Who woulda thought a hunk of metal could be so cool?
character-lover, Movie guru, a movie buff
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MAY
5
2008
Tony inherited the business from his late father, a true pioneer in weapons technology who built his fortune in bed with the U.S. military machine. Tony also inherits dad's right hand man Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), who actually runs the company. Unfortunately Obidiah, in a deliciously villainous turn by Bridges, is not the man Stark thinks he is.
Mr. Stark gets his comeuppance early in the film while traveling though Afghanistan with the U.S Air Force and their liaison with the company Lt Col Jim Rhodes (the always excellent Terrance Howard). He is here to show off his newest creation the "Jericho Missile", an advanced cluster bomb. While on his way back to the plane, his convoy is attacked by terrorists and he is wounded, then captured. To his horror, he finds his own weapons were used against him and his escorts.
Imprisoned with Yinsen (Shaun Toab), a doctor who saves his life by hooking his heart up to a car battery, Stark is allowed to live by his captors so he can build them a Jericho Missile, using parts from a stockpile of what turns out to be Stark Industries weapons. Instead, he clandestinely builds an armor suit that helps him escape.
Once back home, Tony is a changed man, questioning his purpose since he now knows his weapons are finding their way into the wrong hands. He matures as a man, realizing someone is selling their, and by association, his soul in the name of profit and power. His friends and colleagues are sure he is suffering post-traumatic stress syndrome as he begins to seek new ways to use his company and his billions for the greater good. Locked out of company decisions by Stane he retreats to the privacy of his shore-side mansion and secretly builds an upgrade on the iron suit that rescued him.
Downey perfectly embodies Stark as a celebrity magnate who loses himself in his billions and care-free lifestyle to hide from the loneliness at the top brought on by the death of his parents. He is an every-man, but with wealth he doesn't know how to handle, despite being a brilliant engineer. He has many acquaintances, but no real family, despite the efforts of Rhodes and his personal assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwenyth Paltrow). So he cruises through life on press conferences, parties and a different woman every night, until his ordeal in the desert makes him reconsider his priorities.
Paltrow plays her character as woman with an insecure love for Stark, one who would rather continue to be all business and stay with him, than risk losing the pleasure of his company by revealing her true feelings. This leads to one of the most touching love scenes I've ever seen, even though it involves no physical "loving" at all, not even a kiss.
Director Jon Favreau ("Elf") has taken Stan Lee's (the Marvel Comics mastermind who created Iron Man. He has a cameo) metal superhero and given us an avenger for the masses. He's a regular human being faced with choosing to use what he has for good or for bad, the same choices we face constantly. By casting excellent actors rather than high-marquee value names, he's also given us characters we remember after the "stuff has blowed up real good.".
Make no mistake, stuff does get blown up real good and the special effects are top notch. We get to see Stark build his Iron Man (actually gold-titanium) suit from the ground up and much of the humor comes from watching him test it. Much like "Batman Begins" we are in on the ground floor, and see him grow. It's really cool watching him zoom around the sky and duking it out with fighter jets. But, best of all, this Iron Man has a heart that's anything but cold hard iron. He's an Iron Man we can love. GRADE: A-
P.S. -Make sure you stay past the closing credits so you don't miss an important scene at the very end.
Last edited on May 06, 2008
Iron Man is recommended by MikeMaroon
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