Blog

BY MAGGIE SCOTT

“Iron Man” the movie does the standard Marvel Comics character a little different: the flawed human-turned-superhero takes himself on as much as he does the evil and evildoers of the world. Depending on who you ask, Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is either “a real patriot” or a “merchant of death.” And, before his thinking gets a major overhaul, the CEO of Stark Industries feels he doesn’t have to apologize because his “philosophy of peace is having a bigger stick than others.”

This “robotic wunderkind” is of the ironclad opinion that his dazzling advances in weapons engineering don’t just hurt on a massive scale, but also heal with such things as medical breakthroughs. But, during a weapons demonstration in Afghanistan, when his own technology gets turned on him and his security escort of American soldiers, Stark heeds a wake-up call that will transform not just his global dominance in killing machines, and not just his philosophy, but the very flesh and bone he has before this not demanded much from beyond the actions necessary to indulge in a hedonistic lifestyle.

The attack has left shrapnel in Stark’s body. Keeping the fragments from migrating to vital organs is a sort of magnetic pacemaker implanted in Stark’s chest by another inmate of the mountain cave in which their insurgent captors are holding them. In their eyes, Stark is a “mass murderer” who should have no problem creating a new super weapon just for them.

But, Stark has other ideas. In his stone age surroundings, the wily inventor is somehow able to take advantage of a computer, a soldering tool, a welding torch and a foundry fire to create out of spare missile parts a suit of armor that lets Stark not only smash out of his granite prison, but turn mechanical arms loaded with bullets and flames on the enemy. Imperfectly calibrated rocket propulsion smashes the Iron Man prototype into the Afghan desert. But, after a welcome-home cheeseburger, Tony is ready to shake up the defense industry, dangerously alienate his staunchly pro-weapons (“what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos”) partner, Obadiah (Jeff Bridges), and frighten his loyal and secretly smitten assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

While the Stark Industries board of directors declare Stark the victim of post traumatic stress, he blithely shuts down the company’s production line and retires to the high-tech lab of his posh Malibu digs to create a weapon for good. Will he be ready to save the world when Obadiah plans an army of iron soldiers and Stark’s destruction?

With equal parts bravado and brilliance, Stark makes just enough of a different impression to stand out from the plethora of superheroes that have come before him. Director Jon Favreau and his bevy of writers have taken full advantage of mind-boggling computer effects while keeping the human element cheeky and daring to inject new vigor into the comic superhero genre. As critic Kirk Honeycutt put it, “bottom line: Marvel-ous.”

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual content.
.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us