Iron Man more interested in the Man than the Iron

Rating: 8/10 (5 July 2008)

If there is one thing that makes Iron Man a cut above many comic book movies, and on par with such entries as Batman Begins and Superman Returns, it is it's reliance on character and the actions that occur because of decisions that emanate from them, and not the machinations of plot. Iron Man is a story about it's central character, Tony Stark, and he is carried well by performer Robert Downey, Jr.
Iron Man opens in Afghanistan, where Stark, millionaire weapons developer, is showing off his latest product for the military. The convoy he is riding in is attacked, and Stark is captured by rebels, who demand he build them a version of his new weapon. Stark instead uses the parts and tools to fashion a suit of armor to help him escape, and keep him alive by preventing some shrapnel lodged in his chest from entering his heart.
After Stark manages to escape from his captors, he returns to home, and announces to the world that his company will stop weapons production, which doesn't go over well with his board or directors, or his longtime partner and friend Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). While the political machinations are going down, Stark is busy tinkering with his armor design to get it perfected, and when he sees the atrocities going on around the world, often using weapons from his company, he decides to use the armor to act.
At the plot level, Iron Man is nothing tremendously special. It follows a typical superhero origin story, letting us see how the superhero came into being, the early testing of powers, etc. In that respect, Iron Man is nothing to write home about. However, given that framework, director John Favreau and screenwriters Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway use it to build the story around the cataclysmic change that sends Tony Stark from being a millionarie playboy who spouts platitudes about how weapons protect the US to a man awakened to the bitter realities that surround him that he had previously shut out.
What helps sell Tony Stark is the strong performance of Robert Downey, Jr. Downey, in concert with the script, makes Tony Stark less of your typical superhero and more of an average, if someone eccentric, guy. Yes, Stark is a genius, and has a quirky personality, but he still manages to seem a bit like someone you know and like spending time with. Downey's exceptional dialogue delivery, paired with his devil may care attitude, makes Tony Stark a memorable comic book hero.
Iron Man imbues it's secondary characters, even the minor ones, with enough development for us to care about what happens to them, so that when the action sequences occur, we have an rooting interest in the outcome, making them more than just random pyrotechnics. Favreau and company don't accomplish the best action sequences in modern comic book action film-making, but they work well enough to be entertaining.
Most of the other performances are up to par, with Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's right hand woman, Pepper Potts, who has a somewhat unrequited interest in Stark. Jeff Bridges portrays Obadiah Stane with both a seemingly well-intentioned interest in Stark's success, but also a just under the surface sense of menace. Terrence Howard fills the role of reliable associate with good aplomb as Rhodey, Stark's longtime military friend.
What Iron Man proves, and other filmmakers toiling in the comic book world would do well to take notice of, is that when you bring the focus of your story in on the people at the heart of it, and match them with good actors, the results can be exceptional. We can only hope Iron Man is the continuation of a trend that keeps growing.