AN IRON MAN REVIEW BY GRACE RANDOLPH Why can't it always be this simple? Trust the source material, reap the rewards. And hopefully this weekend's 200 million dollar worldwide box office gross for Iron Man will help Hollywood learn this lesson.
Marvel's first self-produced film, Iron Man, bypasses the political drama that Tony Stark is currently embroiled in post-Civil War, and returns to earlier times when the character was a lot more likeable. Before Stark was a walking metaphor for what's wrong with America, he was a walking metaphor for what's wrong with capitalism. Director/movie-extra Jon Favreau combines those two ideas to create a complex character with realistic motivations. At the beginning of the film, one of Stark's own weapons literally blows up in his face. Now that's just good storytelling.
Iron Man wears its doctrine on its iron sleeve, but thankfully never hits us over the head with it. There's plenty of action and humor to keep the film humming along at a nice clip. A small section drags when Stark is designing his upgraded suit, and the end fight between essentially two robots lacks any real suspense. Stark's first outing as the new Iron Man where he saves a village from a band of terrorists is far more interesting and exciting. And when he takes on a pair of F-16s, well, as Jim Rhodes says, "that's the coolest thing I've ever seen".
Speaking of Jim Rhodes, it was disappointing to see him sidelined quite a bit here. Terrance Howard is such a compelling actor, and when shooting RevYOU - my webshow on TitanTV.com that interviews audience members as they leave the theater - a number of African-American moviegoers expressed disappointment in not seeing this African-American superhero in action. There are big plans for Jim Rhodes in the planned sequel, but Hollywood needs to stop just making promises to one of their most loyal demographics and give them results.
A while ago Tom Cruise wanted to play Tony Stark, and back when Tom Cruise was still cool, it would have been a great bit of casting. But Robert Downey Jr. more than gets the job done. Aided substantially by his real-life background, Downey Jr. is able to instantly define Stark right off the bat. When you get right down to it, Robert Downey Jr. is pretty much playing Tony Stark as himself. It works.
Gwyneth Paltrow does a surprisingly good job as Pepper Potts. She makes Pepper very real, the kind of woman who really would slave away for Tony Stark, and genuinely care about her boss -- and not just to get her hands on all his money. It's a humble performance and a breath of fresh air from the usual comic book movie bimbos. Leslie Bibb does bimbo duty here and while she does a fine job, there's not much of a job to do.
Jeff Bridges is, well, bald. He's not given much to do here and his character isn't really much of a villain. At the end of the day, Stark is his own villain, one who will become a more formidable opponent, as he battles alcoholism in the sequel.
Iron Man is not on the same level of filmmaking as Batman Begins, a reasonable comparison considering Tony Stark is Marvel's answer to DC's Bruce Wayne. But it's a lot of fun and, most importantly, makes you instantly want to see the sequel.
Oh, and stick around for an extra scene after the credits. It's worth it, true believers.
Grace Randolph is a comedic actor and writer in NYC. Her issue of Justice League Unlimited #41 for DC Comics is out now and her upcoming projects are Nemesis: Who Me? for TOKYOPOP's new Shining Stars program, and the manga The Adventures of CG! for CosmoGirl magazine. She's also the host/writer for TitanTV's "RevYOU" which gets the genuine pulse of the week's new film releases from real moviegoers who've just stepped out of the theater! Go to www.TitanTV.com to watch the latest episodes. Grace also studies and performs at Upright Citizens Brigade. To learn more please visit her website, www.gracerandolph.com, which is highly informative, not to mention awesome.
Posts: 20850 | From: PA | Registered: Aug 2002
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On the whole I agree with your review of Iron Man, save for one thing. Remember Spider-Man 3? The criticism levelled at it by so many, including me, was that it had far too many BIG characters in it, leading to none having enough screen time. Iron Man is the story of Tony Stark and the origin of his alter ego. His supporting cast was introduced, battles were fought, we were perpared for the sequel. Iron Man fans know that, in the sequel, we will get to see lots more of Terrance Howard as Jim Rhodes AND War Machine. To have forced more of him into Iron Man would have meant less of something else and led to a weaker film in the process. Happy Hogan, a much longer-standing character, was simply a series of Jon Favreau cameos, while Gwyneth Paltrow was obviously going to be THE key supporting cast member, as befits Pepper Potts. Let's not complain that there wasn't enough of him in the FIRST film and relish the prospect of more in the NEXT! I'm hoping for a War Machine series to spin out of this after the 3 Iron Man films are done!
-------------------- We ask merely a man's worth, not the accident of his condition. Posts: 24 | From: U.K. | Registered: Jan 2002
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