Hey, a superhero movie with no spandex! Will wonders never cease.
Sorry, this icon wears iron. And star Robert Downey Jr. must be some kind of iron man himself, surviving his high-profile personal problems of recent years to become this summer's leadoff hitter and flavor of the month.
Not that his talent was ever in question. Former bad boy Downey ascends to the lead in this high-budget, potentially sequel-spawning blockbuster for the first time, completing an improbable comeback.
Or maybe it's that he's also "Irony Man," which comes in quite handy as his character has his mettle --and metal -- tested throughout Iron Man and never loses his cool.
This is, among other things (including being the summer's first "popcorn" flick), an anything-but-mindless special effects extravaganza, a mythmaking exercise with something to say about warfare and military power and personal redemption.
Rare is the summer superhero soufflé with this level of Oscar credibility: all four primary cast members -- Downey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, and Terrence Howard -- have been either Oscar nominees or winners.
And yet Iron Man isn't really an ensemble piece, even though Bridges plays Stark's scheming partner, Paltrow his loyal assistant, and Howard his Pentagon sidekick. This remains, from Stark's entrance on, The Robert Downey Jr. Show, as he gives a charismatic, slyly funny performance, spitting out his glib dialogue with characteristic panache and giving a nicely calibrated reading of the transition from hedonist to humanitarian.
Iron Man is an action-adventure science fiction thriller, the latest big-screen concoction derived from a Marvel Comics franchise. This particular damaged hero emerged on the page in 1963.
Stark Industries owner, playboy billionaire, and inspired inventor Tony Stark, played by Downey, is a Howard Hughes-inspired munitions manufacturer demonstrating his latest military weapon -- the Jericho Missile -- to Afghanistan's top brass. He's kidnapped by terrorists, severely wounded, and forced to design a devastating missile system for his captors.
Instead, all the while under video surveillance, Stark builds a high-tech protective suit of armor and uses it to escape, although how he achieves this remarkable (okay, impossible) feat is not for us to say, or explain.
Still bristling from his brush with death, he uncovers a global-domination plot. Having just developed a conscience, he dons his powerful armor, which is a bullet-proof flamethrower that also gives him the power of flight. Think of him as a cousin of Robocop. Robocopter, perhaps.
And he vows to stop being a merchant of death and, instead, become the world's protector.
Actor-turned-director Jan Favreau ( Elf, Zathura: A Space Adventure, Made) works from a script-by-committee that updates the story's geopolitics from the '60s to the present by substituting Afghanistan for what in the comic book was Vietnam. And he's careful not to let the CGI effects, however impressive and seamless, overwhelm or suffocate the narrative. This is a comic book come to life that has levity and gravity.
The climax doesn't quite deliver on what has preceded it -- it's a bit too Transformers-like mechanical -- but it comes at the end of a briskly-paced (but not to a fault: patient Favreau doesn't rush to get to the action) and surprisingly funny two hours.
So we'll iron out 3 stars out of 4 for this high-energy escapist fantasy that's a fun ride. There's no rust on Iron Man, a steal at nearly any price, undoubtedly to be followed by at least one welcome sequel.
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Sorry, this icon wears iron. And star Robert Downey Jr. must be some kind of iron man himself, surviving his high-profile personal problems of recent years to become this summer's leadoff hitter and flavor of the month. .jpg)
And yet Iron Man isn't really an ensemble piece, even though Bridges plays Stark's scheming partner, Paltrow his loyal assistant, and Howard his Pentagon sidekick. This remains, from Stark's entrance on, The Robert Downey Jr. Show, as he gives a charismatic, slyly funny performance, spitting out his glib dialogue with characteristic panache and giving a nicely calibrated reading of the transition from hedonist to humanitarian.
