IRON MAN (2008)

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"Not bullet proof, and better for it!"

I was never a huge fan of Iron Man comics growing up. I purchased a few, read them cover to back (looked at the artwork mostly), and of course I liked the suit. The idea of being in an awesome robotic suit that gives you the strength of one-hundred men, the ability to fly, shoot blasts of fire out of your hands, and control surrounding electronics were all very appealing attributes to a kid. It was never the suit I shied away from. It was the man inside the suit, billionaire industrialist Tony Stark. Looking back now, I guess as a kid I wanted a hero less flawed, and more consistent. Things seem flawed enough from a young perspective, so I looked to my hero's to imagine a world where someone's greatest flaw was something like kryptonite, not vanity, alcoholism, or arrogance. Yeah, I think looking back I saw Tony Stark as too real of a character (I much preferred Superman). But now that I'm all grown up, and I see things from an adult perspective, Iron Man is a truly impressive creation as far as super heroes go. As a man this character is flawed. Tony Stark is a brilliant engineering genius, heir to the huge industrial juggernaught Stark Enterprises. He has billions in the bank, girls knocking down his door, and pretty much anything a person could desire, except self-control. Lacking that very human characteristic, Tony Stark is reckless. He's an alcoholic, vain, stubborn, and a close-minded man. On top of all those issues are his medical problems that add completely new layers to an already flawed canvas. His liver is being demolished by his drinking, and most importantly, his heart has been damaged so badly the Iron Man suit literally keeps him alive (or at least the powering mechanism of the suit). So here we have this superhero who when wearing his amazing suit, is virtually indestructible. Then on the flip side of this equation, we have the man behind the suit, who at all times has enough chinks in his preverbal armor to offer up enough ammunition for any of his enemies to stock up on. Makes for a good story don't ya think? Well the suits out in Hollywood certainly thought so, and Iron Man has become another character to be ripped from the comic origins of his past and cast upon the big screen. The question is did they do this very complex and flawed hero the proper justice? I certainly think so. Director Jon Favreau knows how to bring to life interesting and eccentric characters in his films (see Swingers, Made, and Elf to name a few), but obviously he saw Iron Man as his spring board chance to launch into the upper echelon of the directing elitist in the biz. He was a complete success in doing that. I can say that I believe this is his best outing to date. Iron Man is one of the most true to form comic book movies that has ever been made. Casting Robert Downey Jr. to portray Tony Stark was a controversial move by Favreau, but it paid off in spades in the long run. Downey Jr. owned this film. He made Iron Man what it is. With his brilliant timing and charisma, accompanied with Favreau's excellent pacing and character dialog, Iron Man was one the finest executed comic to film adaptations to come out. With an amazing supporting cast of Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges, this film took advantage of establishing great supporting characters for these fine actors to portray, this resulted in an amazingly fun film, that still held great weight in it's content. In addition to all of these reasons as to why Iron Man is a "must see", the special effects house over at Industrial Light and Magic (George Lucas's Empire) have completely outdone themselves. The CGI was done with awesome attention to detail, and blended scenes of practical effects and CGI elements seamlessly. The scene in the film with the F-22 fighter jets was just a hell-of-a good time. Iron Man launches at break neck speed, and slows down just enough for the viewer to take in the sights. One thing's for sure, you'll be left wanting more, buy hey Don't worry, Iron Man II is already slated for a May 2010 release. You can almost hear the cash registers now, cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.