Iron Man: No Jingoistic Superhero
May 2nd, 2008 |
| Paramount Pictures |
| Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. |
Editor’s Note: Due to our growing concern that movies and blogs are two of the few places left in American culture where the truth can be told, we are going to be watching and reviewing more movies in the months ahead. Our reviewer is former newspaper man and expert movie buff Henry Rosenbush of Tuscaloosa, who blogs himself on one of our sister Websites, RosenbushCafe.com. Below is his first draft review written on the day the movie opened, today.
We saw the movie Thursday night in the local debut, however, and my impression is this: What I liked about Iron Man is that it was not just some jingoistic all American superhero special effects orgy.
The billionaire arms dealer anti-hero who you meet in an American humvee in Afghanistan in the opening scene is transformed into someone who wants to do good in the world, after his capture and escape, when he sees his company’s weapons in the hands of evil men. So he not only kills a few Middle Eastern extremists. He saves a few Afghan families too.
Review by Henry B. Rosenbush
Finally, Hollywood delivers a superhero who is middle-aged, rather than a nerdy kid, not from another planet, and devoid of superpowers without external reinforcement.
The Marvel Comics hero, creation of Stan Lee, provides exactly what is usually missing in the comic-to-movie-transliteration; witty, funny, profound and grounded in the reality of today’s turbulent Middle East. The bar was set Thursday, as Paramount Picture’s Iron Man opened in 4,105 theaters; it warrants the advanced hype as the summer blockbuster to overcome.
Downy is a perfect choice as the human champion turned metal man and in a delightfully wicked turn, Jeff Bridges, is top-notch as Obadiah Stane, surrogate father turned ruthless enemy.
Gwyneth Paltrow imbues secretary-cum-girl-of-all-trades Pepper Potts with surprising nuance and is pulchritudinous while the most profoundly affecting perf is delivered by Shaun Toub, as fellow prisoner, Yinsen. While other acting is essentially one-dimensional, including Rhodey (Terrance Howard), the major focus is on how one man transforms from callous arms supplier to defender of the oppressed and in that respect Downey provides plenty of shadings and subtext to his conflicted superman.
Aside from a climax that too closely resembles last summer’s Transformers, it nonetheless delivers the goods in every department from the dozens of special effects companies, production designer J. Michael Riva, cinematographer Matthew Libatique and especially Jon Favreau’s nifty direction that judiciously does not rush the story towards its climatic battle between Iron Men Stark and Stane.
Getting a leap on Warner Brothers’ Speed Racer next weekend, followed by Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Par’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Iron Man provides entertainment on several levels usually devoid in summer action films.
Tony Stark, disarmingly portrayed by Downy, is a supercilious skirt chaser, but brilliant scientist, as well as, supplier of advanced weaponry to the world.
The film wastes no time beginning with an assault on Stark’s military envoy in Afghanistan where everyone is killed. Before settling in on Stark’s transformation in a cave prison, the film jumps back 36 hours to show us the lifestyle of the ubiquitous and fantastically wealthy playboy. Stark has similarities to Bruce Wayne; ultra-rich, parentless and haunted by demons that will shape his character’s conversion. Both characters are not Superman; they are earth-bound and require technology and body armor to succeed as superheroes.
Marvel Comics purist may quibble with minor changes. Updated from the 1963 original, Jarvis is no longer Stark’s butler, having been upgraded to a computer that offers plenty of advice that is resoundingly ignored. The original enemies were Viet Cong, but the screenwriters have wisely changed them to a disparate group of terrorists under the leadership of bald-headed Raza (Faran Tahir), who professes to be a modern incarnation of Genghis Kahn.
After bedding a comely reporter, Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb), Starks heads to Afghanistan for a successful demonstration of the Jericho rocket to the military and the assault on the convoy and Stark’s capture.
In a scene that echoes the recent realization that General Electric is helping Iran with technologies that are being directly used against our soldiers in Iraq, Stark sees numerous weapons emblazoned with the Stark logo that Raza is using to wreck havoc in the region with his group of grungy and dangerous terrorist minions. The dual screenwriting team of Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum and Matt Holloway cleverly eliminate any indication of Islamic fundamentalist ideologies and instead focuses on how weapons are sold clandestinely to fanatics and the expected carnage that ensues.
Stark finds himself a prisoner of Raza, who wants his own Jericho missile. With shrapnel embedded in his heart, Stark later surreptitiously removes the power source from one of his weapons and like a nuclear pacemaker discovers what will later power his Iron Man suit. Forced to build the weapon, Stark and Yinsen ingeniously design the prototype suit even while the terrorist watch them on closed circuit screens. After Yinsen sacrifices himself to give Stark time to complete a download to the metal outfit, the film’s first glimpse of its application in battle is seen as the terrorist’s camp is decimated.
After crashing in the desert, Stark is rescued by the American military, but naturally leaves the crashed suit that will be later reassembled by Raza behind.
Stark’s return is met with skepticism as he announces, at a press conference, much to the dismay of Stane and stockholders, that he is discontinuing constructing weapons. With stocks plummeting Stane secretly begins making his move against his partner and later aligns himself with Raza, but not before Stark returns to Afghanistan as a new and improved red Iron Man to finish off many of the terrorists he left behind. After finding the remnants of the original suit in Afghanistan, Stane’s bodyguards execute all the terrorists, although Raza is seen being paralyzed and not killed on screen.
As expected, the special effects are amazing, from a wonderfully rendered first time night flight over Malibu, California to Stan Winston’s superb Iron Man suit being constructed, similarly to the first Robocop, albeit, with a far more intricate assembly. Ramin Djawadi’s score is a plus with an excerpt of the title track, Black Sabbath’s Iron Man, as the credit scrawl begins and remain through the end credits for a hip teaser featuring an uncredited popular African-American thesp who articulates the anticipated sequel‘s possible storyline.
Stark’s sincere conversion is genuine in a humanistic manner which is unique for science fiction-based scenarios while the repartee with Potts and well-timed witticisms add to his charm. Credit Downey for earning audience sympathy as he brings altruism to a character that in lesser hands would have been contrived and incredulous.
Possibilities into romance between Stark and Potts are unrequited with a near kiss interrupted. Their chemistry, however, hints that in future installments a relationship may blossom.
The only challenge to the sequel is revealed with Stark’s final clever quip, which I will not disclose, but suffice to say this may be the first superhero movie ending that wears its literal dénouement proudly as if to wink at the enthusiastic audience.
Testing the improved suit: Paramount Pictures
The trailer…
Tags: Movies
