particular make the film work.

I mention Gwyneth Paltrow in particular because she has the least to work with. Hers is a role, as the unrequited love interest, that could easily be tedious or boring in the hands of a lesser actor, but she plays it with just the right mixture of spunk, longing, intelligence and sex to make it interesting.

Howard is good as Downey's military liaison/best friend. There is foreshadowing that he will don the iron suit in a sequel, which would be consistent with the comics as well.

Jeff Bridges, always a terrific actor, does an unusual turn as a villain here and sports an impressive new look.

And Robert Downey Jr., who strikes just the right notes of humor, sarcasm, seriousness---he creates a unique persona in Tony Stark, someone who's not a perfect person, but with whom we, as an audience, sympathize. It will be fun to watch that character develop in the upcoming films.

And films, coming up---there are. Marvel has announced a sequel in the works for 2010. Later in the summer of '10 will be a Thor movie. Following that, in 2011, will be the first Captain America movie. Later that summer they hope to pull them all together in an Avengers movie. But you already saw that coming 'cause you sat through the closing credits of Iron Man.

Aside from the acting, the movie has a good balance of romance, humor, and terrific CG action sequences. In addition, I must commend the design work on the suit, which is both cool, detailed and believable. This is the first release from Marvel Studios, apparently having grown tired of sharing so much of their profits with other production companies, and if this is an indication of the kind of quality production we can expect from them---well---we will be enjoying a lot of terrific comic book films in the years to come, unlike, oh...Ghost Rider, Daredevil, Elektra, The Punisher, Man Thing... Anyone for Werewolf by Night or Moon Knight?

Story---7
Acting---9
Look---9