Ironing out the details…
Tony Stark can do whatever he wants in life. He can date fast women, drive fast cars and spend money like it is quickly going out of style. Brought into the world with a millionaire’s swagger, he doesn’t know what the word ‘life’ means, because he is too busy living it up to stop and think. When he goes to Afghanistan to show off new military weapons he finds himself in the middle of a battle for his own life. Kidnapped by ‘The Ten Rings’, he’s got two choices… build them a weapon or find a way out. Let’s just say he does not build a weapon… for them. Finding himself desperate, he builds the first image of the Iron Man armor to fight his way out of his situation. With his life changed, Tony Stark makes his way back to his world, determined to change Stark Industries methods of making money, mainly ceasing the weapons line that has gotten him in trouble. Regretfully, doing that comes at a cost and he soon finds himself not only in the middle of another battle with The Ten Rings, but also a battle with another individual he didn’t suspect. I’ll stop there to keep clear of spoilers.
Iron Man is a very well made film. From the start to finish, it is a very fast film. It starts out with action, it doesn’t leave room for slowdown and there certainly is not time to question it. For example, one of the fellow reviewers I brought with me to the film started questioning Tony Stark’s drinking problem and how it wasn’t fully realized when he was captured at the beginning of the film. This is a perfect example of how the movie keeps itself simple and all is forgiven. It could have gone two different directions. The story could either explain how Stark survived three months captured without feeling the affects of withdrawal or it could simply say, “This guy has a drinking problem, now he’s got a survival problem. One problem at a time please.” Guess what? It took the route of saying just that. Favreau’s biggest issue with Daredevil was that he tried to explain so much about the character. The movie never got to explain the origin as it went forward. Of course, he was very limited with Daredevil, mainly because the origin of the devil was a bit goofy for this day and age. Anyway, Iron Man certainly explains itself as it moves forward. You can compare to an art museum tour guide who shows you the art, explains a bit, but ultimately doesn’t stand there and give you every little, single detail. You don’t need to know everything about Tony Stark, not yet at least. You don’t need to know why or how the terrorists in the beginning didn’t see what he was building, just know that they didn’t figure it out until it was too late. Again, the movie certainly moves too fast to address these details. Guess what? You will be very happy it didn’t.
Fast-paced sure, but what about the acting?
Favreau knew who he wanted for the role of Tony Stark. Rumor has it that he fought tooth and nail to get Robert Downey, Jr. the gig. Thank God! Downey was perfect for this role. He was born for this role. Not only because of his talent for being a silver tongued dragon onscreen, which makes Tony Stark such a suave fellow, but he also can relate to the character so strongly. His performance certainly shows how comfortable he was as Stark. A borderline alcoholic who goes through a life-changing experience, which Downey can very much relate to. He took the role of Stark and nailed it. Terrance Howard is hopefully going to stay with the role of Jim Rhodes, Stark’s best friend. When he was onscreen (and offscreen) with Downey, you could have sworn they grew up together. Yes, it was that convincing. As for Gwyneth Paltrow, I had no idea she was in the film. Hardly recognizable in the trailer, she pulls off her sweet demeanor in the toughest fashion as Stark’s serious assistant, Pepper Potts. For me though, outside of Downey, the one actor who stole the show was Jeff Bridges. His portrayal of the absolute bastard,Obadiah Stane, is both frightening and convincing. I can’t honestly recall the last time Bridges looked so comfortable in a role. Hopefully he isn’t like that in real life.
With this amount of true dedication to the roles, you could already see what made this movie work. It’s a sight to see actors and actresses truly buying into their roles and not simply going through the motions.
Working out the bugs in the system
There were a few moments in the film where dialogue seemedto suffer a bit. For example,(Spoilers ahead!) Iron Monger (Bridges) has some of the worst lines in thefinal battle of the film. Itseemed like a series of one-liners were just coming out of Bridge’s mouth oneright after another. He mentionsthe term Iron Monger in one sentence and he talks about having to life Stark upwhilst actually having Stark up in the air. Those are just two tacky examples. While they didn’t ruin the film, it did bring down theintensity of the moment (Spoliers end).
That is about the only complaint I could conjour up.
Solid as steel… err… iron
Action films typically have a series of action moments in films that make thestory more exciting. The story isgenerally the secondary focus outside of these moments. If you want examples, rent some movieslike Commando or Predator. What Iron Man does, that I have seen manyaction films do, is that it sets the story from the beginning. It establishes the strong identity ofthe characters in the first 20 minutes. Most of all, it palces the action evenly inside the story without makingthe story imbalanced. When I sayimbalanced, I mean it doesn’t leave any dead spots where action is absent. IronMan always moves forward and it certainly explains enough about what isgoing on in the film to keep your interest constantly fresh. What other action films do this? None come to mind.
I cannot express to you enough how great IronMan truly is. It defies logicthat the director of Daredevil couldhave come back with this wonderful whopper of a film. Iron Man not onlyrenews this reviewer’s faith in Favreau, but it also shows me how much Downeywanted to start his acting career again.
What a hell of a way to start this summer of movies. Iron Man trulysoars on the big screen.