Iron Man

Rating: 6/10 (22 October 2008)

Tony Stark, billionaire American industrialist, is kidnapped by terrorists whilst demonstrating Stark Enterprises' newest missile system in Afghanistan. The terrorists force Stark to build them one of his weapons. Instead, he builds a giant armoured suit and escapes. Flying over the desert, the suit malfunctions, and Stark crashes. He wanders around for a bit, and is rescued by American troops.
Upon returning to America, Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) feels guilty about his company's warmongering, so develops a new version of his suit which he can use to destroy those of his weapons that have fallen into the hands of terrorists.
Finally, you might say to yourself, a comic book movie that deals with current political issues. Unfortunately, no. After Stark repents and devotes himself to ridding the world of the evil that he has helped create, we are treated to an hour and a half of Robert Downey Jr. flying around in what amounts to a humanoid racing car.
Admittedly, any Hollywood blockbuster that attempts to explore the politics around the "War on Terror" deserves some respect. But I can't help but feel disappointed when a film goes so far toward a critique of US foreign policy, only to pull it back in the final third in favour of the obligatory action-packed climax.
Politics aside, Iron Man is entertaining enough. Downey Jr., a controversial choice at first, is well-cast as the billionaire playboy- cum-superhero. (I wonder where they got characterisation?) Rumours that much of the film's dialogue was improvised seem likely, as Stark has all the wise-cracking charisma we're used to from Downey Jr. The problem is, Downey Jr.'s star persona, even in Stark's private moments, never lets any real emotion to the surface. We never get a genuine sense of why a man would throw away his entire life to fly around in a robotic suit.
The film tries to use the supporting characters to represent other aspects of American politics, but it can't quite pull that off, either. Colonel Rhodes (Terrence Howard), Stark's best mate, is a by-the-book military pilot, and obviously meant to represent the dilemma the American military finds itself in, forced to fight unnecessary and unwinnable wars. But he does absolutely nothing. And Jeff Bridges' Obadiah Stane, Stark's business partner and analogue of militaristic capitalism, always seems one step away from holding a white cat and laughing maniacally.
Jon Favreau has certainly crafted an entertaining comic book movie. The decision to set Iron Man in California, instead of the otherwise seemingly obligatory New York, does give the film a distinctive feel. It's just a shame that a film that, in its opening scenes, proposes to deal with important political issues, eventually wimps out and descends into the same old blockbuster chicanery. In that respect, summer 2008's other movie event, The Dark Knight, shows us how it's done. Christopher Nolan's film keeps its political viewpoints under its belt, only allowing us a peak when the narrative demands, and so allowing us to make our own interpretations; while Iron Man wears its political heart on its sleeve, and therefore shows the world just how shallow it really is.