by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
A Rated PG-13 126 min
Director Jon Favreau along with Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow have created the seminal comic book movie of all time. Most of the credit for this film's incredible success goes to Downey, who greatly enhanced his character Tony Stark/Iron Man with his quirky affectations, humor, and amazing talent for characterization. Add to that the brilliant special effects and this film comes off as a riveting, adrenalin-pumping cinematic adventure.
Indeed, it's not often that a film turns out this great. Everything was done to perfection, with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek comedy. An unrecognizable Jeff Bridges plays the double dealing co-chairman of Stark Industries, Obadiah Stane, who becomes Iron Man's nemesis toward the end of the story. This is the film that anyone would line up to see. Favreau and Downey have brought excitement back into movie going, after a long drought.
Until one sees the film, it hard to imagine Downey as a comic book hero, but Downey played the role of Tony Stark with a savvy sense of his character's unlimited mind. Stark was a child prodigy who attended MIT at 15 years old and had his Ph.D by his early twenties. His mind's scientific ability went far beyond any physicist in the world. Stark put his Ensteinian brain into developing super weapons for the military, making him an overnight billionaire. His partner Obadiah Stane dealt with the day to day running of the corporation and Stark hunkered down in his private lab and mansion on the North Pacific coast. But what Stark didn't know was Stane was dealing weapons to our enemies for vast amounts of money.
Gwyneth Paltrow deftly supports Downey with her sharp business woman characterization of Stark's personal assistant, Pepper Potts, who is secretly in love with Stark but is a devoted and efficient assistant. Of course, Stark is too busy to notice that he too is in love with Pepper, which creates the electric sexual tension between them. Downey and Paltrow play this tension for all its worth to keep the audience guessing as to when these two would-be lovers will finally sleep together.
When Stark is captured by terrorists who want him to upgrade their missiles with the latest technology, Stark invents a new form of energy that both keeps him alive and provides the power for a crude steel suit that he uses to escape. When he returns to his lab, he continues developing this new energy source to power an advanced flying suit that he wants to use for good not war. Ah, but Obadiah catches wind of Stark's plans and is in the process of building his own suit.
The techno-gadget scenes of Stark building his suit using modified industrial robots are riveting and super-cool. Stark interacts with the robots like they are human. Poor Pepper doesn't know what the heck Stark is doing, but she accepts that it is something special. As Stark perfects his suit and its flying ability, his flirts attempts at flying are funny until he gains control over his new energy source.
There are many advanced technical achievements in this film that take these mechanical FX to a higher level. Downey improvises to liven up the technical scenes with humor and excitement. Stark is obviously a media sensation, and when he returns from captivity, he announces that Stark Industries will no longer make military weapons. Obadiah vows to stop Stark at all costs so he can continue his nefarious dealings with the terrorists. This sets up the inevitable showdown between them.
Overall, this is a dynamite film that should revive the comic book movie genre. Undoubtedly, there will be a sequel. I just hope that the producers will keep the same high standards of the first film, which should be a blockbuster. Clearly, Downey is back with a vengeance and should work steadily on at least two more sequels. For Downey, it's a triumph of spirit and a phenomenal come back after so many years of drug problems.
Article Published in the May 2008 Issue of EU Jacksonville
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