Review: Iron Man

#126 - Iron Man


Iron Man is the first in a trilogy of films circling around the life of Tony Stark. Stark is the CEO of Stark Enterprises, a company he inherited from his father when he passed away. While showing off a new weapon overseas called the Jericho Missile, things go wrong, and he is attacked and taken as a prisoner by a group called the Ten Rings. While being held captive, the Ten Rings force him to make a replica of the Jericho Missile. Instead, Stark builds a suit made of iron and battles his way to safety. Once he returns to America, he holds a press conference and alerts everyone that he is not happy with his company dealing in weaponry any longer. He shuts down the weapons department, which upsets his partner, Obadiah Stane. Obadiah goes rogue and begins building his own "Iron Man." The two face off in a fight of epic proportions, which leaves Obadiah dead, and Stark Enterprises destroyed. Stark is left hopeful that his creation of the iron suit will bring good into the world, so he exposes himself as being Iron Man, and revels in the fact that he is now considered a superhero.

I love this movie. Iron Man is not my favorite superhero, but Tony Stark is definitely one of my favorite Marvel characters. The casting of Robert Downey, Jr. as Stark was pure genius. If they ever made a remake of Iron Man years from now, I would refuse to watch it. You can't get anymore perfect than this film when it comes to bringing a comic book character to life on screen.

Marvel is best when they fill the dialogue with jokes and have characters the audience can connect with. This film has both of those elements. Tony is a character that starts off very self-absorbed, but when he is thrown into a situation that threatens his life, he breaks down his walls and you see what a great man he really is. I feel like that is the man that Pepper Potts, his assistant, always sees...so that's why it's so easy for her to fall in love with him. They only have each other, and that's what makes their scenes together so touching.

The villain of the film, Obadiah Stane, is obvious right from the start, but it doesn't even bother me. By having it obvious from square one, you can watch the betrayal unfold. It's quite interesting, actually. When he builds the Iron Monger suit and steals the arc reactor right from Tony's chest, it's the ultimate example of villainy. He is willing to kill his partner just to get ahead in the business. That is also why Tony's victory over Stane is so satisfying. I actually would have liked the camera to show Obadiah's face as he was getting electrocuted, instead of a rear shot. The audience, who has invested two hours of their lives into the world of Tony Stark, deserved to feel just as victorious as Pepper and Tony did when they saved Stark Enterprises from corruption.

The only thing I did not enjoy in the film was Terrence Howard as Rhodes, but they fixed that in the sequel, so I'm good now.


Overall, I give Iron Man 4 out of 5 stars.