My review of "Iron Man" is at RogerEbert.com. Here's an excerpt:
The world needs another comic book movie like it needs another Bush administration, but if we must have one more (and the Evil Marketing Geniuses at Marvel MegaIndustries will do their utmost to ensure that we always will), "Iron Man" is a swell one to have. Not only is it a good comic book movie (smart and stupid, stirring and silly, intimate and spectacular), it's winning enough to engage even those who've never cared much for comic books or the movies they spawn. Like me."Iron Man" begins on dangerous ground: in the harsh terrain of Battleground Afghanistan. A convoy of Humvees (inadequately armored, no doubt) speeds through the desert carrying ultra-bazillionaire Death Merchant, and notoriously dissolute playboy, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), scotch in hand, flirting with the female driver.
Right on cue, an IED detonates, the Hummers are ambushed by Taliban-esque fighters, the American soldiers are slaughtered, and Tony is kidnapped. It won't be the first time that this gaudy piece of summer-movie pulp fiction strays a little too far into bloody Mess o' Potamian reality for comfort. Is this political commentary of some kind, or just exploitation? Like its hero "Iron Man" takes false steps, stumbles, and even occasionally crashes, yet quickly recovers its footing.
The reason it's so nimble is that director Jon Favreau ("Elf," "Zathura") and his fleet crew of actors grasp the action-fantasy premise and treat it with the looseness and sharpness of improvisational comedy. (Favreau himself has worked out with The Groundlings troupe in Los Angeles from time to time.) It's difficult to tell how much of what they're doing is taken directly from the script (credited to four writers, and who knows how many others labored behind the scenes), but even when they're reciting somber dialog-bubble exposition, they treat it the way an improv actor would: smoothly feeding information into the scene, building a foundation on which everybody can work, and play....
I enjoyed Iron Man and thought it was the best superhero movie since Batman Begins for all the reasons you said, but I was a little confused by reviewers who were so put off by the waterboarding scene/Abu Ghraib reference that they couldn't give the movie a positive review.
Don't they know that a silly summer superhero blockbuster isn't going to change the world? And that the last one that tried was called Superman IV?
I found Ironman to be maddeningly boring and lackluster. It disappointed me to see all of these accomplished and talented performers languish in a film they had no business being in to begin with. Paltrow looked disinterested and Favreau and his collaborators did not take full advantage of having Downey Jr. as their lead. I don't know... Maybe I'm just tired of seeing the same formula committed to celluloid in the same uninspired way.
Action Hero. With Eyelashes.
Awesome.
I noticed it, too, by the way. When it comes to mascara, even a little is too much, as my dad told me.
I smiled every single time anyone anywhere said "Obadiah Stane."
I smiled even more whenever Bridges showed up. I think he's gotten to the point where he makes any single movie better by him being in it.
Same goes for Downey Jr., obviously.
Hi Jim,
I just noticed a small mistake in your Iron Man review - Jeff Bridges does not appear in Badlands. That being said I agree that he is a fantastic actor.
Carsten (This comment is not necessarily intended for publication - just as feedback)
Jim,
I wish you and other critics would be more careful about using the term "comic book movie" when what you apparently mean is "superhero movie".
Or did you really mean to lump films like A History of Violence, Ghost World and Persepolis in with Daredevil and The Punisher?
Thanks,
The Mutt
What review is complete without a gratuitous swipe at the president? Very nice.
JE: Gratuitous? After seven years? Under the Constitution of the United States he can't run for a third term, you know.
Maybe you meant "Bad Company", Jim? I sure hope it wasn't "Tideland". Bridges *is* amazing--if you keep Terry Gilliam away from him. Oops! I see you mentioned "Tideland" farther down. Hmmm, for my money that was one Bridges couldn't even improve, much less save.
Say, do you know JB's middle name? If it's Edward than his initials would be JEB which reminds me of another Bush administration we don't need. Ah, that felt good and gratuitous.
The Mutt: I think I understand what you mean, but when I say "comic book" I'm referring to short, serialized comics (yes, mostly about superheroes) from before the 1980s -- the kind of collectibles that "The Simpsons"' Comic Book Guy would keep in a special case now, but that you could buy a dime store when I was a kid. (If you know what a dime store was, then you'll know what a comic book was at the time.)
I looked it up: "Iron Man" began in 1963 (and the first one sold for 12 cents). That's what I mean by "comic book." I'm not referring to graphic novels like some of the others you mention -- or Frank Miller stuff like "The Dark Knight" -- which developed many years later.
Some things I learned while watching Iron Man:
- When you ask for an "American burger," you mean a burger from Burger King.
- Superheros need a tag-along. This person may or may not be black.
- Intelligent, reliable women will become bumbling, incoherent fools in the face of danger.
- When asked to guard an important prisoner, middle eastern terrorists, who are silly and unreliable, are likely to fall asleep on the job.
- Airforce jargon consists of phrases like, "It just went supersonic."
- Owning a multi-million dollar house with a security system inside will keep women you've slept with from touching your stuff, but it won't stop your enemies from walking in whenever they feel like it.
Intelligent, reliable women will become bumbling, incoherent fools in the face of danger.
Thought she handled herself quite well under the circumstances. Would YOU have been Joe Cool?
Okay, I grew a comicbook nerd, especially for Marvel Comics. Just wanted to get that outta the way.
Ironman the movie was true to Ironman the comicbook & then some. Downey's dialogue delivery along with his comfortable chemistry with Paltrow, Bridges & Howard added the human dimension that the comicbook itself lacked.
Good escapism movie.
However, as I look at the schedule of movie releases for just this month alone, I hope that I don't get burnt out on big budget blockbusters halfway thru the summer like I seem to do every year.
It's funny that you discuss the film's improvisatory style, because in interviews Favreau said he envisioned Iron Man as a Robert Altman style superhero film, and encouraged improvised dialogue accordingly.
Jim,
The beginnings of Iron Man in the Marvel Universe had him in Vietnam fighting communists!
Comic Book lore has always had it's fingers on the pulse of what's happening around the world and in the lives of the Average Joe (Spider-Man), that's what has not only made them so popular but also many times an art form. In the same way sci-fi films from yesteryear delt with themes of nuclear/radiation kind of stuff.
If you haven't read it take a look at "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay" by Michael Chambon. It won a Pulitzer I believe, but is an absolutely incredible look into how the world influences and has influenced comic books from day one.
And so you know Joe, that tag along becomes a much bigger piece of the puzzle. Oh, how quickly we jump to conclusions. Yes...it helps I grew up on comic books. And if he may or may not be black, why bring it up?
And dude, a one night stand is far more dangerous than your best friend that probably has the code to your house in the first place, or a terrorist for that matter.
JE: Thanks, Philip. That's interesting about Iron Man's Vietnam background. Actually seeing combat in Afghanistan presented naturalistically at the very beginning of this movie made it seem uncomfortably real to me.
I don't know how you intended your review for Iron Man to read, but here's how it comes across:
Bush Bush Bush here's who's in the cast of the movie Bush Bush Republicans Oh Do I hate Bush.
Pretty unfortunate considering I think it was supposed to be a review of a movie that is about is apolitical as a movie involving defense contracting can possibly be.
But if this was intended to be ranting about the Bush administration and finding a reason to connect it to a current movie, maybe it should have been on the editorial page instead of on Roger Ebert's movie section.
One of the other responders said they enjoyed seeing a swipe at the administration. I guess they enjoyed the half-dozen other swipes at the administration in the Iron Man review too.
JE: So, you didn't see the movie? Or you didn't notice the political "swipes" it takes? Maybe you think I described them inaccurately? But that first sentence should be pretty obvious if you know anything about: 1) Bush's worldwide popularity (domestically, his job DISapproval rating -- 69% -- is the highest in Gallup Poll history); and 2) the US Constitution. Bush couldn't run for a third term even if he wanted to, because there's a two-term limit. If I'd wanted to be political I would have said "another Clinton administration." She's running; he isn't. See Roger Ebert's blog entry about the reaction to his post, "Hillary & Bill: The Movie," in which he describes how readers just assumed he was writing some kind of pro-Hillary statement.
It might be interesting to find out just how many reviews of (seemingly) non-political movies bring up the administration of the time. I'm sure a lot of 90's flicks, especially featuring some kind of sex-capades called Clinton to the reviewer's mind. Rambo/Reagan. 70's paranoia films, political or not? Hard not to think of Nixon. If some people are fortunate enough not to think about the sitting Prez every day and in every thing they do here's to them! And if you decide to go totally apolitical on your blog, Jim...well, I might still read you. But actually I don't think it could be done, anyway.
JE: As I keep saying, movies are neither made nor seen in a vacuum. Some may be timeless, but they're always products of their time! They could not be otherwise.
Let us take a moment, now, to thank the creator of that name: Obadiah Stane.
Let us, indeed. Obadiah Stane was created in the Iron Man comic in 1982 by comics legend Denny O'Neil, whose credits span 40 years. In addition, his Wikipedia page reports that he's also "the person who named Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots and the most important character in The Transformers multiverse".