Movie Review: Iron Man
The summer blockbusters officially kick off with Iron Man and I got a chance to sneak out of my apartment and leave all the studying and books behind for a night. My expectations were pretty mediocre. After seeing Fantastic Four’s first outing, I have reasons to doubt any big budget super-hero movie. I have to say, Iron Man is definitely better than the latter, but not by much.
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark is excellent. I laughed out loud way more than I thought I would. I think if you put Downey in any movie as a quick-witted, pompous billionaire, you’d be entertained to some degree. The rest of the cast pales in comparison to his performance, but the movie is Iron Man, and not Iron Man and Company.
The beginning of the movie sets up a good origin story. As has been shown in the previews, Tony Stark is kidnapped by terrorists and busts his way out in fire-breathing, beta version of the Iron Man we all know. It’s funny, the action works, and the characters are evil enough that you want Tony to get out. Once he makes it out, his character starts to change, and Iron Man is born in the aftermath of his capture. Unfortunately, the movie’s clever humor is replaced with a more serious, pious tone once the suit is complete. It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just that it’s not very good either.
The bad guy isn’t what I wanted to see, at all. It didn’t feel epic enough. Maybe it’s just me, but I tend to use Batman Begins as a template for superhero origin stories, and this just didn’t compare. The change of tone made it feel as if there was some heroic cause that only Tony Stark could champion, and the bad guy wasn’t a genuinely evil person, just someone after money. I don’t think a villain with a simple desire to make more money is a strong enough bad guy to carry the nemesis in a movie. It just doesn’t feel big enough. And here, Iron Man suffers for it.
But what about the action? The action is great. The special effects make Iron Man look good in all his hotrod red and gold glory as he flies through the skies. The opening scene in Afghanistan really set the bar, in terms of action, for the whole movie. Sadly, great effects don’t make a great movie.
Would I recommend this film? Yes. It didn’t blow me away, but it’s leaps beyond what could’ve been. A great start to the summer.
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