Review: Iron Man

Posted by Nathan Deen (nathan@filmschoolrejects.com) on May 2, 2008

For those who are still mourning over the last couple of failed Marvel comic book adaptations (the disappointing Spider-man 3, the mediocre Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and the atrocious Ghost Rider), fear not. As far as the Marvel comic book adaptations go, they don’t get much more fun than Jon Favreau’s Iron Man. The question was did Jon Favreau, the director of Elf, have the ability to make a big-budgeted summer action flick? It takes all of ten minutes of Iron Man to silence nay-sayers and doubters. We all knew he had a penchant for comic books with his role in 2003’s Daredevil (another comic book movie I quite enjoyed), but with his skills as a storyteller, he proves to be the right man for the job. As is fitting to the titular character, Favreau shows fine craftsmanship to this origin story, reminiscent to the way Christopher Nolan handled Batman Begins.

The comparisons between those two films are unavoidable because the comic books themselves are very much alike and have been around for decades. Both characters are very similar: billionaire playboys who own a weapons manufacturing company (Wayne Enterprises and Stark Industries) that decide to put their technology to use for a greater good. Both movies tell their stories in the same fashion, putting emphasis on what drives our hero and proving that not identifying a clear-cut villain at the beginning has its benefits. The villain in Iron Man, or so I’m told, was not a major villain in the comic book series, just as Scarecrow and Ducard were not major villains in the Batman series.

The man behind the mask is billionaire genius Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), owner of Stark Industries which manufactures the most advanced weapons on the planet. Tony flies overseas to Afghanistan to show a demonstration of his latest masterpiece, the Jericho. The convoy Tony is traveling with is ambushed by a terrorist cell known as the Ten Rings. All soldiers escorting Tony are killed and Tony himself is kidnaped and forced by terrorist leader Raza (Faran Tahir) to build a Jericho missile. With the assistance of a doctor named Yesin (Shaun Toub), also being held against his will, Tony instead builds a prototype armor suit that he uses to escape. Realizing that Stark Industries is dealing weapons to terrorists, blood that may be on the hands of longtime friend and business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), Tony surreptitiously perfects his creation into Iron Man, his way of trying to protect the people he has endangered and make amends for being so naive. The rest of the supporting cast includes Gwyneth Paltrow as Tony’s assistant, Pepper Potts, and Terrence Howard as Tony’s friend and Air Force Colonel, Jim Rhodes.

Robert Downey Jr. may be a one-note actor, but if you put that note to good use, he can become invaluable to your film. That is the case with Iron Man. Downey plays the character of Tony Stark like no one else can. He uses his uniquely humorous style to perfection. The film could fail on every other level and still be watchable because of him. Then as a bonus, he shows flashes of depth and range as someone who knows he should probably be dead and that his new raison d’etre is to try and make the world a better place with his technology instead of turning into a war zone.

Jeff Bridges has a much different look here as Obadiah Stane. He’s bald, has a goatee and if it wasn’t for the sound of his voice, you wouldn’t recognize him. His character is somewhat two-faced for the story. He does a fine job of adding a dark side to the film, but he is ultimately miscast. As Pepper Potts, Gwyneth Paltrow hasn’t had a role this good in years. She is very sweet and sincere here and although there is a sense of strong chemistry hovering above Pepper and Tony, the film thankfully never gets watered down in romantic sentimentality. Finally, Terrence Howard, in what seems like his fifth or sixth overshadowed supporting role in the past year, is underused but does suffice for a good laugh or two.

The special effects in this film are absolutely stellar, starting with the gloriousness of the Iron Man suit itself, created by the legendary Stan Winston. It really is a thing of beauty to behold and the viewer is awed by the incandescent light coming out of the eyes, chest, and hands. Where Iron Man is flawed though is in the action scenes and Favreau can still improve his skills in that department. Granted that a couple of them are spectacular (like the chase scene involving two fighter jets) the climatic battle in particular is a disappointment and kills the momentum the film had built up prior to it. It’s as if Favreau called in sick on the days spent shooting this sequence and asked Michael Bay to fill in for him.

But still, the surprise of Iron Man is how well it works as a movie. The script, which is astonishingly credited to four writers (Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway), is for the most part well done as is the taut handling of the reigns by director Favreau; and I respect his choice for setting the film in a contemporary world with contemporary problems. The question is though how will kids, who undoubtedly have better things to do than keep up with what’s going on in the world, respond to the film. The plot is very much more aimed at adults. Hopefully the special effects and action scenes will be enough to satiate them because for everyone else, comic book lovers and action junkies alike, this is a good way to kick off the summer.

Read more articles by Nathan Deen