Iron Man
This movie is the story of how a billionaire playboy becomes a superhero in a metal supersuit. It takes you through a man's epiphany of his role in a destructive system to his initiation of a system of protection and justice. Because...he's Iron Man. :)

IRON MAN was not one of my fave comics growing up in...er...many years ago. I was more into the X-Men and Daredevil and The Flash and The Fantastic Four and Doctor Strange. When I heard they were making Iron Man as a film with Downey, my first thought was, "Huh? Downey?"

I should accept that when someone can act, they can ACT just about any role. Downey can act. (I always feel a little sad that so much time and energy was sapped by his substance abuse demons, when he could have been playing many more roles.) He proves it by being a believable playboy genius who grows up fast under some great pain and duress when, on a trip to Afghanistan, he becomes a prisoner. From there, the billionaire boink-fiend becomes a man with a...heart. In more ways than one.

The second star of the movie is the special effects for the suit. OH MY GOSH! I want one. They managed to make the laughable bright suit I remember from my comics-riddled youth into something cool and effective and...sexy.

The effect of his "heart" is also quite nifty, though less complex.

Gwyneth Paltrow is somehow lacking her usual shine and spark here, but she isn't ineffective. I just know she can do better--and I like her a lot--and I was slightly disappointed that she was so, so...not up to Downey in this.

POSSIBLE MILD SPOILERS follow...you are warned:

I didn't like Bridges as the corporate baddie. (Oh, come one. We all know he's the baddie from the first scene, right?) I find he's an actor who's either very on and works, or who's very off and sucks. I think he pretty much sucks here except for one scene. Ah, well.

On the plus side, there is humor (Stark's quips and sarcasm and sass is irrepressible) to go with the dark stuff (ie, torture, violence, death, corruption, and so forth). The robot helper is a hoot.

Another plus is Terence Howard as the military cutiepie friend of Tony Stark. He manages to be low-key, strong, and effective in his role with very few lines. He even manages to be funny. I like this actor very much.

The sets work very well. You get the feeling that Stark really is not only a genius, but sui generis from the environment: His workroom, garage, home--all spectacular. And I do believe it's a Gehry structure in one scene (or a great facsimile of one.) The reactor is displayed as a wonderful visual nod to the retro science fiction some of us still remember with great nostalgia.

The direction is quite good: It has energy like mad when it needs it. It works with Downey's face and buffed-up bod in some highly potent close-ups and angles. But it's not something that is so feverish that you can't feel a decent change of pace. And it's not so showy that the camera becomes the star. At all times, Tony Stark/Downey is the star.

When you buy/rent/watch this, make sure to either sit through the credits (read a magazine, like I did while waiting to see if any goodie extras show up), or fast forward through them, because after the scrolling's done, you get a very brief scene in Stark's mansion where another superhero shows up...and it'll make fans of a particularly cool Hollywood actor holler. (I hollered.) Now I'll count the weeks until Iron Man II comes out.

Oh, yeah.

And for those who used to watch the Iron Man cartoon on TV aeons ago, you'll hear snatches of the theme song (the really dorky theme song, yes) that's sort of Sinatra-ed up here and altered for a phone ringtone there. Cute.

Now, excuse me. I have the old Iron Man comic that tells the origin story, and I'm gonna go read it and see how it compares.
 

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