This
was the only Phase One Marvel film I saw prior
to being blown away by The Avengers –
everything else came afterwards in a catch-up frenzy – and while it wasn’t the
Best Comic Book Movie Evah, I found it to be cool, entertaining, and
well-made. Now, watching it again, I can
see that the Marvel movieverse has come a long way, but it certainly started on
the right foot with this film.
Just
from a personal standpoint, I’ve enjoyed the Thor and Captain America
franchises more than the Iron Man films,
largely because of how they play around more with other, non-superhero genres
and make for more original viewing. Iron Man, while an excellent example of
a comic book film, is a bit more typical, so it doesn’t stand out as much. Still, preferences aside, this movie is
fantastically fun to watch, and I love Tony Stark’s journey from a
devil-may-care playboy to a cocky but dedicated hero.
Any
discussion of Iron Man has to start
with the man himself, and Robert Downey Jr.’s performance deserves plenty of
credit for the franchise’s success. He
superbly marries the different parts of Tony’s personality and makes them all
feel internally consistent. He’s a partying
womanizer, he’s a wildcard billionaire, he’s an incurable smart-aleck, and he’s
a workaholic tech genius. I like that he
doesn’t start out as a “good guy,” that he’s self-centered and a little
callous. His character’s transformation
is probably the most unique thing about the film. His experiences – being kidnapped by
insurgents in Afghanistan and nearly killed by the shrapnel from one of his own
bombs – change him, shake him out of his complacency, and he can’t help but be
moved to action.
Tied in
with Tony’s complex characterization is the creation of the Iron Man suit
itself. I love that, for all his
shallowness and frivolity, he’s also utterly creatively brilliant and can do
things that no one else can. Starting
with his imprisonment, where he designs and builds the chest plate that keeps
him alive after the bombing, along with his first iteration of the suit, it’s a
blast to watch him at work. I like his innovations,
his screw-ups, his fractious relationship with his robotic assistants, and his
complete elation when he succeeds. And
of course, I love that, while the suit obviously allows him to do superhuman
stuff, his real superpower is his brain.
Gwyneth
Paltrow’s Pepper Potts is no Black Widow or Peggy Carter, but I enjoy her as a
relatively capable comic-book love interest.
Generally speaking, she’s pretty unflappable, she shows both guts and
initiative, and she doesn’t let Tony walk all over her. I’ll have more to say on Rhodey after I rewatch
installments 2 and 3 – as of right now, though, I’m not quite feeling Terrence
Howard’s performance. I don’t know if I’m
just used to Don Cheadle now or if the writing for the character has changed,
but I didn’t enjoy him as much here as I do in later films.
Warnings
Comic
book violence (along with more realistic combat scenes,) some drinking, and sexual
content.
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