Iron Man (2008)

VERDICT:
8/10 Pimp Suits

It’s too bad The Dark Knight had to come out and totally steal this movie’s glory, ’cause this was one kickass ride.

Iron Man is about weapons manufacturer Tony Stark who has a change of heart (pun intended) about his line of work after nearly dying at the hands of his own weapons that were being sold to Afghan terrorists. So, naturally, he decides to build a bodysuit out of iron that will both keep him alive and give him the power to fight back against the weapons he helped create. He throws some rocket jets on its feet and hands, jam-packs it with hidden missiles and such, and paints it red and gold so that everyone knows he is a total badass…far more so than his facial hair makes him out to be.

Since the first Iron Man 2 poster was released this week, and now that I’m giddy as all hell for May to roll around, figured this was as fitting a time as any to get around to reviewing this unfortunately overshadowed movie.

As far as comic book movies go, this is one’s up there. There’s not much of a message, nor is there a whole lot of depth to be found, but man is it fun as hell. One of those movies that goes by so fast it’ll have you doing a double-take at your watch to make sure you didn’t just take a quantum leap two hours into the future. I like when that happens.

The reason this here movie stands out amongst the droves of shitty comic book movies that come out each year is that it knows it has a cool superhero to work with it and it plays to its strengths. Iron Man has always been one cool bastard, inside and out of the suit, and it doesn’t take a whole lot to convince the audience of this either. It helps that the special effects are great, because once Tony Stark realizes how sweet it is to fly and blow shit up with pulsar beams, everyone else watching realizes it, too.

And being that Robert Downey, Jr. is one eccentric mofo to begin with, he does well here to keep that “I’m hot shit because I’m Iron Man and you’re not” vibe going without making him seem like a total dick. His character’s probably a little too brash and pompous in comparison to his personality in the comics, but still, you could cast Downey, Jr. as a corpse in a ditch and he’d still be watchable.

Gwyneth Paltrow is fine as Tony’s assistant/ambiguous love interest, Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard is fine as Tony’s military buddy, Rhodey, but the real kicker here is freakin’ Jeff Bridges taking a turn towards the dark/bald side as Tony’s surprise nemesis, Obadiah Stane. It’s not often you get to see Bridges play the bad guy, but since he’s the man, he’s pretty darn good at it. Only problem is that his character doesn’t exactly do anything super evil – aside from try to kill Tony – to the point where he’ll have you going, “This a-hole needs to gown down. NOW.” Might not be the most memorable supervillain out there, though he does fit quite snugly into Iron Monger (despite the fact that there’s not a man on Earth with shoulders wide enough to fit into those arms).

But who cares? Iron Man isn’t aiming to drop knowledge on nuclear physics, this bad boy’s about taking everything that went right with The Rocketeer, getting rid of all that crap from the 1950s, throwing some hot rod paint on it, and dousing it all in awesomeness from one scene to the next.

Tony’s one-man-army raid on the terrorist base in Afghanistan? Word to your mother.

Man, this is just one fun movie. There’s not much down time to found, it’s paced at the speed of jet engine, it’s a got a good sense of humor, and director Jon Favreau (who’s come a long way since Swingers – great movie all the same) does a fantastic job of ensuring that the novelty of a guy flying around and dropping fools in an iron suit for two hours never loses its novelty. I’ve only seen this one twice, but I’d be more than happy to give it a couple more runarounds.

Not quite as dominating as the Black Sabbath ditty, but still a time all the same.

A fitting adaptation for one of the best in Marvel’s roster.