Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Terrence Howard
Director: John Favreau
Writers: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway
Studio: Marvel Studios
A good summer blockbuster is incredibly hard to find; many of them are incoherent two hour commercials (I will save the rest of my venom there for a Transformer's review). These films are created by executives, directors, writers, and producers in committee, and Iron Man was created by just such a team of people from Hollywood and Marvel Enterprises. Marvel Studios does have a crazy idea about blockbusters though; they actually went out of their way to create a film that was a solid story in its own right but full of possibilities for further commercial exploitation.
It's an unusual sight to my eyes, but Iron Man is a summer blockbuster with a strong character arc and a clear well paced plot. The film is about Tony Stark growing and changing into a better person but still retaining his faults. He doesn't put on the armor and become a saint; he just tries to fix his own mess as best he can which isn't even that good. It's a film about trying to build something better out of one's self, surroundings, and relationships in spite of human failings. This strong central struggle for Tony Stark creates an emotional core to the film that leads the viewer in; it also gives meaning to the explosions, fist fights, car chases, women, talking houses, and press conferences.
Unlike recent bloated action films, Iron Man doesn't waste time. Everything in this film has a purpose whether it's related to Stark's personal journey, setting up spin off movies, creating strong inter-character relationships, or establishing villains. It's also fun; it's doesn't equate darkness or boredom with quality. The creators remembered that people enjoy superhero stories for their million dollar mayhem, and the film creates sufficient mayhem of varying styles. Things explode, and the protagonist brings a lovely idiosyncratic chaos with him in the first act. Speaking of the star, Downey is having so much fucking fun playing Tony Stark that it's infectious, and the film never loses sight of him for five minutes because he's that instrumental to the enjoyment of the film.
The downside is that the other characters suffer as Downey devours the screen time. Paltrow's Pepper Potts (say it fifteen times fast and that's twenty-five Canary points) gets developed nicely as Tony's girl Friday, but it's a fairly standard boss/assistant quasi-romantic relationship. Howard's James Rhodes character shrinks to a plot device by the end of the film, and Jeff Bridges' villain needed a little more character development and motivation for the third act. He jumps from manipulator to combatant so quickly that it just begs for an extra scene to give this change a little more weight. Instead, the audience is treated to a standard speech about how much his newfound power thrills him. It's a shame because Jeff really makes Stane feel like a guy with a genuine connection and past with Stark, but we don't get it developed fully. However, this is a franchise starter, and we're supposed to be left wanting more in the form of toys, video games, and sequels.
Writing: We have four screen writers for this picture, and they apparently worked separately on different scenes. Complicating this further, the director and actors apparently reworked the shooting script, and Marvel brought in some of their comic writers to do one scene at the very, very end. We are in the very deepest, darkest territories of summer block buster writing here, where there is no clear line delineating who wrote what, when, and how much it changed from pen to screen. All the above makes it sound like this should be a patchwork abomination, but the Frankenstein script mostly works. I can't tell you if it's luck or design, but even Orson Welles said that great film making was an accident.
Direction: Fairly solid film making. The first act has some of the best work for me; the entire sequence at the beginning with Tony's video taped capture was possibly my favorite sequence. Watching Stark fall out his playboy comfort zone and straight into hell was beautiful. I was relieved that the use of the worst we can find in today's headlines felt much more effective than exploitative. It's a shame the rest of the film is a little weaker compared to that, but it's still good.
Acting: This film lives and dies on Robert Downey Jr.'s shoulder's. If an actor wasn't careful, Stark would be too much of an unlikable self-absorbed ass, but Downey makes him
charming at his worst and admirable at his best. He makes the selfish Tony of the first act that asshole you love to party with, and then makes you appreciate his attempts to grow up as the film continues. I would say the man oozes charisma, but that sounds too icky. Let's say he just radiates it like a distant star that uses cool as a fuel instead of hydrogen.
Jeff Bridges makes a strong villain, and does an excellent job creating a convincing two-faced douche bag. It's a shame that the final act leaves him with some ropey material to work with, but he still puts forth enough menace that I can't fault him for it.
Howard and Paltrow have pretty small supporting roles, but they make roles you might call thankless into something that's at worst serviceable.
Editing: Good editing through out; there are some nice jump cuts to give Stark's playboy life style that MTV Crib's feel. All the action scenes are clear and understandable, and of course, I really dug the editing on the capture scene.
Sound: All the little noises that the Iron Man and Iron Monger suits make help ground the sci-fi just enough for some suspension of disbelief; I can pretend those sounds mean a machine is actually working. I also loved the sounds of battle as Stark panicked in his hummer.
Soundtrack/music: I didn't like it very much; it was pretty generic superhero music with some generic metal.
Self-awareness: This movie knows what the genre tropes are and tries to avoid retreading them without at least cracking joke at their expense, and then sometimes they just blow right over them laughing all the way.
Overall Rating: 4 bottles of scotch out of five for Tony Stark; he pours at least one all over a lady.
Yay or Nay!?: Yay. You probably already saw it anyway; it's not like it's a Speed Racer or some shit.
-Pete
