Art Review “Iron Man”

Introduction

In a world where Hollywood-endorsed comic book films have dominated the Box Office reaped the financial benefits accordingly, Iron Man offers a relieving reprieve with a film which is both entertaining and well made. A strong lead and outstanding visuals cements Iron Man as one of people's favorite mainstream films of 2008 (Good, 52).

From the start the suave, whisky-wielding billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) establishes himself as a strong and likeable character. He made an armored Humvee journey through the war-torn Taliban Middle-East seem not only comfortable and cool, but like a tropical holiday destination.

Having earned his fortune through dealing in military weapons contracting the “Death Merchant” Tony makes a whirlwind visit to Afghanistan in order to secure a trade deal with local military forces.

Discussion and Analysis

So does this turn into some dire political commentary? An acute social observation and philosophical analysis of consumerism and capitalism? Under the weight of such potential premise Iron Man could have easily toppled and fell, yet it remained nimble and light at heart.

Much of the lightness and excitement of the film comes not from the action and special effects, but from a strong script and casting. With the creative input of 4 credited writers the script and a cast well educated on the action-fantasy genre even the most information laden establishing dialogue seems light and loose with an almost improvisational atmosphere. In particular the quirky, bantering relationship between Tony and his sassy secretary Pepper Potts (Gweneth Paltrow) shine as improve comedy highlights in the film. Director Jon Favreau granted Downey Jr much creative freedom in his role, exploiting his sharpness and clean comedic genius.

Character Development

What distinguishes a sequel in this case, then, is the depth and development of its characters and their movement along the story arc. This, unfortunately, is the big weakness of the movie. Stark of course remains the sigma he was in the first, only this time around, his ego swells to such Rush Limbaugh, sun-eclipsing proportions that it is almost painful to watch. His friend Rhodes (played this time by Don Cheadle) sinks from delta to near-gamma-dom, as the pecking order that Rhodes works in forces him to do some things that he'd rather not do, right before he is converted into Samsonite-that is, baggage-trapped inside a hijacked super suit.

The new villain Vanko is probably the character in this movie written and played with the most depth; in fact, Rourke's Vanko would have stolen many of the scenes had it not been for Downey's natural magnetism. The Potts character loses much of her girlfriend-secretary depth in a flat performance by Paltrow.

Themes

Interestingly, and as the counterpart to the bad-dad meme, the mothers of the two leading male characters figure into the story not at all, leaving this viewer to wonder to what deficit are we to attribute the defects in the Stark and Vanko characters…to ill- or malfunctioning fathers, or to mothers so ineffectual as to be absent from the narrative entirely? Continuing the curious ...