12th
The New Marvel Era: A Review and Rundown of 'Iron Man'
The unusual thing about Iron Man in its capacity as a comic book flick is that it comes across so open-ended and exploratory. It’s as though it’s one big expensive pilot TV episode in what will assuredly be a long and expensive Marvel series. This is contrary to the previous Marvel offerings like Spider-man and X-men that were worlds contained unto themselves. Spiderman has his own dimension. The X-men have theirs. They are seperate and distinct and happen to like it that way thank you very much.
But with Iron Man, “Worlds are colliding!” as George memorably lamented in ‘Seinfeld.’ It’s clear from the story’s structure that this film is meant as one piece in a larger puzzle that will include other superhero characters in the future. [Note: Stay to the end after the credits if you haven’t already heard to do so already] In a nod to the film’s altruistic themes, Iron Man doesn’t seek to attract too much attention to himself. It’s as though it’s saying, “Whoa, hey guys, I’m not the only superhero on the block.”
And therein lies the main problem. The main character (Tony Stark/Iron Man) really isn’t the main characters as much as he is a prop to introduce other special-effects laden persons in presumably future installments. This comes as no surprise given the timing of the film—it is itself a springboard to the summer box office extravaganza by virtue of its release date and the fact that its explosions per meaingful dialogue ratio is absurdly out of balance. But is it too much to ask for this film to concentrate on one story at a time rather than immediatly and pretentiously leaving the door open for sequels? Spiderman is all about—Spiderman! Batman is all about—Batman! But Iron Man is all about…well, not so much Iron Man as a whole new style of comic book movies.
Yes, it’s true. This is a new era, baby. Spiderman 3 closed out the end of Marvel 1.0. Now it’s on to 2.0, in which it becomes necessary to intersect plots and characters in order to raise the bar. DC take note. Marvel has its projects lined up through the middle of the next decade, and each one brings something new to the table. What have you got?
But onto Iron Man, that breaks with superhero tradition in one major way. There’s no big coming out party for the metal guy. There’s no moment in which he flies in to save the day. Even fighting Iron Monger and rescuring a few innocent Afghans from some gritty warlords comes across as rote and predictable. Actually, good ol’ private American citizens are never once in harm’s way (except for one amusing scene with an SUV on the freeway during the climax) during the whole movie. Spiderman had his big debut in Times Square against the Green Goblin. Supes rescued Lois in front of hundreds in Metropolis. Batman smashed a few bad guys and captured Gotham’s most notorious crook in ‘Begins.’ Those debuts were big and theatrical and memorable. They all ended with the hero declaring “I am Spiderman/a friend/Batman.” After leaving the theater, I struggled to remember such a signature scene in Iron Man, and then realized there wasn’t one. With few adjustments to pitch and tone, the film remained virtually even througout.
Still, the movie had its moments. Here’s a short list of cool things that combined with the faults make for a B+ experience.
1.) Robert Downey Jr. = Tony Stark/Iron Man. Another plus for Downey Jr. is that because of his lengthy resume, this role won’t typecast him. They’d just better role out those sequels fast because he’s not getting any younger.
2.) Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger - I love this guy, seriously. What’s cool about Stane though is that he brings passion and punch to the film right when it’s needed. He’s a shouter, a charismatic, a brooding and scheming opportunist who reeks of money. A shame his demise is far too easy and convenient considering the weight he brings to the character.
3.) Iron Man cracks a few skulls. The only part of the film that got my blood pumping was when he returns to the Afghan province and bashes some baddies to save a refugee family.
4.) Stark’s sarcastic AI assistant. It’s mostly pretty subtle, but his computer throws in a few good lines during the construction of Mach 2 and 3.
5.) Pepper Potts. In what could easily have been a throwaway role, Paltrow plays up Stark’s personal but not too personal assistant with all the charm and tolerance of a big sister dealing with a rowdy but more talented younger brother.
6.) Tony Stark admits he’s Iron Man in a press conference. Another break with tradition here when Stark abandons all pretense of hiding his secret identity in favor of forthrightness. It’s good to see he doesn’t have the hang-ups Spidey had about that kind of thing.
7.) Tony Stark’s chest piece. Serving as both metaphor and practical life-saving device, it was hard to keep my eyes off of it.
