JohnDoe
Bryn
BrentonIron Man (2008) - Trailer Included
April 30th 2008 00:00
Ore Mined and Polished
The nice people at Paramount sent John Doe a press invite for Iron Man on Monday night and he just has to thank them for their kindness. It is admittedly fun seeing a super-hyped movie before the global release and geek boys spoil the surprises.
Iron Man arrives this week
Starring: Robert Downey Jnr, Jeff Bridges, Terence Howard, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow
Stan Lee must be loving the financial rewards of movie adaptations. Kudos due to him since his reign as the comic book king in an era where the medium was considered intellectually defunct. Expanding his dominance over the genre, Iron Man is the first production Marvel has fully funded.
The character of Iron Man is not as widely worshipped as his other creations like Spiderman, X-Men and The Hulk, but is certainly as richly drawn. The film version definitely falls into the kiddie friendly category, opting for a “rock’n’roll” approach to the violence (established as AC/DC’s Back in Black blares over the opening) and side stepping many opportunities for a satire on pro-war propaganda, instead this is a non offensive action comedy.
Taking the anti hero Tony Stark out of Vietnam and transporting him to modern day Iraq for a more contemporary feel the film does attempt to remain true to the source in many other respects.
The story begins as the nihilistic, self serving and egotistical weapons inventor/manufacturer Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr) peddles his wares in the desert.
After a successful demonstration of his latest WMD his convoy is promptly ambushed and an injured Stark is left near dead. Evil terrorists abduct him and demand he build the weapon of choice for them to use in there perceived fight for freedom.
Degraded, fearful and humiliated Tony is awakened to his destructive life’s folly and plans a metal skinned escape. Using only the raw materials available he constructs a bullet proof prototype Iron suit that also has the benefits of increasing his strength and even achieves flight over short distances.
It’s enough for him to evade the clutches of bad men and soon he is back on US soil with a change of heart and a new found determination for true heroics, as Iron Man
The Dude is a villian, Air America is a hero - welcome to the dawn of steel
John Doe says:
It’s unfair to compare Iron Man with adult minded fare like Batman Begins or Sin City because of its distinctly family minded execution. When sizing it up against its obvious competition like Daredevil, Electra and Fantastic Four the film is above average. It’s light, fun entertainment, sometimes witty, occasionally exciting and boosted by two stellar performances. The staggering FX bear a Hollow Man style on the simulated design and development scenes. The inspired set pieces and costumes are excellent.
According to imdb.com the Director Jon Favreau (Made Zathura), describes the film as "a kind of independent film-espionage thriller crossbreed; a Robert Altman-directed "Superman", with shades of Tom Clancy novels, James Bond films, "RoboCop" and "Batman Begins".
Well he did get part of it right, the Robocop stamp is on just about every sound byte and frame that captures the mechanical giant in the lens. In fact at about the half way point JD yearned for someone like Paul Verhoeven at the helm to play with the ripened social commentary that is never plucked. It would have been nice to see a little blood in a story with so much carnage, what we get is the A-Team slug shot philosophy.
As for the espionage it really isn’t present aside from a token sub plot that is never fully realised and of course the element of Q gadgets galore. An unresolved love interest thread is unfortunately given more time than the spy angle.
It’s certainly not all bad, credit has to go to Favreau for at least holding back and never unleashing a full bodied CGI assault of quick edit action that drags on to be remembered as a blur, there is strength in economic combat.
If anything the film is too controlled in its delivery. The build up to the conflicts is more enjoyable than the events. The film wants to achieve terminal velocity and lift off but the clanging and crashing only ever feels like a leisurely jog instead of a supersonic sprint of pounded steel. The real joys arrive whenever Stark is tweaking the suit, honing features, witnessing each new evolution and the preparation for battles.
The screenplay is full of humour, some works, others are experiments in cliché, this is a obviously a set up for sequels. JD loves films that take their time to develop characters or anticipation, but the pacing of this seems off because there really is no pay off or plot, the journey is the essence for audience satisfaction or disappointment.
The highlight of the film is the lead characters. Robert Downey Jnr (Less Than Zero, Zodiac, Chaplin) is charismatic and charming as the playboy/bubble boy who like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz finds out he has a heart. Even great in lame films, here you can tell he had a fair bit of free reign and according to gossip much was improvised in rehearsal.
Matching, if not exceeding his co star, Jeff Bridges (Big Lebowski, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot) goes all Lex Luthor, shaving his head cue ball bald. Taking aplomb in every dialogue delivery his daunting performance is far from the sleep walking through a role that many other big name stars deliver when answering the siren call of a massive pay-check for a potential franchise.
The rest of the players are rather forgettable. Standing beside a pair of titan thespians only highlights how lacking Gwyneth Paltrow (Royal Tenenbaums) is in onscreen energy, passion and presence. As the 007 Money Penny clone, Pepper Potts she stops the movie in its tracks whenever she appears and sadly can’t even muster up chemistry with her fictional love Tony Stark.
Terrence Howard seems to channel Cuba Gooding Jnr as the military sidekick, boring as you would expect.
John Doe is a little over critical in his review, Iron Man is truthfully good popcorn fodder. The reason for the less than stellar critique is due to the obvious sanitising or aversion to potentially dark moments. Several times, in the action and character scenes there is room for substance that is neutered. Wisely Favareau is career minded and caters to the studios “please everyone” creed any time things begin to get a bit edgy, something the idealistic JD hates.
Read Cib's review for Iron Man HERE
Iron Man - The Trailer
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