Iron Man

Paramount

R4 DVD

Iron Man is an unusual Hollywood film in that it matches it’s special effects and action foundation with a fascinating plot and extremely witty and cynical sense of humour from its lead. The movie opened to praise from the critics and raked in some $100 million in its opening weekend in the US. At first look it is surprising, it is a movie about a man in a metal suit who becomes a reluctant superhero, but underneath, of course, it is to much more.

It is sometimes hard to transition from a comic book to the film, even more so when translating over time. Iron Man transplants Stan Lee's 1963 Cold War-theme to the present day war in Afghanistan and does so exceptionally well.

Robert Downey Jnr plays Stark, a rich and terribly obnoxious playboy industrialist who specializes in military hardware. He inherited the business from his father and using his own technical ability has made the company what it is today. However, he makes his money hard and fast by trading in all manner of weapon with little to no ethical consideration. He has just developed a new weapon called The Jericho, it takes its name from the mythical Biblical town of Jericho where trumpets supposedly brought down the walls and it does just that – it causes massive damage, quickly, easily and with one hit.

Stark’s Convoy is attacked and he is taken captive by terrorists. During captivity he suffers severe heart damage and a local doctor Yinsen (Shaun Toub) improvises a solution using a battery powered magnet to stop the shrapnel from destroying his heart.

The terrorists demand Stark create a “Jericho” weapon for them and under after torture and placed under constant duress he begins work. The terrorists also show Stark the stockpile of “Stark” weapons they use to battle the West, it seems someone is supplying both sides of the war.

This early section of the film is powerful and at times brutal. Its portrayal of the violence of the region and the nature of the conflict gives the film a much sharper bite than most comic book based superhero films. The military and political background of the film matched with Robert Downey Jnr’s vicious and cutting wit make Iron Man a very intelligent and adult sort of superhero film. This is certainly not a tale for the kiddies.

Stark and Yinsen are supposedly working on the weapon but actually create a new device to control Starks heart and develop a special suit with which he can escape. Stark believes he can take Yinsen with him but Yinsen always knew this was a one way trip and gives his life to save Stark reminding him to make the most of the opportunity. Stark does not intend to forget what Yinsen has given him.

The suit allows Stark to escape in truly momentous style but the suit only carries him so far, it crashes in the desert and Stark is found wandering dehydrated but alive and returns to the US a different man. He gives a press conference in which he advises that Stark Industries will no longer produce weapons, a statement not well received by the shareholders, the military nor his business partner. What Stark does not realize is that his long time mentor and business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) actually paid to have him killed and is the person supplying weapons to all comers. Stane takes out a court order claiming Stark has “traumatic stress” and takes control of Stark Industries.

Stark realizes what he had to do, he refines the model he has for the suit he created to escape the terrorists, builds a new “heart module” and uses it to destroy the weapons Stane is supplying the terrorists. The subtext about the heart module is also fun, since we learn it was only originally created by the company as a promotional device to keep the greenies and peaceniks off their backs and now it has real use ! The scenes of him developing and testing the suite and all the related technology are a geeks dream ! Time and time again light and comedic relief, which could even be seen as robotic slapstick, is used to great success to break up the story and create a nice arc through personal narrative, drama, humour and robotic battles.

At the same time Stane realizes that Stark will be a problem and so has retrieved the suit Stark abandoned in the desert and has made a even bigger “Iron Man” and the fight is on.

Iron Man is an unusual superhero film; it spends a lot of time showing the “world at war” and seems to have a dim view of the current state of life. Downey Jnr is superbly cynical and sarcastic and moves the dialogue of the film to a whole new level. He truly inhabits the character and being someone who has had his share of problems in his personal life brings an air of authenticity to derisive Stark. For many he would not be an immediate choice as a superhero, he has spent a lot of his career playing “anti hero” type roles and certainly has a certain all too human quality. Yet it is his humanity which makes the film, we are not constantly waiting for superhero biffo, but are watching the unfolding of an unusual and fascinating tale of a man confronted with the “sins” of his past and the damage caused in his name by his company.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark’s long-time assistant Pepper Potts is inspired and Jeff Bridges is a great adversary, with his bald head and beard he is hard to identify at first glance. What I liked about Iron Man is that while it used all manner of special effects, technology and action sequences, the film was not just about blowing things up. There was a solid plot throughout, excellent dialogue, good character development and quite a bit of humour.

The comic book nature of Iron Man was not overplayed and while there is a superb good Iron Man Vs bad Iron Man scene at the end, the focus on the film is really on the evolution of Stark from indulgent playboy to a thinking person critical of what is going on around him using the suit to achieve his deeper goals. Yes, it does have the oh so current model of United States Vs the terrorists but at the same time there is a strong criticism of the use of weapons for their own sake and while it doesn’t have a political “message” avoids moving into flag waving territory. Iron Man is certainly an action film and it doesn’t try to be anything else but it does have a surprising depth which makes it’s even more memorable.

I liked Iron Man for so many reasons it seems to balance the superhero genre with a background of military and political conflict which gives it substance. It also has a strong plot and excellent dialogue which makes it stand out. I am not sure it would have been so successful without Robert Downey Jnr and I am pleased to hear he will appear in the follow up film as well.

There are various editions of the film including the two DVD special edition on release in Australia which includes some marvellous special features including deleted and extended scenes, the I Am Iron Man - 7-part "Making Of" Documentary, The Invincible Iron Man - 6-part "History of the Hero", Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test, The Actor's Process, Still Galleries and More!

The elaborate 7-part making-of documentary entitled “I Am Iron Man” is quite noteworthy. This documentary chronicles every part of the process of bringing “Iron Man” to the big screen; it is one of the better making of series on any 2008 DVD release.  “The Invincible Iron Man” is another multi-chaptered documentary; this explores the development of the Iron Man character from comic book to cinema.  “Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man”, gives us an inside look into how the filmmakers created the incredible special effects of the movie. The deleted and extended scenes come to 25 minutes, quite a nice offering.

The second disc in this set is really quite packed with very solid documentaries and content which are worthwhile exploring.

Other editions include the Mask edition which is the 2 DVD in a collectable Mask and the Ezydvd.com.au tin edition of the 2 DVD set.