Just Joshing You

Yesterday, I went to see the latest movie to horn in on my comic book universes: Iron Man. I assume that there will be spoilers ahead, so if you’re not interested, turn back now.

Iron Man is a comic book about a genius, alcoholic, billionaire, weapons making, playboy who ends up being captured by terrorists (originally it was the Vietnamese, and a parable for communism) who use his own company’s weapons, and forced to make a weapon. Instead of making a weapon, he makes a suit of armor that has weapons on it, and uses it to escape. Upon returning to America, he has a change of heart and wants to stop making weapons. Of course his company thinks differently. So Tony takes it into his own hands, makes a new suit of armor, and becomes Iron Man. I suppose that’s the long story short, as it relates to the movie. So onto the movie then.

When Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Tony Stark, I couldn’t have been happier. Who better to play a charming, substance abusing, rich guy than a charming, (ex) substance abusing, rich guy? Not only that, he looks the part perfectly. So how about Jim Rhodes? Terrance Howard? He looks the part, definitely. I would have liked him to be a little more…assertive? Mean? Hard-headed? Gwenyth Paltrow, however, as Pepper Potts, works perfectly for me. She’s timid but strong. Gets things done. Not bad to look at. I had no problem with Jon Favreau putting himself in as Happy Hogan. Small role, does it well, looks fine. I wonder if they’ll explore the Happy/Pepper relationship in the next movies. My main beef is with Jarvis. He is a crucial part of Tony Stark’s life and they just made him a computer as if he didn’t matter! Jarvis is important! That just bothered me.

I liked the pacing of the story. Got through the origin story relatively quickly. They didn’t really touch on Mandarin too much. Kind of downplayed him. But that’s fine, really. He’s kind of a dumb character anyway. Obadiah Stane is the perfect villain for a person like Tony Stark, because he can fight him on all levels of Tony’s life.

Now, I’d known about SHIELD being featured in it for a while. I also knew that Samuel L. Jackson had been wanted for the upcoming Nick Fury movie, because they based the Ultimate Universe Nick Fury on him. That may be fine for the numbskulls who know nothing about comics and see Samuel L. Jackson as such a “bad motha fucka,” but Nick Fury is a white guy, with an eye patch, some greying hair, crazy tech stuff, who always has a cigar. I understand what they’re trying to do with Sam Jackson, but I don’t like it. My pick for Nick Fury would be Robert Redford. That’s the type of guy he needs to be. Older, wise, cunning, ruggedly handsome, looks like he’s been in a couple of wars, looks like he’s probably killed more than 10 guys. Whatever. If you didn’t know, there’s a little scene after the credits where Tony Stark walks into his home and Nick Fury’s there.

Jon Favreau has directed a couple other movies before. Made, Elf, and Zathura. Made was pretty good, but I didn’t see Elf or Zathura. However, none of these three movies has had any kind of huge distribution and reception. None of these has been anything on the scale of Iron Man, arguably one of the most recognizable Marvel superheros. So basically, this is Jon Favreau’s first REAL test as a major motion picture director. And I say he knocked the ball out of the park.

Overall, Iron Man the movie was pretty great. Thoroughly entertaining. I’d give it an 8.5/10. And hey, how about Stan Lee’s cameo? Classic.