Comic book movie for fun's sake

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2008)

The two superheroes of the summer seem to be rich, intelligent inventors with high tech whimsy, consummate attractiveness, and a bug up their ass for truth, justice, and the American Way. Iron Man and The Dark Knight are like the same story told with completely different motivations and through completely different means. And after the rash of "serious" comic book movies out there, it's very nice to see one that manages to be bad-ass without just being dumb. Iron Man is that movie.
No "I'm an alienated superhero with feelings" here, folks, Tony Stark is a contrary jerk and he knows it. He also doesn't care, doesn't have to care, and relishes not caring, which is why once he finds something to actually care about, that is, making sure that the technology he developed changes it's nature from weapon to tool, it's without a second guess or any real desire to be quiet and indiscreet about it. This is a nice refreshment after the last couple of years, where even cheery and almost always dependably sappy Superman has to become an emo kid in order to make serious comic book fans wet. Taking some of the riffs of Ozzy's "Iron Man" and turning them into a decent metal score, "Iron Man" the movie is mostly concerned with showcasing the awesomeness of a man who has the ability, the means, and especially, the cash to kick butt on his own motivation. No long discussions about the nature of vigilantism, no fear of keeping a secret identity, no real basic questions except, "How do I get those thrusters to work without killing myself? I want to fly."
I'm not intending to use this review to give The Dark Knight a short shrift, but where Dark Knight finally succeeded at making a realistic, emotionally felt comic book movie that people have been aspiring to ever since X-men showed it was possible, Iron Man significantly shows that you can have superheroes just be superheroes, which has gotten a little lost in the grind (and the few cases where people have tried making a mindless superhero movie in the past few years have succeeded at making them quite mindless). Stark has weaknesses, he has doubts, but damn it, he also never slows down to think about them. It's about time something like this came back.
That said, in the case of Iron Man 2? Eh, probably not gonna be all that great.
--PolarisDiB