Jon Favreau, 2008
"Iron Man takes its sweet time
getting Downey into the Iron Man suit, and it doles out big action setpieces
sparingly once man has fused triumphantly with machine. Downey is so much fun
as a breezy cad that it's a shame he spends so much time brooding and
luxuriating in obsession. Like Ang Lee's
Hulk, Iron Man is a comic-book blockbuster characterized as much by
heavyweight acting and sober intellectual concerns about the use and misuse of
power and technology as the usual comic-book foolishness. But
Iron
Man finds a much more palatable,
audience-friendly balance between delirious spectacle and tortured introspection
thanks largely to Downey, a great actor who's also a great entertainer." -Nathan Rabin
The
Marvel Cinematic Universe is such an omnipresent part of popular
culture at this point that it’s easy to forget how much time has passed
since the first
Iron Man; seven years. As well as the film
holds up, and as fun as it still is, it’s also very much a product of an
era that’s already fading away. In the opening scene, a soldier asks to
take a selfie with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. But he doesn’t call
it a selfie. And he takes it with a digital camera instead of his cell
phone. And Tony Stark’s cell phone has a flip-up screen. And he makes
jokes about not wanting to see the pictures on MySpace. This
Iron Man
belongs to another world; one that’s clearly defined by the period
after 9/11. He’s not fighting Norse gods or sentient robots; his enemies
are Middle Eastern terrorists and war profiteers.
Some of the
dialogue might be dated, but the effects in this movie still look
great; I was impressed how cool the early scenes of Tony Stark testing
his Iron Man suit and flying around still are. The visceral thrill of
discovery and the pure freedom of flight pulse through the first two
acts of the movie. A lot of the credit for the film’s success belongs to
Downey, who makes Tony Stark so charming and likable, even in the early
scenes when he’s a pompous, unreliable d-bag. Tony Stark has a real arc
here too, and not just the reactor kind; his evolution from unfeeling
capitalist to selfless hero progresses naturally and satisfyingly
through his story.
Read More: The Ultimate Marvel Marathon 2015 Live-Blog | http://screencrush.com/the-ultimate-marvel-marathon-2015-live-blog/?trackback=tsmclip
The
Marvel Cinematic Universe is such an omnipresent part of popular
culture at this point that it’s easy to forget how much time has passed
since the first
Iron Man; seven years. As well as the film
holds up, and as fun as it still is, it’s also very much a product of an
era that’s already fading away. In the opening scene, a soldier asks to
take a selfie with Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. But he doesn’t call
it a selfie. And he takes it with a digital camera instead of his cell
phone. And Tony Stark’s cell phone has a flip-up screen. And he makes
jokes about not wanting to see the pictures on MySpace. This
Iron Man
belongs to another world; one that’s clearly defined by the period
after 9/11. He’s not fighting Norse gods or sentient robots; his enemies
are Middle Eastern terrorists and war profiteers.
Some of the
dialogue might be dated, but the effects in this movie still look
great; I was impressed how cool the early scenes of Tony Stark testing
his Iron Man suit and flying around still are. The visceral thrill of
discovery and the pure freedom of flight pulse through the first two
acts of the movie. A lot of the credit for the film’s success belongs to
Downey, who makes Tony Stark so charming and likable, even in the early
scenes when he’s a pompous, unreliable d-bag. Tony Stark has a real arc
here too, and not just the reactor kind; his evolution from unfeeling
capitalist to selfless hero progresses naturally and satisfyingly
through his story.
Read More: The Ultimate Marvel Marathon 2015 Live-Blog | http://screencrush.com/the-ultimate-marvel-marathon-2015-live-blog/?trackback=tsmclip
