Iron Man

Review by Loc

It’s been many-a-year in the making. Earlier rumors had Tom Cruise attached as the billionaire Tony Stark. Later, Nic Cage threw his mug into the picture, but that fell through as well. Cut to a couple years ago and Marvel sick of getting the shaft in licensing revenue from films like Spider-man and X-Men. With those flicks, years-old deals placed the lion’s share of profits in the movie studios pockets, leaving the scraps to the company that owned the characters. Marvel secured a $500 million dollar deal to finance 10 films, allowing them to keep their profits, but assuming the risk of producing duds. And what do you get from this brief history lesson? Iron Man, the first summer flick of 2008. Quick hit: entertaining fare.

The most notable thing about Iron Man is the man cast to play the lead role, one Mr. Robert Downey Jr. In early clips, Downey Jr. exudes the billionaire playboy with limited moral consciousness oh so well. In the full length flick, he takes it a half step further. He brings significant care to Tony Stark, bringing some depth and presence to the character. While you may read raving reviews of this performance, it doesn’t quite reach that pinnacle of all-that-is-holy, but it’s still quite good nonetheless. More than anything, Downey Jr. brings an self-confidence that borders on arrogance, but that is struck down by humility and self-effacing humor to bring an entertaining performance to life.

The second big thing for this flick is the super-hero armor. Hello, this is friggin Iron Man, a dude in a robot suit that flies, shoots, flies! With the initial trailer, audience appetites were whetted with the seconds long clip of the red and gold armor cruising through the skies. So, the movie delivers pretty well on this also. There’s at least three different armors showcased. While the bulky Mark I armor is given plenty of development time, the following Mark II and Mark III armors are glossed up and put on display in a much shorter time. However, who cares about a dude building the armor, let’s see some blowned up stuff! And yes, there is some of that. But really, the modern Mark III armor gets only two major action scenes, including the big climax that is all CGI-robot tussling, losing some of the potential in real-life modeling to take center stage.

One of the drawbacks to this flick was mentioned earlier: plot pacing. At times, the story moves along too slowly. Yes, you understand the dire situation that Tony Stark finds himself in during a visit to the deserts of Afghanistan. But does it really require 20-25 minutes of Stark welding crap together to really drive home the point? At other times, things are superficially skimmed, like the real technical development of the Mark II or Mark III armors. Along those lines, the shift in Tony Stark from pompous war profiteer to pompous, but socially conscious billionaire is mostly glossed over. In the end, having Downey Jr. simply act a little nicer doesn’t really illustrate the internal struggle that they might have been aiming to capture.

However, when you take the film as a whole, this is a fun, good flick. There’s some good action, the supporting actors are pretty good, there’s some nice Easter Egg cameos and jokes, and the story is focused on telling a good story, not just a comic story. Robert Downey Jr. is a damn fine performer and seems to genuinely relish the character he inhabits in this film. If you’re looking for a very solid flick for your summer kick-off, check this one out. Out of a fully 100% charged suit of armor, Iron Man soars through the skies with a 75% charge. Good stuff.