Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man is a comic book adaptation about a character named Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), a billionaire playboy weapons manufacturer, who becomes an unlikely super hero. Tony Stark is attacked and kidnapped after demonstrating his newest weapon in an unnamed Middle Eastern country. The attack caused irreparable damage to his heart, leaving him with a device attached to it in order to keep the shrapnel lodged within his chest from killing him. In captivity, he is told to build a weapon for his captors in exchange for his freedom, so he and fellow captive Yinsen (Shaun Toub) build a suit of armor and escape. After he gets free, Tony decides to use his new invention to destroy all his weapons that he witnessed the terrorists using and attempt to redeem himself for years of war profiteering.

The first thing that stands out about this film is Robert Downey Jr. He captures the charisma and eccentricities of the character and makes them his own; he’s funny and witty without being too over the top or dwarfing his fellow cast. All the performances are a big part of what makes the film so engaging; the scenes featuring the banter between Tony and his assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) are fun to watch in particular, such as the scene where she has to help Tony replace his heart device. All the actors seem very comfortable around one another making the conversations feel very natural and believable. Jeff Bridges is another performance worth mentioning as the villainous Obadiah Stane, another Stark Enterprises board member who has been with the company since the days of Tony’s father Howard Stark, who worked on the Manhattan Project. The way his eyes light up when he sees the power source that Tony built and how he seems to actually care about the company’s stock drop make his performance an interesting one. Terrence Howard as James Rhodes, the military liaison to Stark Enterprises, is also good and adds to the great cast that assembled for this film.

One of the story’s major themes is that of accountability and responsibility and it is played out through the evolution of Tony Stark. At the beginning he truly believes that he is helping the country by building weapons, leaving him free to live a more care free lifestyle and not lose sleep considering the damage his inventions are causing other people. When he witnesses first hand (the weapon that caused his own injury was one of his own) the destruction that he himself is responsible for, he takes responsibility for it by becoming Iron Man. Director Jon Favreau manages to keep the tone relatively light while dealing with these issues and even distances the terrorists from their real life counterparts (in the film they’re known as the Ten Rings and consist of killers from all over the world whose goal seems to be merely conquering the middle east).

There is a unique directorial choice that he manages to pull off that not only utilizes the close-up in a new way, but distinguishes this film from every other super hero movie. While inside the Iron Man armor, the camera frequently cuts to a close-up of Tony’s face with the display inside the helmet covering the screen. With Robert Downey Jr. having such an expressive face, it eliminates the separation of the super hero from the secret identity. In films like Spider-Man and especially the Batman films, there is the secret identity persona and then that person puts on their costume and changes into the super hero. In Iron Man, we are constantly reminded of who is inside the suit and instead of Tony Stark becoming Iron Man, its Tony Stark is Iron Man; there is no difference. This is further emphasized by having three different versions of the costume in just this film. It is the man in the suit that’s important, not so much the suit itself. That being said, the suits are spectacular. Interchanging practical effects with CG, all three suits are impressive visuals that make it hard to distinguish when it’s an actual costume and when it’s entirely animated. There is one action scene where the red and gold Mark III first appears in a combat scenario. Iron Man lands in front of a terrorist and punches him, sending him spiraling thirty feet into the air, and then he turns and fires repulsor rays (not bullets or missiles or more realistic weapons) at the remaining enemies. Watching this scene the first time in theaters gave me a vivid flashback of being a ten year old boy in the public library, rereading the same Iron Man comics over and over. The suit itself was partly designed by Adi Granov, one of the more recent Iron Man artists in the comic book series. The faithfulness to the source material is so evident throughout the film that any hardcore fan is likely to be pleased with the result; Jon Favreau really captured the magic of those comics. By far one of the best in the super hero genre, Iron Man is a great film that will likely produce a fun new franchise.