Stainless style

Rating: 6/10 (15 November 2015)

Iron Man is effectively the film that sparked life back into the superhero genre. Being Marvel studios first solo film there was a lot riding on the film to be a success and allow the company to bring more comic book heroes to the big screen. Having Jon Favreau direct and giving Robert Downey Jr. a chance to continue his career revival as the titular hero were brave choices, but also ones which pay-off in the best way possible. Downey Jr. pretty much takes control of the film and breathes life into what could have been a dull hero. Most of all Iron Man succeeds where it needs to and offers exactly what the audiences wants with fun characters, exciting action and plenty of witty lines.
Story: Billionaire playboy Tony Stark is in Afghanistan to demonstrate a new missile built by his weapons company. He is attacked and captured by a terrorist group, only surviving because an electromagnet is fused into his chest. He escapes by secretly building and powering a suit of armour via the magnet, which he decides to put to greater use upon his return. As far as origin stories go this is extremely well done. It plays it safe in certain areas, but it is played out with such style that it is easy to forgive. We get plenty of insights into Stark's past, who his friends are and solid reasoning as to how he came to be. I also liked how terrorism was a major theme throughout, giving the characters actions much more weight than usual.
Hero: It feels like Robert Downey Jr. was born to play this role and he is succeeds in every way possible. It's all the more impressive given the difficult job of making Stark someone who is sardonic and arrogant, whilst also being charming and courageous. He handles every aspect of the role brilliantly, offering plenty of laughs and being someone you grow to care about.
Villains: Jeff Bridges does a solid job as usual as Stark's scheming business partner Obadiah Stane. He does come off as a little one note and it is obvious he'll be evil from the get good, but Bridges charismatic portrayal makes the role more engaging and he does get a few enjoyably sinister moments. Faran Tahir also does a fine job with a limited role as terrorist leader Raza.
Support: Gwyneth Paltrow is a mixed bag as Stark's assistant Pepper Potts. She certainly has chemistry with Downey Jr. and has some amusing lines, yet she just didn't seem at ease with much of the dialogue and wasn't that believable in the role. Terrence Howard puts in a solid performance as Stark's air force ally Rhodes. He definitely convinces as a military presence and his scenes with Downey Jr. are fun, but the role just isn't fleshed out that much. Paul Bettany provides the voice of computer Jarvis and gives the right amount of flair to the snappy dialogue.
Action: The action is straight-forward and yet surprisingly effective. We get plenty of shots of Iron Man soaring across the skies and him blowing things up, with it all being shot in a very stylish way that makes it more effective than it should be. Importantly it never forgets to keep things exciting and there are some well-timed moments of humour. The climax is mainly two men in metal trying to crush each other, but even that was a lot of fun and shot with an appropriate intensity. The CGI is mostly excellent and blends in very well.
Music: The score by Ramin Djawadi is based much more in hard rock and consistently excellent. The heavy guitar should isn't used much in films and that helps it standout here, giving a lot of attitude to certain scenes and helping give the film its own identity. The music when Stark first tries out the suit is pulse pounding in all the right ways.
Production: Firstly the film does look fantastic. Everything is appropriately slick and stylish, but without overdoing it and that helps to retain a greater sense of realism. Setting it in California was also a nice idea seeing as we've seen so many superheroes based on the west coast and it does take advantage of the area with many scenic shots. The script is well written for the most part and most scenes flow along smoothly. The humour is brilliantly placed throughout and works mainly due to Downey Jr.'s superb delivery, whilst always managing to walk the fine line between subtle and slapstick. It's good to see a superhero that doesn't spend most of the film moping around and actually embraces what he has, it's not like that's a bad thing but it is always pleasant to see something different.
Conclusion: For me Iron Man works so well because it gives the audience the perfect mixture of thrills and laughs that it appeared it would. Robert Downey Jr. is undoubtedly the star of the show and his charismatic portrayal of someone as flawed as Stark makes for the perfect centre of the film. Beyond that the action is always exciting, the score is a lot of fun and the writing is great throughout. The film suffers slightly from some plot predictability and some of the characters not being overly engaging, but they are only minor setbacks. Importantly it's easy to see why Iron Man helped launch Marvel as a cinematic force, it succeeds in making its superhero both fun and serious when he needs to be.