Metal mayhem

IRON MAN

Where is it playing?: Bay, Sunset Drive-In, Downtown Centre, Park Stadium 10

What's it rated?: PG-13

What's it worth?: $9.00 (Steve)

What's it worth?: $8.00 (Glen)

In this comic book adaptation, Robert Downey, Jr. plays Tony Stark, an industrial titan whose Stark Industries is a major weapons manufacturer. While demonstrating a new missile in Afghanistan, his Humvee is attacked and he’s taken hostage by a local warlord, who demands he build his new missile system by assembling parts from a cache of Stark Industries weapons. Instead he builds an armored suit that he uses to escape capture, and after returning home to America, he builds a new version of the suit to combat evil. Oh, and he can fly. (126 min.)

Glen Oh, to be Tony Stark! The fast-talking engineering genius has the coolest toys, a sprawling cliff-top mansion in Malibu, untold wealth, a stream of hot women, and the sort of self-confidence and charm that’s irresistible. When Vanity Fair reporter Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) interviews Stark for a hit piece she’s working on, it doesn’t take long for her to set aside her ideals and succumb to his charms. After a romp in the sack, she wakes up alone and is ushered out of the mansion by Stark’s stalwart personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow, cast as the emotional center of the film). Stark is absolutely carefree. For him, life’s a game and he’s the best player. There’s inspired casting throughout this film, from Jeff Bridges as Stark’s business partner Obadiah Stane to Terrance Howard as Stark’s army pal Jim Rhodes to Shaun Toub as Yinsen, Stark’s fellow prisoner in the mountains of Afghanistan. The acting’s first rate, which is more than one could hope for in a comic book flick. Most of the action is in the film’s latter two thirds, but I enjoyed the first third best as we’re introduced to Stark’s decidedly unheroic personality, a classic set-up for a character ripe for an ethical epiphany.

Steve Frankly, I’m surprised you even wanted to see this movie considering its lack of cerebral material that you could overanalyze. I did notice that you laughed a couple of times throughout the movie, erasing the dour face that you’ve donned in the theater as of late. I definitely looked forward to seeing this flick, as I am a sucker for the pure entertainment action movie genre. I think that ever since the first Spider-Man, X-Men, and, more recently, Batman Begins, movie studios have been realizing that the characters can’t entirely support the films they star in, so they’re going to great lengths to create scripts that actually are interesting and immersive in their storytelling. It’s pretty obvious that the length of the movie, which did ever so slightly drag in some places, is a grand set-up for many more Iron Man movies to come. This is a good thing! The back story has now been told in a convincing fashion, so we can get on to seeing Tony Stark be the ultimate ladies’ man É er, superhero, in the films to come. I can’t say enough how well Downey plays this character: He’s both funny and tough, making for a believable character you just have to like. Paltrow was great, too, with some beautifully biting dialogue in the beginning and an overall strong screen appearance. I think she’s going to be the Moneypenny of the Iron Man series!

Glen Dour? Cerebral? I love comic book movies! Batman Begins was a favorite of mine a couple of years ago. Comic book adaptations always have the potential to be great because they employ grand archetypes and mythic storylines. Of course, just being adapted from a comic book is no guarantee. May I direct your attention to the debacle that was Daredevil? But here we get a coming-of-age story in which a reckless bachelor faces the awful truth: that his lavish lifestyle is supported by the death of innocents from the weapons he designs—a fact he seemed to ignore until he’s taken hostage. Watching a guy go from totally self-centered to selfless in two hours is fun, especially since Stark refuses to take himself too seriously. The other cool thing about this movie is the suit itself. It’s an incredible achievement in special effects. And there’s so much over-the-top action and incredible set pieces to keep the adrenaline junkies and geek boys happy too. It’s hard not to enjoy a film like this.

Steve Yes, iron is hard. The only real complaint for me is that the bad guys weren’t all that hard. (Spoiler alert!) The Afghan warlord character identified Alexander and Genghis Khan as the men in whose footsteps he wanted to follow, yet he was dispatched with relative ease. Jeff Bridges was more convincing in the bad guy role, surprisingly so in my opinion, yet he too was dispatched without much of a fight. Omnipotence might be fun, but it doesn’t make for much of a battle in the end. Jeff Bridges might have found his calling though, as his devious character seems to fit his face and voice so well. I bet he’ll be back in the next movie with a vengeance. He could be Iron Dude in the next movie!

Glen Ah, a Big Lebowski reference. Bridges is The Dude, all right, but here he’s The Evil Dude whose bald head and sneer will remind some of Dick Cheney, our vice president in charge of warmongering. And you’re wrong: It wasn’t all that easy for Iron Man to defeat these villains (by the way, thanks for the spoiler on Bridges’ character!). I think what’s missing is that Stark doesn’t seem to wrestle with his demons the same way other recent superhero characters have. Even though he’s not the superhero type, per se, he seems to be pretty comfortable with it, probably because he’s so freaking cocky! No, this film doesn’t have the gravitas of Batman Begins, but I enjoyed its light tone and I loved Downey as Stark. He’s got himself a franchise here, no doubt about it.

Steve The political slant of the movie was nicely done really—not too over-the-top preachy, but definitely in your face. There was a little bit of Nicolas Cage’s character from Lord of War integrated with Stark’s persona in the beginning, which, as Glen has noted, was overridden by the end. Yes, the movie has a happy ending—which, fortunately for this movie, was not sappy and not stupid—it was just right. The director even kept the Iron Man anthem till the very end, too! This flick portends a great summer season of entertainment movies; I just hope they all measure up!