Iron Man Movie Review

Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow
Running Time: 122 minutes
Classification: 13V

Rating: 8/10

So far the movie reviews I’ve read about this movie – only one I could find by a South African – are somewhat sneering. Theresa Smith in The Star calls it ‘not a children’s movie…It’s for adults who grew up on comics…with enough product placement to keep the Hollywood bigwigs happy.’ Interesting assessment. 3 stars out of 5, which is 6/10 right?

The Sunday Times magazine doesn’t feature the biggest movie of the week (and possibly the year), but instead gives a lot of coverage to 21, a movie that I think goes on circuit next week, and is about young gamblers in Vegas. They have managed to squeeze in – incidentally it seems – a New York Times partner piece on the making of this movie. The article basically establishes how much weight the director lost in making Iron Man.

Iron Man is likely to be the number one film in the USA and South Africa, and most movie goers are likely to walk out of this film gushing and gobsmacked. Even my girlfriend was effusive when we emerged from the cinema, and judging by the enthused comments bubbling out of shadows around us, movie audiences far and wide are going to love this flick. This really is cinema at its best. It’s fantasy that is grounded and believable, yet it’s allowed to take flight (spectacularly) at prudent intervals.

Iron Man turns out to be the sort of achievement you really see only when much thoughtful effort goes into something brand new. When that happens you get great original stuff like Terminator, The Matrix and Star Wars (back in the 70’s). When I told my cousin to take his young son to see it, he pointed out that Barry Ronge (South Africa’s favorite movie reviewer) had said on the radio that Iron Man is ‘the best film of the year’. Easy to believe. But if that is the case, Barry, why didn’t you write a review on Iron Man?

Way back when the first Superman movie came out, I rubbed my hands in glee, anticipating a slew of superhero movies. They have been a long time coming, and not all of them have been hits. It took at least 20 years to deliver SpiderMan, and surprise surprise, it became the biggest earning movie of all time. There are hundreds of thousands of comic books, which are essentially ready-to-go storyboards. Why aren’t directors, actors and filmmakers spending 80% of their energies bringing comic book heroes to the silver screen? Even with big stars, success isn’t guaranteed. The likes of George Clooney buried the Batman franchise, but we are seeing The Dark Knight return with the required gravitas and verisimilitude that fanatic audiences and filmmakers feel these stories deserve. And how do you make a wow superhero movie? You take on the job very very seriously.

You start off by telling (and knowing that you are telling) a great story, and then by hiring the best actors.
Ed Norton, a fine actor, has written the leading role for himself in his screenplay of the Hulk.
Robert Downey Junior is wonderful in his role as reformed warmonger, Tony Stark. He has something of the hardness of iron, but also the sharpness of it. He sparks wit and brilliance at every turn – it is not difficult to imagine Downey Junior being as intelligent as we’re led to believe. Robert Downey Junior doesn’t need to act in much of the movie; the role requires him just being himself – the debauched but affable hero-in-progress. And if anything, the Iron Man has to be capable of irony. Downey excels at that.

Despite what some have opined, I don’t believe Gwyneth Paltrow was miscast at all; I think she plays Stark’s PA Miss Pepper Potts to perfection. The ginger hair may take a leetle getting used to, but Paltrow also seems a natural at playing the neglected overachiever.

Once again, true to comic book iconography, the bad guys are the bald antitheses of the handsome superheroes. Jeff Bridges is bad to the bone bald Obadiah Stane, and his gleaming globe of a head does take some getting used to, but as his look grows on you, and as he becomes more recognizable, so does one’s counter intuitive sense about his growing villainy.

Part of comic film fare is the formula that requires alliteration of multiple characters names. Clark Kent (aka Kal-el) vs Lex Luthor, with Lois Lane playing the love interest. In Iron Man it’s Stark vs Stane, with Pepper Potts playing the pedantic and pretty PA. Is this tactic used to make the characters as vivid and memorable as they could possibly be?

Now, to be honest, in the opening volleys of this film, I was gearing up to pen this review in sneer mode. The jets, the missiles, the over sized guns, and then the contrived humility and morality, something like Rambo, where the hero becomes a Cave Man before his final ‘transformation’into a – yeah right – Peacemaker. When a warmonger develops a conscience what he does is become the most efficient killer a la Rambo, inserting himself into war zones as a way to surgically perform his own super-efficient brand of justice. If that irks a little, a few scenes may feel a bit Jerry Bruckheimerish. At one stage I thought Iron Man was going to degenerate into a sugar coated Planet Fairy Tale of Teen Hubris, something like we saw in Transformers.

Yes, this is a movie about energy that can be plucked out of thin air. Yes, this movie glorifies man’s ability to manipulate machines and even become one. But, unless you have watched a thousand movies this year already, and are somewhat jaundiced by the actual experience of going to the movies, this is a slick, beautifully executed stand alone hit.

Downey Junior as Iron Man turns out to be a newer kind of hero. He bucks the trend, and breaks the rules. He has huge resources of power (and charm) at his fingertips; he’s fun, mischievous and smart. There’s subtlety, but not enough to mess with the thrill factor. The script is credibly incredible, if that makes sense. And the technogeek wow factor is better than anything you will see this year.

This Is 'Iron Man'