You Will Believe an 'Iron Man' Can Fly
-----When I first heard they had cast Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, my first thought was, “who?” Little did I know he would give one of the best performances of the year, and become one of the best comic book film protagonists’ ever. The initial commercial wowed a lot of eager fans and got the hype up for this movie about a year in advance. I became so familiar with the trailer, in fact, that I was almost tired of the concept going into the movie. Now make no mistakes, I was still really excited about this film, but I expected to see your typical comic adaptation, not one of the best films of the year.
-----Robert Downey Jr. single handedly revived his career, inspired audiences, and brought a lot of heart to a billionaire weapons designer. That’s not what makes his turn as Iron Man special though; it was the general feasibility and sense of wonder the film had. Not quite as grounded in realism as ‘The Dark Knight’ perhaps, but director Jon Favreau did an expert job developing the man before the hero. The transformation became one of the most authentic, believable, and downright entertaining origin stories to ever dawn the silver screen. Many comic enthusiasts put it up there with Christopher Reeves’ performance in ‘Superman: The Movie’ and justly so. Many of Downey Jr.’s lines could have been cheesy, and many of his actions could have alienated audiences, but it’s all done so well that you can’t help but cheer for him.
-----I think the reason the film works so well is because it was excellent even before he became a super hero. By the time he’s flying in the classic gold and red ensemble, you’ve nearly forgotten it was a superhero movie, and you’re as excited as Downey Jr. is to be up in the sky. “You’ll believe a man can fly,” is just as applicable to this film as it was to ‘Superman: The Movie’ in the seventies. But for all their greatness, Favreau and Downey Jr. had a lot of help. Jeff Bridges does nicely as your classic corporate villain and Terrence Howard turns in a solid performance as work buddy and eventual ‘War Machine’ (think Iron Man sidekick) in planned sequels (though he was recently replaced by Don Cheadle). Gwyneth Paltrow too, brings a nicely nuanced relationship with Downey Jr. and their complex and entertaining chemistry is undeniably enjoyable. Rarely do you get performances like this from your leads, while also avoiding the conventions of Hollywood romance. Their relationship makes this film funnier (in a good, intentional way) than most of the year’s comedies. In fact, the whole story is refreshing, a super hero out to have fun and just save people, rather than being weighed down by past trauma. Well, if he is weighed down by it, he’d never let you know.
-----By the time you’re done laughing and cheering your way through this film, you’ll leave satisfied and happy. It’s one of the few times you’ll see a big budget action film where you care more about the minute character interactions than the climactic action superhero vs. super villain fight. Major props to Favreau for bringing in Marvel’s core writing group and using their insight on the character. Now if only the rest of the world could understand that using the source material works! A great musical score (which received a Grammy Nomination) and some of the year’s best performances complete the package and make this one an instant classic. Round it all off with the after-credits scene (written by acclaimed comics scribe’ Brian Michael Bendis) where Samuel L. Jackson has a cameo as Nick Fury and speaks of an “Avengers Initiative,” and you’ve got absolute summer-popcorn-flick gold that’s already setting the foundation and building hype for Marvel Studios 2011 movie lineup.
-----Tidbit: Favreau and Downey Jr. have already signed on for Iron Man 2, 3, and the 2011 Avengers movie. If that’s not great news, I don’t know what is. And if I decided Oscar nominations, Downey Jr. would have a Best Actor Nomination in the bag.
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