This was the only Phase One Marvel film I saw priorto being blown away by The Avengers – everything else came afterwards in a catch-up frenzy – and while it wasn’t the Best Comic Book Movie Evah, I found it to be cool, entertaining, and well-made. Now, watching it again, I can see that the Marvel movieverse has come a long way, but it certainly started on the right foot with this film.
Just from a personal standpoint, I’ve enjoyed the Thor and Captain Americafranchises more than the Iron Man films, largely because of how they play around more with other, non-superhero genres and make for more original viewing. Iron Man, while an excellent example of a comic book film, is a bit more typical, so it doesn’t stand out as much. Still, preferences aside, this movie is fantastically fun to watch, and I love Tony Stark’s journey from a devil-may-care playboy to a cocky but dedicated hero.
Any discussion of Iron Man has to start with the man himself, and Robert Downey Jr.’s performance deserves plenty of credit for the franchise’s success. He superbly marries the different parts of Tony’s personality and makes them all feel internally consistent. He’s a partying womanizer, he’s a wildcard billionaire, he’s an incurable smart-aleck, and he’s a workaholic tech genius. I like that he doesn’t start out as a “good guy,” that he’s self-centered and a little callous. His character’s transformation is probably the most unique thing about the film. His experiences – being kidnapped by insurgents in Afghanistan and nearly killed by the shrapnel from one of his own bombs – change him, shake him out of his complacency, and he can’t help but be moved to action.
Tied in with Tony’s complex characterization is the creation of the Iron Man suit itself. I love that, for all his shallowness and frivolity, he’s also utterly creatively brilliant and can do things that no one else can. Starting with his imprisonment, where he designs and builds the chest plate that keeps him alive after the bombing, along with his first iteration of the suit, it’s a blast to watch him at work. I like his innovations, his screw-ups, his fractious relationship with his robotic assistants, and his complete elation when he succeeds. And of course, I love that, while the suit obviously allows him to do superhuman stuff, his real superpower is his brain.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts is no Black Widow or Peggy Carter, but I enjoy her as a relatively capable comic-book love interest. Generally speaking, she’s pretty unflappable, she shows both guts and initiative, and she doesn’t let Tony walk all over her. I’ll have more to say on Rhodey after I rewatch installments 2 and 3 – as of right now, though, I’m not quite feeling Terrence Howard’s performance. I don’t know if I’m just used to Don Cheadle now or if the writing for the character has changed, but I didn’t enjoy him as much here as I do in later films.
Warnings
Comic book violence (along with more realistic combat scenes,) some drinking, and sexual content.
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