Iron Man

Left and right: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. Images: Paramount Pictures.

Movie review: Iron Man (2008).

Synopsis:
Wealthy genius and industrialist Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) demonstrates his new weapon in Afghanistan, the 'Jericho' missile. During this business trip he gets attacked by a terrorist group Ten Rings, using Stark Industries' own developed weapons. Stark doesn't die because Yinsen (Shaun Toub) saves him, but Yinsen is not able to get all the shrapnel out of Tony's body. The terrorists force Tony to create a Jericho missile for them. With the shrapnel is his body, he comes up with a solution to prevent the shrapnel from reaching his heart. He therefore builds a tiny, yet powerful arc reactor.

Instead of making the Jericho missile for the terrorists, Tony secretly builds something else. Together with Yinsen, Stark builds an armor with the arc reactor providing the energy for its use. Yinsen, who also got captured by terrorists, dies in the an escape attempt. Tony kills several terrorists with his suit and he manages to escape. During Tony's rough landing, the suit falls apart. After a little while, he gets picked up by the Air Force.

During the kidnap, Tony had some time to think about things. Realising some things, back in the US he announces that Stark Industries' will no longer produce weapons. Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), Tony's business partner, and several others are shocked by this announcement.

Tony focuses on building a better armor, he calls his new project 'Mark'. He asks his friend Rhodes (Terrence Howard) to help him with 'a project', but Rhodes refuses to help and even confronts Tony about his announcement, telling Tony to wake up. Obadiah soon informs Tony that the board members want to get rid of him. Tony's previous image seems to be shattered, this due his seemingly complete retreat from the public. But when Stark hears about a charity, he decides to attend this public event. There he sees his personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). During this public appearance, he sees photos of terrorists with the Jericho missiles. Stark soon discovers that Obadiah has been selling weapons to both the US and the terrorists. But these are not the only shocking things, Obadiah was the one who tried to throw Tony out of the board.

Stark is determined to put on his Iron Man suit and destroy the terrorists' weapon supply. What he doesn't know is that the terrorists have collected all the pieces from his old armor. But Tony is not the only one with determination, as Obadiah is also up to something. What will happen to Iron Man, Tony Stark and Obadiah Stane? And what's actually going on between Pepper Pots and Tony Stark?

My thoughts:
Iron Man is based on the famous comic books by Marvel with the same name, animated series have appeared too in the past. Iron Man is a live action movie, but you can expect more than action only. The movie offers some funny moments for example. The movie mainly focuses on the wealthy Tony Stark and his 'adventures' as Iron Man.

The main actor in Iron Man is Robert Downey Jr. Other main (somewhat minor) roles are for Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard.
Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark who occasionally puts on a suit and becomes Iron Man. Downey did an excellent job both as Tony Stark and Iron Man. Knowing about Downey's past with alcohol problems, it was somewhat ironic to see Downey with a glass of cognac in the first half of the movie. Downey played a serious Stark when it was necessary, he made the audience laugh with his funny jokes and Stark flirted when the moment was appropriate. Yes, Downey amused the audience and entertained throughout the whole movie, he played Tony Stark so well.
Gwyneth Paltrow plays the loyal assistant Pepper Potts. Many people see this movie as Paltrow's comeback, she indeed didn't appear in a movie for quite a while. I wouldn't really consider this as her 'real' comeback as this Pepper Potts role isn't that big, but it's good to know she still works as an actress. To be honest, I see Iron Man more as Downey's big comeback. Let's get back to Paltrow. Gwyneth Paltrow runs on extremely high heels and screams in the movie and most importantly, she was convincing as Pepper Potts.
The villian Obadiah Stane is played by Jeff Bridges, they sure did pick the right guy for this role. Yes, Bridges plays a mean and evil Stane. The only thing is that many people, who don't know much of Iron Man, could have guessed from the start that he is the villian in the movie.
Last main role is played by Terrence Howard. He plays Lieutenant Jim Rhodes, who is Tony's good friend. Howard didn't have much screening time just like Paltrow, which makes Rhodes a somewhat minor character. But he did a good job and just like Downey, he had some good jokes.
The actors and actress were compatible together, which added another positive point to the movie. Downey played the main character and this is not without any reasons, he stands out in this movie and he does an excellent job as Tony Stark, Iron Man. Another point is that there is character development for Tony Stark in this movie and Downey definitely made this visible.

The movie takes place at several places. Little parts take place in a certain town in Afghanistan. The story mainly takes place in the US. Many scenes take place in Tony Stark's house, where he has a working place which he has secured. At that working place, the watcher can see the devoted Stark working on his suit: improving, redesigning, modifying and testing. Another point should be made about Stark's house, it's big and it looks great.
The action in Iron Man is splendid, the CGI used for this movie made the action scenes seem real and thus convincing. All action scenes in this movie have a purpose and that is that they all do fit in the whole story. This is one of the good points of Iron Man, there are no action parts that seem useless or not compatible with the story, the action takes place whenever it's necessary.

Iron Man isn't the only movie that is based on a comic book. These last years many movies based on comic books have been produced. Some examples are The Hulk, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spiderman and many others, including sequels. After seeing some of these movies, my disappointment for these kind of movies just grew. One disappointment after another. (I mentioned this too in a previous post, here.)
After the announcement of an Iron Man movie and seeing the many promotion for it, I wasn't impressed and I didn't expect much of it. I just didn't want to see a great comic hero turning into a lame hero on screen. But I was wrong, Iron Man is a good movie.

Many things contributed to Iron Man, making it an enjoyable movie. First, the cast did a wonderful job. Downey played Tony Stark and Iron Man so well, they really picked the perfect guy for this role. Others did a good job too. The action in Iron Man is convincing and looks nice, but the movie offers much more than action only. The characters had some funny moments and these scenes are in fact a good combination with the action scenes. The music supported the movie where it was needed. Conclusion: Iron Man is an excellent movie, like I mentioned before. If you haven't watched this movie yet, I'd suggest you to go to the nearest cinema and watch it while you can! It's good to see Iron Man on such a big screen.

Written by Mialee L. aka Sukachu.