Iron Man 2

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Watchmen

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V: ABC – 1.11 – “Fruition”

Picking up right where “Hearts and Minds” left off, the show continues to improve on most levels. From Anna’s manipulation of the media to the evolution of Lisa as a possible fifth columnist to the complications of Hobbes’ character the show has made itself a complete series, hopefully one worthy of renewal.

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Iron Man

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jeff Bridges

Written by: John August, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Arthur Marcum, and Matthew Hollaway based on the comic book created by: Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Don Heck, and Jack Kirby

Directed by: Jon Favreau

What a ride. That’s the first thought I had walking out of the theater. Amazingly, unlike many attempts at a superhero movie, it is also a decent, if not completely outlandish storyline.

Iron Man is the rare superhero where the secret identity is as important if not more important than the superhero. Tony Stark, the son of weapons mogul Howard Stark, has followed in his father’s footsteps and taken Stark Industries to the top of the financial world. Tony is a genius playboy who is both James Bond and Q in one. Robert Downey Jr plays the role with such relish and charisma, it’s impossible not to love the character who is definitely not a boy scout, as most superheroes are.

As this is the first Iron Man film, obviously his origin is at least half the story. Unfortunately, many superhero films try to do to much in the first effort and try to gloss over the origin in order to get to the eventual battle with the supervillain — all the while keeping the running time to two hours or less. Iron Man bucks the trend and takes it’s time with it’s origin.

Tony Stark visits Afghanistan to demonstrate his latest missile system, the Jericho, when extremists attack his convoy and take him prisoner, damaging his heart that it takes an electromagnet, hooked to a car battery to keep the shrapnel from entering his heart. He meets a fellow captive, Yensen, who has saved his life. While in captivity, they force him to build them a Jericho. Instead, he builds himself a prototype Iron Man suit and thus the action begins, and Yensen sacrifices himself to give Stark time to power up as the baddies come home to roost.

Escaping imprisonment and coming home, Tony’s a changed man, finally seeing how his designs are being used by the worst dregs of human life. He chooses to stop his weapons manufacturing as he realized he had “more to offer the world then making things that blow up.”

Unfortunately, that doesn’t gibe with Obadiah Stane, the man who ran Stark Industries in between the time of Howard Stark’s death and Tony turning 21. Stane is very happy with the way things were and as we discover later on, was behind Tony’s adventures in Afghanistan. Played by a bald Jeff Daniels, in a role quite the opposite of The Dude in Big Lebowksi, Stone makes for a good first movie nemesis. It made the story more internal, allowing development for Stark rather than an outside force he’s got to tackle just because he’s the good guy.

Tony does have his allies though. His top notch assistant, Pepper Potts (played with great subtlety by Gwyneth Paltrow) is more than Tony’s assistant, but the film does a great job of not committing to that particular portion of the superhero formula either. Their relationship never does take it to the next level although it is obvious it eventually will (maybe in the sequel). Gwyneth does a great job making sure never to turn Potts into the usual damsel in distress. Potts is clever, mostly in control, and able to stand toe to toe with Stark anytime.

Also Terence Howard does a turn as James Rhodes. As comic book fans know, Rhodes is the man who for a long period of time replaced Stark as Iron Man and eventually got a suit of his own as War Machine. There is a nice tip of the cap in a small sequence with Rhodes looking at a prototype suit and says, “Next time baby”.

Stane’s friends in the desert have found most of the scrap of the original prototype that Stark left behind and re-creates it. Obadiah takes it from his “friends” before killing them all.

Of course Stane creates his own Iron suit of destruction leading to the climactic battle between the men of Iron.

The action sequences are top notch from Tony’s escape, to Iron Man’s singlehanded take out of a extremist take over of an Afghani town, to Iron Man’s duel with two U.S. Air Force jets, and the final battle.

I wanted more!

It certainly isn’t a perfect film. Even in a comic book movie, some credibility is stretched, especially with Stane in the suit at the end. The movie is clear that it takes Stark awhile to get used to the suit. Stane seems pretty good to go in about five minutes.

The idea is brought up how the military reacts to Iron Man, yet at the end, they seem perfectly willing to let him continue on in this role, despite the disastrous incident at Stark Industries between Stark and Stane. This is one reason that it was not a good idea to let the film version reveal to everyone that he is Iron Man. A choice which does distinguish him from the majority of superheroes, it’s hard to believe he would be allowed to continue in this vehicle of destruction unchecked. Granted, this is a comicbook movie, so it doesn’t have to be answered. But it is a little shaky.

Overall, it was a great opening to the summer movie season, and one of the best superhero movies I’ve ever seen in terms of adventure, effects, acting, and overall enjoyment.

A definite must see.

A-

OH and don’t forget to stick around for the credits because afterwards there is a short scene that comic book fans will love.  If you don’t want to know, stop reading now.

The short scene involves Samuel L. Jackson playing Marvel Comic’s Sgt. Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D. (introduced earlier), discussing something called “the Avengers Initiative”.  Now with the rumors that Downey will cameo as Stark in the Hulk, it does seem like Marvel is trying to establish it’s heroes with the goal of working towards an Avengers movie.