Summer Movie Suicide Mission No. 3: Iron Man

In which one man attempts to view every summer blockbuster for the entire season, regardless of taste, genre, or Robert Downey, Jr.’s awful facial hair.

For the first time in this project, I’ve seen a movie I’ve been looking forward to, and, for the most part, it delivered on its promise.

Iron Man stars Robert Downey, Jr. in the title role, one of two major summer pictures starring Downey (the other being Tropic Thunder, an adventure comedy slated for August in which Downey dons blackface for the role; we’ll see what kind of public reaction that gets). So 2008 makes for a bit of a comeback for the veteran actor, though Downey, and his smarmy brand of on-screen pretension, have never really gone away.

Being totally unfamiliar with the Iron Man mythology, I viewed the casting of Downey as a superhero of any ilk with skepticism. But in the origin story that the Iron Man film presents, Downey holds court as the perfect choice for alter ego Tony Stark, a slick, quick witted billionaire that was quite obviously created as Marvel’s hipper, modern answer to DC Comics’ Bruce Wayne. And with the structure of the hero himself (a man completely encased in a crazily-high-tech metal shell), any actor could have filled the suit without any discernible problem. Downey makes his case for the role of Stark alone, and he has a track record of dry, wise ass characters on his resume to support it.

The appeal of the star is necessarily key to a superhero movie, and Iron Man certainly works on that level. More impressively, it works wonderfully as both a spectacle and as a film. Director Jon Favreau (Elf, Made) and his team use the kind of special effects typical of the modern blockbuster, but they don’t make the mistake of relying on the “wow” factor for their film’s success. They’ve made an honest to god movie, complete with a grounded, true to life universe and reasonably believable characters. One of those characters just happens to have a fusion reactor inside his chest and a preternatural talent for engineering. The film even provides a passable allegory on corporate malfeasance, the weapons industry, and modern warfare.

Iron Man is the first in a series of Marvel films associated with the Avengers, a cabal of superheroes which also includes the Incredible Hulk and Captain America. The series is set to culminate with an Avengers movie in 2010. Marvel has mostly done a nice job with its recent film adaptations (anything helmed by Brett Ratner aside), and as a moviegoer, Iron Man has made me pretty excited about the continuation of this franchise, as well as Marvel’s broader plan.

In short, Iron Man was antonymous to a film like Speed Racer, which in retrospect felt like a visual stunt set to celluloid. Iron Man, like the other characters in the Marvel fold, lives in a world that is not unlike our own, where actions have real consequence and even the heroes have deep character flaws. The stunts and explosions are just for fun. In a lesser film, they’d be tedious.

Film: Iron Man
Director: Jon Favreau
Stars: Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges

Viewing Situation: Weekend matinee, 3/4 capacity, one snorer; digital projection
Rotten Tomatoes Average: 93%
My Grade (Out of 10): 8

Next Up: Made of Honor