Review: ‘Iron Man’ pleases adults, kids alike

Directed by: Jon Favreau

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir

Rated: PG-13

Marvel comics, as much as rock ‘n’ roll, television, baseball – when it was truly the national pastime – and movies, helped shape the lives of an untold number of baby boomers.

Superman and the other heroes of the DC Comics empire were more popular in the 1950s, but when the ’60s rolled around, the Marvel stable was full of characters who were simply in the right place at the right time. The DC crowd was rife with upstanding, somehow too perfect men (and one Wonder Woman). They were a bit square, though. Like our parents.

The mavens of Marveldom were people with foibles and failings, just like us! Spiderman was a teenager faced with the torments that accompany those years. The Hulk was misunderstood and full of rage. Daredevil was blind. And Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, was a billionaire playboy (OK, they took that aspect from Batman, but he only got really cool when he became The Dark Knight) who was an arms dealer with heart problems. And he chose to become a superhero. It wasn’t by virtue of being from another planet or getting zapped by radiation or being born a mutant. He was just a regular guy – a regular guy with a genius IQ and an ax to grind and the money to get the job done.

Stan Lee, the legendary genius behind Marvel, is still around, and “Iron Man” is the first film to come out under Marvel’s own banner, rather than being licensed to an established movie company. (Paramount is the distributor.) It’s also the first blockbuster film of the 2008 summer season, and the $180 million production is as good a superhero movie to ever make it to the silver screen. Kids and action junkies will be satisfied with the wham-bam sequences, but there are also enough smartly written scenes and character development to keep the thoughtful viewers engaged.

The entire team – from director Jon Favreau to screenwriting teams Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, to the stars, especially Robert Downey Jr. ¬– plays the film smart and sassy. Downey has had his well-publicized troubles, but he’s not washed up by a long shot. His Tony Stark is a perfect portrayal of a self-absorbed (maybe rightfully so), hard-drinking and womanizing billionaire playboy/arms dealer. When he becomes Iron Man, he’s just as good.

Tony is in Afghanistan demonstrating Stark Industries’ newest high-tech weapon of mass destruction, when he’s nearly killed and taken captive by Afghan rebels. The leader wants Stark to build his group a weapon like the one he’s just sold to the other side. The insurgents give Stark a lab and he sets about building, not the weapon he’s been commanded to produce, but an extra-skeletal robotic suit that turns him into Iron Man, version one. It’s crude but workable and, after making his escape, he returns to the United States with a new lease on, and new mission in, life.

He decides, much to the dismay of Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), his business partner who has been around since Tony’s dad ran the company, that Stark Industries will cease making weapons and focus on things to make the world a better place.

Aiding Stark is a friend in the military, Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard), and Pepper Potts, his “gal Friday,” played with charm and humor by Gwyneth Paltrow. There’s something bubbling beneath the surface of Tony and Pepper’s relationship that will surely be explored in the sequel(s).

When Stark weapons continue to hit the world market (and we suspect how), Tony decides to perfect his Iron Man suit and do a bit of housecleaning.

Favreau and the writers use this act of the film to give Iron Man a lot of character development while working in a few well-timed humorous scenes. When the new, improved Iron Man appears, it’s a grand moment, and his encounters with scrambling U.S. jets is a breathtaking action scene.

But it’s the last act where the filmmakers pull out the stops. Stark’s Iron Man does battle with newer, gigantic versions of his technology, being wielded by the bad guy we’ve suspected all along. Even in the special effects-laden scenes, Favreau’s direction keeps the human elements at the fore.

“Iron Man” will top the box office for a while, to be sure, and will begin another, very welcome superhero franchise. Kids and adults alike will find much to savor here.

It’s smarter than the average action film, the acting is as smart as the writing and direction, and it’s a heck of a fun film that does its Marvel-ous heritage proud.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.[[In-content Ad]]