Iron Man (2008)

Let me first say “Thank you. Thank you, Jon Favreau. While you had ample opportunity to stuff this summer action flick with enough cheese and patriotism to fill the bellies of America, you did not. Iron Man was topical and intelligent - as well as entertaining. You directed a fantastic Marvel-character movie. Also, thank you for not using the Black Sabbath version of “Iron Man” a billion times in your film; you limited it to an abridged instrumental version in the credits.”

Iron Man is based on the Marvel comic created by Stan Lee. In the film, billionaire Tony Stark is the leading weapons developer and head of Stark Industries. Stark is a brilliant engineer who goes to Afghanistan to promote his latest and extremely advanced missile, Jericho. Before he can head back home to have sex with more Maxim models, he is kidnapped by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings who hold him hostage and force him to build them a Jericho missile of their own. However, during his kidnapping, he sustained an injury caused by shrapnel near his heart. Luckily, fellow captive, Dr. Yinsen, created an electro-magnetic device that attached to Stark’s chest, preventing the shrapnel from reaching his heart and killing him. Being resourceful as he is, Stark used the supplies meant for the Jericho missile to create a miniature arc reactor to power the device keeping him alive. He also designed the first Mark 1 “Iron Man” armor (also powered by the arc reactor) complete with missiles and rockets to escape.

While back in the US, he renounces his service as weapons developer, and wants to take Stark Industries in a different direction. Instead, he was blocked out of his company by the board, including his partner and friend, Obadiah Stane. Feeling a sense of mission, Stark secretly begins to build a more advanced version of the Mark 1 suit; however, the remnants of his original design are discovered by the Ten Rings. Stane takes the initiative and constructs his own version of the Mark 1. When it is discovered that Stane had a hand in Tony Stark’s kidnapping, that generated a substantial enemy for Stark/Iron Man.

Robert Downey, Jr. could not have been a better Tony Stark/Iron Man. He filled out that “titanium-alloy” suit perfectly. Rather than portraying the character with farce, and making it, well, like a comic book character, Downey played the Stark like an actual human, especially during the transition from Stark being a bombastic playboy to superhero. The character itself was not changed – just the motives and mission.

Gwyneth Paltrow played Pepper Potts, Stark’s assistant and potential love interest for the sequels. The character came to Paltrow with extreme ease, and while it did not appear to be the most taxing character to create, she was beautiful in that role.

Of course, Jeff Bridges was fantastic as the super-villain and former partner of Stark, Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger. It was a typical friend turned foe role, but you almost did not see the sleaziness creeping up.

The script itself was tight. The plot flowed, the jokes fell into place effortlessly, and while some of it predictable, it never was cheesy. It was a believable film – the events were topical, the effects plausible, and the heroes and villains were ultimately human. Those were the aspects that made this film so successful.

We know that a ridiculous amount of money went into the special effect for this film. Gratefully, it didn’t overwhelm the storyline. Also, the massive amounts of effects were convincing, rather than cartoon-like. This movie should make greater strides for comic-book action flicks in the future to up the quality of their effects.


Iron Man is what a summer flick should be – violent, well produced and smart. There were few slow moments in the film – even where they were, the film was never boring. This film is geared more towards the adult audience, definitely, but could not offend children Oh, and I learned AFTER waiting through five minutes of credits (I always like to give props to the little guys), that I should have stayed longer. There is a cameo at the very end of the credits that has garnered almost as much attention as the movie – at least on the nerd circuit.