Iron Man is the long-awaited movie adaptation of the classic Marvel Comics superhero story. Weapons manufacturing mogul Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has a change of heart after being captured by terrorists and experiencing first-hand the harm his weapons can do. He escapes his captors by building a robotic suit of armour, and once safely home refines the design to be come the near-indestructible, impressively-armed, rocket-propelled superhero Iron Man.
Having cringed my way through Transformers, I wasn't particularly looking forward to another movie starring yet another immaculately animated anthropomorphic machine, even if it did have Robert Downey Jr. inside.
The opening did its best to confirm my fears by launching almost straight into a desert gunfight, complete with de rigueur fiery explosions and handheld camera. No points for originality there then. Then it's off to flashback land, where you'd expect some contrived way of explaining the backstory as quickly as possible. How about a *narrator*. I kid you not. While It's soon revealed that the narrator is explaining Stark's life and career for the purposes of an award ceremony he's attending, the entire flashback sequence feels like it was kludged together based on test audience reaction- and that's a likely scenario, given that the trailer showed the opening scenes in chronological order.
Ho-hum. Another effects movie. I’m glad the seats are comfy.
But hang on, is that outstanding acting? Natural dialogue? A superhero who has believable, clearly emoted flaws? Effects that enhance the movie rather than stealing the show? A sensible plot? Within a few minutes, and despite my cynical intentions, I found myself absorbed in the story and connecting with the characters, awkward opening sequence mostly forgiven.
I do believe we have a hit movie for the autumn.
Downey Jr’s performance is absolutely perfect. In his period as the charming, ruthless industrialist he shows flashes of the flawed but good-humoured character he will become, and his portrayal of the all too human Iron Man is completely believable. There’s no ridiculous change of direction for Stark here, more a revealing of traits he already had. This is grown-up character development.
Gwyneth Paltrow does an equally flawless job as Virginia “Pepper” Potts, Stark’s capable and sassy personal assistant, although it’s abundantly clear that her role as Stark’s love interest means she is going to end up the same as all other capable, sassy secretaries working for part-time superheroes: helplessly trapped between duty and desire. A shame, really, as Paltrow would be perfectly capable of playing a fully-developed character, rather than just always being in the right place at the right time to rescue our hero from his blunders.
Jeff Bridges’ plays Obadiah Stane, the villain of the piece, and while Bridges deftly portrays the strong father figure role with an increasing undercurrent of creepiness, his character’s calm strength doesn’t support the believability of the power-crazed maniac Stane becomes for the film’s big final fight. I think this is the one part where we’re supposed to shut up and just watch the pretty robots.
Overall, Iron Man is a stunning movie, and something I didn’t think Hollywood was capable of any more. To take an action movie storyline and leave the viewers thinking more about the characters than the big explosions is quite unexpected and really quite refreshing.
Go see it- you wont be disappointed.
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