An enjoyable banter-filled character driven super-hero film.

Rating: 8/10 (10 May 2010)

A delightful banter heavy super-hero film in which the emphasis of the film is clearly put on the character of the film and less so on the super-heroic exploits and trials that comic-based films generally focus upon. The diminished focus on action pieces might threaten to bog the picture down but the character interactions and their barbed-filled vocal exchanges keep the film moving along at a clean pace until the inevitable CG heavy battle scenes.
Not that there is a lack of money spent in terms of CG wizardry on the screen. But instead of merely focusing their efforts on the suit battles, the film is littered with highly detailed sets and the constant use of extremely high-tech holographic touch sensitive technology is all pervasive. Not to diminish the skirmishes involving the Iron Man suit though as they are fun to watch, very smoothly executed and very aesthetically pleasing especially Micky Rourke's frankensteined creation clashing with Tony Stark's ultra-slick technology.
The plot itself treads no particular new ground although it does attempt to through in a great many sub-plots and personal dilemmas for the ample cast of characters to deal with. The problem with most of these dilemmas is that they generate very little serious drama as they are mainly dealt with in either a succinct manner or are treated in a rather glib fashion and things just sort of seem to work themselves out almost accidentally due to the increased amount of events and characters involved basically just diluting the situation to the point that it almost seems an afterthought when it is reconciled. This casual dismissive tone carries over to the antagonists as the film spreads itself out a little too thin to the point that what should have been powerful character conflicts involving the major characters just seem like minor scuffles.
There is also the odd sort of underlying theme of a stereo-typical conservative American approach to the way in which the film idolizes weaponry and pushes the agenda that America possessing the most powerful weapon in the world would undoubtedly result in an increase in world peace. Then there's also the extra step the film takes that Americans apparently feel more comfortable in having a shallow, fun-loving, but seemingly trust worthy private individual in possession of the most powerful weapon in the world but not their own government.
Is the writer trying to make a statement about the current mental state of American with the increase in paranoia and private militias or is it just more poorly thought out Hollywood worship of the Dirty Harry one man army character doing things we are afraid to take responsibility for? The film makes an attempt to explore the folly of this approach by the sudden attack of Ivan Vanko utilizing similar technology that supposedly was beyond the reach of the rest of the world as promised by Stark. This is then further compounded by a frustrated military friend being able to utilize one of the suits which seems improbable considering the vast amount of hack proof machinery that Stark regularly employs. But like with most issues in Iron Man these are just brushed aside or ignored in the face of an impending threat and we are left wondering what became of all that anyways? But despite all these faults I found the film infectiously enjoyable. Despite the fact that many characters aren't utilized to their fullest, they are immediately compelling and a joy to watch when they are on the screen. Micky Roarke is incredibly fun to watch as he is both a brutal thug and a introverted technology wizard who is only truly friendly to his father and his bird. Tony's relationship with his ambiguously defined girlfriend Pepper Potts is very engaging and their constant over-lapping dialogue exchanges were genuinely funny and wholly natural. Of course most of this has to do with Robert Downey Jr.'s great acting abilities and he really elevates the quality of the movie with his level of skill.
Despite the intensely glib tone of the movie I found the whole thing very enjoyable. There's nothing new here to be sure, but the abilities of everyone involved elevate the movie as a whole into a very satisfying experience.