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Iron Man
USA 2008
produced by
Avi Arad, Kevin Feige, Peter Billingsley (executive), Louis D'Esposito (executive), Jon Favreau (executive), Michael A.Helfant (executive), Stan Lee (executive), David Maisel (executive) for Fairview Entertainment, Marvel Comics, Paramount
directed by Jon Favreau
starring Robert Downey jr, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Clark Gregg, Bill Smitrovich, Sayed Badreya, Jon Favreau, Peter Billingsley, Tim Guinee, Tom Morello, Marco Khan, Daston Kalili, Ido Ezra, Kevin Foster, Garret Noel, Eileen Weisinger, Ahmed Ahmed, Fahim Fazli, Gerard Sanders, Tim Rigby, Russell Richardson, Nazanin Boniadi, Thomas Craig Plumer, Robert Berkman, Stacy Stas, Lauren Scyphers, Frank Nyi, Marvin Jordan, Jim Cramer, Stan Lee, Zorianna Kit, Russell Bobbitt, Samuel L.Jackson (cameo)
screenplay by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, based on a comicbook created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck, Jack Kirby, published by Marvel Comics, music by Ramin Djawadi, special effects by Stan Winston, miniature effects by New Deal Studios, visual effects by Pixel Liberation Front, The Orphanage, The Embassy, Prologue Films, ILM
Iron Man, Marvel Cinematic Universe
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Tony Stark (Robert Downey jr) is a weapons manufacturer who might have
a brilliant mind, but, despite being a rather likeable chap, he doesn't
have too much of a conscience ... until he goes to Afghanistan for a
demonstration of his latest missile and is captured by terrorists. They
want him to build his missiles for them, but instead he builds himself a
highly armoured iron suit that enables him to defeat the few dozens of
terrorists on his own and make an escape - flying, it has to be added. This
experience left Stark deeply troubled, eswpecially since the terrorists
were armed with his weapons, and he announces his company is abandoning
production of weapons until further notice - much to the dismay of the
stock market and especially his second in command Obediah (Jeff Bridges),
who soon has Stark removed from his own company. Stark has his own ideas
anyways, and builds himself another iron suit to resemble the one he made
in Afghanistan, and when he learns the terrorists continue to be equipped
by his company, he just goes there to do some fighting on behalf of what's
right ... Obediah soon figures it must be Stark who's fighting the
terrorists, so he goes to Afghanistan on his own to retrieve Stark's old
iron suit he used to make his escape, tunes it up a little, and before
long of course, he and Stark clash. You might guess who'll be victorious
in the end ... Gwyneth Paltrow plays Stark's love interest, but the two
never really get together. There's also a (much talked-about) cameo
appearance by Samuel L.Jackson as Nick Fury, but blink and you'll miss it.
Actually, it's insubstantial for the plot.
Actually, Iron
Man is one of the better mainstream comicbook adaptations to be
released in recent years, which is do part to a slightly (self-)ironic
access to its character (though don't expect a laugh a minute) and in part
to its lead, Robert Downey jr, who proves that even for comicbook-movies,
it's better to hire a capable actor than some pretty-face like Christian
Bale (Batman Begins, The
Dark Knight), Brandan Routh (Superman
Returns) or Ben Affleck (Daredevil)
- other than those, Downey jr is actually able to give his character some
depth, give him some edges and faults and make him likeable all the same. All
that said, Iron Man is far from a perfect film, it might feature an
interesting (if a little too long) set-up, but then it evolves into a
simple and simplistic armoured suit versus armoured suit battle, with the
actual finale being less than inspired and not quite the big bang a film
like this should have had. Plus, the politics that the film shows an
interest in at the beginning are soon thrown out of the window for your
typical good-versus-evil story. And the film shows a sanitized
interpretation of war (no blood, no swearing, no corpses) that is almost
disgusting in its insincerity. Atop of that, Jon Favreau's directorial
effort is definitely less than inspired. So yeah, Iron Man might
be one of the better mainstream comicbook adaptations of recent years, but
given the competition, that's not saying much.
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