Iron Man (2008)
Directed by Jon Favreau
After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.
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Reversing a superhero trend that started with Tim Burton's decidedly dark 1989 "Batman" -- and which lesser directors have tried to ape in almost every subsequent superhero film churned out by Hollywood -- "Iron Man" avoids taking itself too seriously, as embodied in its vivid lighting design and brightly colored palette.
You may have never thought of Robert Downey Jr. as a superhero — and I don't want to hear why you think Michael Keaton was an inspired choice for Tim Burton's weak "Batman."
And while Bridges obviously relishes his role, chewing through his scenes with a voracious appetite, it is pushing-middle-age hipster Downey who, like Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean" or Michael Keaton in "Batman," takes control of a role he has no earthly right inhabiting and turns it into something intrinsically, quintessentially, elementally his.
Michael Keaton and George Clooney, in the “Batman” series, brought an instinct for satire to comic-book movies, giving their mock-stentorian lines a twist.
Jack Nicholson as The Joker in "Batman" (1989) and Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector in "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991) had their reputations boosted by brilliantly portraying villains.
Comparisons can be made between Iron Man and Batman.
The climactic battle, with a small, David-sized mechanical man battling a larger, Goliath-sized mechanical man also recalls Robocop (1987), which managed to add a wry commentary on the match-up.
Though not as subversive as Paul Verhoeven's blockbuster satire Robocop , Iron Man comes similarly medicinal, but with heapfuls of sugar in the forms of rollicking humor and muscular action sequences.
Similar to how the recent explosions of popularity and record breaking that we’ve seen in superhero movies over the past decade (starting with “Spider-Man” in 2002, continuing through “Iron Man” and “The Dark Knight” in 2008, and most recently making news with “The Avengers” this past summer), the era of “E.T.” seemed unreal.
I recall being impressed by how Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins worked so effectively because it took the idea of becoming a superhero seriously, imagining how it might go down if such things were at all realistic.
This upsets his business partner, Obadiah, who is a combination of Lex Luther and Earle from Batman Begins.
This is one of the great superhero performances, alongside Christian Bale in Batman Begins and Christopher Reeve as Superman.
Like Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins," the screenplay works hard to create a psychological basis for its hero and his deeds, and the main character drives the action.
Nobody's a bigger fan of Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" than I am, but they don't all need to be Dark Journeys Through Stinky Grimtown.
Despite a brilliant first hour–for a good long while, we’re almost in “Batman Begins” territory–“Iron Man” becomes like some bizarre legend of a Norse god who descended into the flaming pits of the earth’s core, swung his mighty hammer upon a great anvil and forged….a…
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Worse, when it comes down to the end, a long stretch of a movie that, at its best, takes place in something teasingly close to reality lapses into a silly “Transformers” moment of two giant machines slugging it out like a game of Rock-Em-Sock-Em-Robots. Iron Man isn’t even the most important figure in the climactic moment, which anyway relies heavily on the dramatically inert and creatively lazy choice of having someone push a button.
The climax of "Iron Man" showcases some pulsating editing and sophisticated special effects, but the showdown between Stane's "Iron Monger" creation and Stark's sleeker, smaller superhero at best echoes a scene out of "Transformers," and at worst, the ending of "RoboCop II."
That’s obviously intended to be the picture’s piece de resistance, but it’s much too reminiscent of the clattering chaos of “Transformers.”
Tony's first flight as Iron Man over the nighttime skies of Los Angeles is exhilarating, a second-act stop back in Afghanistan is full of pleasing comeuppances, and a climactic freeway battle is more thrilling and cohesively filmed than a similar scene in 2007's mind-numbing " Transformers ."
The few times the red-and-yellow battle gear is front and center in "Transformers"-ish action moments, Favreau often shows his star's face inside the shell-head.
I can fly," he deadpans after mastering the rockets on his heels) that I was reminded of Dennis Quaid in Joe Dante's Innerspace, another instance of an ingenious actor taking flight while surrounded by layers of metal.
It’s again not as goopy and downbeat as the relationships in the Spider-Man pictures or old Supes mooning over lost Lois Lane in Superman Returns.
Without question, Iron Man is his greatest film, and much of what makes it work is entirely the director's fault: it was his innovation to encourage the actors to ad-lib (like "a Robert Altman-directed Superman " says the director), he chose to represent the Iron Man outfit using practical effects whenever it was remotely possible to do so, and I assume he has something to do with the film's effortless pace, in which a 126-minute film seems far, far too short.
Favreau's imagery doesn't soar—"Iron Man" has none of the sweeping lyricism that made Bryan Singer's much maligned "Superman" a pleasure to watch—but he's paced the tale cleanly and well; it never feels overstuffed.
Director Favreau wisely chooses not to dwell on the Lord of War vibe and pulls theme park action into the foreground.
For a more realistic view, check out Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage.
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Tony is an arms dealer, an occupation that has fascinated playwrights for ages (George Bernard Shaw in Man and Superman, Arthur Miller in All My Sons) and accounts for some of the evil-genius rep of Halliburton's gift to governance, Dick Cheney.
Nor are the flying sequences, in the longest of which he’s pitted against some fighter jets, especially impressive, particularly when they’re compared, for instance, to the far more elegant ones Bryan Singer contrived for “Superman Returns” a couple of years back.
Plus, the character and Downey are simply a lot more fun than that block of wood, Brandon Routh, who plays Superman in Superman Returns (2006)—not that Superman in any incarnation is exactly a firkin of simians.
Watching the scenes of Iron Man flying through the stratosphere made me wax nostalgic not just for the acrobatic post-adolescent "Yahoo!" of those vertiginous scenes of web-slinging through gleaming Manhattan canyons in the Spider-Man movies, but also, briefly, for Superman Returns--unwieldy as that movie was, its scenes of flight had a sense of wonder and majesty that humanized the hero, rather than just his earthbound alter-ego.
If Batman Begins and Superman Returns capture how Americans think of themselves in their darkest, most introspective moments, Iron Man offers a glimpse into how Americans project themselves into the world as a giant, swinging, turgid dick.
In this regard he shares the moral qualities underlying the adventures of Spider-Man, Batman and the revamped (and underrated) Superman Returns.