Movie and Television Reviews

For most of Iron Man's 126 minutes, I was confident that it would overtake Spiderman as the best film adaptation of a superhero comic book. I'm still undecided after a slight intensity and creativity dip towards its end, but I'm certain that anybody with the slightest interest in this genre will find Iron Man as thrilling as a ride underneath an F-22.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a hard-partying, frivolous genius- more Mark Cuban than Bill Gates- who applies his considerable smarts towards the world's second oldest profession- making weapons. Militants attack Stark's convoy during a business trip to Afghanistan and take him captive. Another prisoner, Dr. Yinsen (Shaun Toub), saves Stark's life by rigging a car battery to Stark's shrapnel-filled heart. Stark initially refuses to build a “Jericho” missile for the terrorists, but accepts the project after some water-boarding (one of the allusions to current controversies; Blackwater-type guards are another.). Instead of “Jericho,” Stark builds his first mechanized suit of armor and puts his heretofore theoretical arc-reactor (?) power source to good use-replacing both his car-battery chest-magnet and powering the suit.

Stark escapes in a...ahem... suitable fashion. Stark's conscience pangs upon arrival, and he gives up weapons development. Alas, events force Stark to deploy his obsessive hobby: He first goes to Afghanistan to defeat some bad guys, his former captors, who use Stark's weapons for evil. Later, Stark discovers a Stark Industries conspiracy. Iron Man focuses on this conspiracy for its remaining third.

Iron Man has one of the best first halves in action movie history. It uses a genius flashback sequence (36 hours) to introduce Stark's character. The idea of a man fooling his captors into providing him with the raw materials for their destruction is exciting- a sort of fantastical MacGyver and much better than gamma radiation or a toxic bath. The directors combine the hanging-rope-provision concept with masterful tension and a touching relationship between scientists to provide us with one of the truly glorious comic book-based movie segments. His immediately subsequent basement-tinkering is also great fun.

Other outstanding elements include:

1. A fascinating near-future imagining of technology. The printer-like manufacturing and human motion articulating CAD would make for the most heavily trafficked booth at CES with or without booth babes.

CES convention booth babes.

2. Tremendous acting. I was initially skeptical of the Downey choice, but I now see it as an inspired casting. The audience is in total sympathy with him. He's a believable drunk, genius, womanizer, hero, and idealist- truly Oscar-worthy performance. Gwyneth Paltrow is great too.

3. Special effects, of course. I liked the quick targeting, killing mini-scene in Afghanistan.

4. An appropriately detestable villain. The scene where Obadiah Stane / Iron Monger (Jeff Bridges) incapacitates Stark is very nice.

5. The frighteningly realistic convoy scene is scary for reasons that go beyond the movie.

One may quibble that Iron Man's ending descends into "slightly over-matching arch-villain" near-banality (think: Robocop 2, Spiderman 3, the upcoming Hulk, and Six Million Dollar man versus Bigfoot). I say “near” because Stark wins with a cleverly foreshadowed trick.

Very obvious product placement may bother purists.

Characters talk over each other to simulate cleverness.

Robocop 2

The Six Million Dollar Man (El Hombre Nuclear) First Season 5 DVD Collectors Series [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America]

Spider-Man 3 (Widescreen Edition)

Politics/ Message:

Messages include determination and social conscience and responsibility. Dr. Yinsen induces a Peter Parker-like epiphany in Stark that causes him to question the meaning of his party-animal, stinking-rich life (What has Hugh Hefner, whom Stan Lee portrayed in the movie, accomplished in his life?).

With enough money and genius, even nerds can get girls.

Un-PC alert: Obviously non-British terrorists do bad things because they're bad and not to please corporate paymasters.

PC/world opinion/marketing alert: What's wrong with going into Iraq or Afghanistan and lending a robotic hand?

Iron Man has plenty of political meat on its exoskeleton and discusses controversial issues like the morality of arms dealing without the fatal pedantry of, say, Lord of War. In one exchange, a super-sexy television reporter, Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) gives the pacifist, anti-gun point-of-view (If guns didn't exist, neither would war [Don't they use machetes in Africa?]) while Tony Stark replies with a humorous version of what one might call a “realist” response mixed together with a case for the “good guys” having superior weapons.

Like in real life, bleeding heart liberals end up in bed with huge corporations.

Lord of War [Blu-ray]

People of differing views may leave satisfied that their opinion wins out, but the movie makes clear that “criminals kill people.” In other words, weapons are bad in the wrong hands. We wouldn't need Iron Man otherwise, right?