Also, Iron Man has sex, and not with the suit on.
It has a lot of action violence, none of it especially graphic or gruesome. “Iron Man” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Those things account for the best parts of “Iron Man” as well. And who doesn’t have superpowers? Actually, Iron Man doesn’t his heroism is all handicraft, elbow grease and applied intelligence. But even dazzling, computer-aided visual effects, these days, are not so special. If you’re throwing around a hundred million dollars and you have Batman and the Hulk on your tail, you had better be sure that the arc reactors are in good working order and that the gold-titanium alloy suit gleams like new and flies like a bird.Īnd everything works pretty well. The hardware is impressive, don’t get me wrong, but at these prices it had better be. You know this ostensibly shocking revelation is coming, and the writers know you know it’s coming, so why worry too much about whether it makes sense? Similarly, the patina of geopolitical relevance is worn thin and eventually discarded, and Tony’s crisis of conscience when he discovers what his weapons are being used for is more of a narrative convenience than a real moral theme.Īll of which is to say that “Iron Man,” in spite of the heavy encumbrances Tony must wear when he turns into the title character, is distinguished by light touches and grace notes. One important twist seems glaringly arbitrary and unmotivated, but this lapse may represent an act of carefree sabotage rather than carelessness. The plot is serviceable, which is to say that it’s placed at the service of the actors (and the special-effects artists), who deftly toss it around and sometimes forget it’s there.
Those moments are what you are likely to remember. Downey and Shaun Toub working on blueprints in a cave Mr.
Within the big, crowded movements of this pop symphony is a series of brilliant duets that sometimes seem to have the swing and spontaneity of jazz improvisation: Mr. Downey’s antic energy and emotional unpredictability bring out their agility and resourcefulness. His partner and sort-of mentor in Stark Enterprises is Obadiah Stane, played by Jeff Bridges with wit and exuberance and spoiler alert! a shaved head. The girl is one Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow, also in evident good humor), Tony’s smitten, ultracompetent assistant. Tony’s skeptical friend (see above) is Rhodey, an Air Force officer played with good-humored sidekick weariness by Terrence Howard. On paper the character is completely preposterous, but since Tony is played by Robert Downey Jr., he’s almost immediately as authentic and familiar as much fun, as much trouble as your ex-boyfriend or your old college roommate. He’s also a bon vivant and an incorrigible playboy. whiz kid and the scion of a family whose company makes and sells high-tech weaponry. Tony is a media celebrity, a former M.I.T. We catch up with Tony Stark in dusty Afghanistan, where he is enjoying a Scotch on the rocks in the back of an armored American military vehicle. It is not quite the real world, but it’s a bit closer than Gotham or Metropolis. (I note that there is one sharp, subversive surprise right at the very end.) In “Iron Man” it all plays out more or less as expected, from the trial-and-error building of the costume to the climactic showdown, with lots of flying, chasing and noisemaking in between. Those are the rules of the genre, as unbreakable as the pseudoscientific principles that explain everything (An arc reactor! Of course!) and the Law of the Bald Villain. There should also be a skeptical but supportive friend. The hero must flex and furrow his brow the bad guy must glower and scheme the girl must shriek and fret.
The film benefits from a script (credited to Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway) that generally chooses clever dialogue over manufactured catchphrases and lumbering exposition, and also from a crackerjack cast that accepts the filmmakers’ invitation to do some real acting rather than just flex and glower and shriek for a paycheck. Or at least since it certainly has its problems a superhero movie that’s good in unusual ways. This summer those guys are all in sequels or redos, so Iron Man (a Marvel property not to be confused with the Man of Steel, who belongs to DC and who’s taking a break this year) has the advantage of novelty in addition to a seasonal head start.Īnd “Iron Man,” directed by Jon Favreau (“Elf,” “Zathura”), has the advantage of being an unusually good superhero picture. And yet in some ways the glut of anti-evil crusaders with cool costumes and troubled souls takes the pressure off of “Iron Man,” which clanks into theaters today ahead of Hellboy, Batman and the Incredible Hulk. The world at the moment does not suffer from a shortage of superheroes.