Film in review: Iron Man

There's a part in the Iron Man movie where after being knocked out of the sky by a tank, we see the metal faceplate up close. With scratch marks and paint melted off, the image reminds the viewer that Iron Man is nothing more than a man in a metal suit.
He clearly hasn't done this before. He barely knows what he's doing, and everything happening to him is new and unexperienced.

The 2008, now grossing over $276 million (according to boxofficemojo.com) film tells an updated classic yarn of young industrialist billionaire playboy Tony Stark and his march towards redeeming his military arms company and family's legacy by building a high tech suit to fight for good and the American way.

This film also marks the first self-financed big box office venture by comic book company Marvel Comics.

At first glance, the film seems to be in the same vein as rival comic company DC Comics' 2005 Batman Begins in terms of grounded grittiness.

However, after contemplation, there are differences that keep both films, updated origin stories with room for upcoming sequels, and characters, non-super-powered industrial businessmen, from simply being cut and paste skeletons of existing movies or even the comic books that they were based upon.

However, someone unfamiliar with the comic book source material (not me) can still appreciate this film.

One of the aspects Director Jon Favreau crafts into the mythos behind the Iron Man character is, in essence, Stark as a high tech sci-fi James Bond.

However, Stark is much more fleshed out then any Double-O agent adaptation (maybe aside from 2005's Casino Royale).

Robert Downey Jr. excels at playing a comic book character that oddly enough seems to be a living embodiment of Downey himself. Reports from production, Favreau allowed his star talent to improvise their lines to allowing more fluid delivery.

Gwyneth Paltrow feels like a nice fit for Stark's loyal assistant and ambiguous love interest Pepper Potts, who can do anything from inserting a new piece of tech into Stark's chest to dispensing with his one-night stands the morning after.

Despite some debate over various Internet fan blogs, Jeff "The Dude" Bridges pulls off convincing and realistic villainous businessmen Obadiah Stane, one of Iron Man's most early foes in the comics. While maintaining an icy exterior, Stane puts an arm around Stark following his return from the Middle East while secretly filing an injunction to dismiss him from his own company.

Some might argue that Bridges is not menacing enough, the change from sly businessman to the Iron Monger suit at the end of the film is too sudden.

Rounding off the main cast, Terrence Howard as Stark Industries Air Force liason Col. James Rhodes provides one of the goose bump-inflicting comics nerd moments in the movie, foreshadowing the introduction of War Machine in sequels (the first, of which has already been announced by Marvel for an April 30, 2010 release date).

Other aspects that keep the average Joe or Jane Popcorn in his or her seat for the two-hour running time is the neat gadgetry, interesting non-powered characters and action scenes.

While each action sequence only clocks in at a relatively short 10-15 minutes, the longest segment of the movie is the beginning, where we see Stark captured by Afghani terrorists who demand he build them one of his own missiles.

Instead, he builds a walking tank-like early version of the Iron Man and essentially blows up the terrorist camp in his escape.

With the lowest tech scenes in the movie, we are once again reminded, that, through the duration of his captivity, Stark remains undeterred in his resistance of evil, and in that sense Tony Stark is the Iron Man even without the red and gold suit.