I was sure that I would still love the movie-- after all, I even liked Elektra--but there was no way the movie would be good.
I'm just going to say it, for the first and only time: I was wrong. I was so wrong.
Iron Man is as close to the perfect summer blockbuster as I think we are ever going to get. It has none of the pretentious self-entitlement of the new Batman movies and more importantly, none of the style over substance mentality of movies like Transformers.
Favreau has translated 40+ years of Iron Man comic books to film almost perfectly. Despite some small changes, such as putting Stark in Afghanistan instead of Vietnam and turning Jarvis into an AI butler, the film sticks to the source material. Marvel studios did it right by making this movie with people who love the characters and didn't want to change them just for the chance to make a sequel. It is clear that Favreau has great respect for the Iron Man story and that respect translates to the screen.
Favreau's directing is confident, cocky even. Every shot is self-assured but Favreau doesn't rely on tricks and camera gimmicks to make his movie memorable. He sticks to the basics like framing Jeff Bridges' Obadiah Stane from above as the Iron Monger suit towers above him. Stane approaches the suit, arc reactor in hand, as if making a sacrifice to a God. And a nemesis is born!
Favreau's camera lovingly pans over the armor as it snaps into place and takes off into the night skies. He avoids one of the cardinal mistakes of superhero movies. He neither relies on, nor avoids the special effects in his film. He incorporates them wholeheartedly into the scene and makes the seams between the two almost invisible. In the same way, he doesn't gloss over Stark's character defaults in order to create the perfect hero but relishes them, immediately throwing the audience into the same world of booze, one-night stands and extendable stripper poles that playboy Tony Stark lives in.
He also smartly doesn't try to create huge Transformers-style fight scenes. His action sequences are more or less just fist fights and for a film that is as human as this one, that style just works. By remaining focused on the development of the character moreso than inventive fight scenes, Favreau assures that Tony Stark is ever present and Iron Man is just an extension of him. In one memorable scene, Iron Man is shot out of the sky by a tank. He stands calmly, amidst almost complete silence and tranquility fires a missile, and stalks away with an attitude. Seconds later, the tank explodes and the pounding, adrenaline pumping Iron Man themes roars back to life as Tony takes to the skies. The action is about character not about needless posturing as the next great sci-fi innovation. That's why Iron Man seems so much less forced than, say Spiderman, and why it works so well on so many different levels.
Favreau's smartest choice is to spend a significant amount of time establishing the character of Tony Stark before he turns into Iron Man. Like the first movie of any superhero franchise, this story is an origin story. However, it doesn't breeze through the origin in an opening credits voice-over. Nor does it conveniently hide the first transformation behind some giant explosion. Favreau takes a good 2/3 of the movie to establish the origin of this character, a step which is essential for this franchise to be successful. Iron Man is not the Hulk. He is not borne of exposure to gamma rays. He is not the X-Men, gifted with phenomenal powers because of a mutant gene. Iron Man is a hero borne out of moral outrage, over injustice and his own involvement in the world's never ending cycle of violence. Favreau not only understands this but makes sure that the audience understands it. In one particularly powerful speech, Tony accuses Pepper Potts of standing by him for years as he reaped the benefits of destruction and then abandoning him as he tries to take accountability. In that one moment, Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. perfectly sum up Tony's never-ending quest for redemption.
The extended origin also works because it gives the audience the idea that this is not a hero by default. He doesn't have great responsibility because he has great power. He has great responsibility and then he creates the power to make that responsibility manageable. The suit in this film is one of the most engrossing developments to watch. Nearly every scene through the first hour of the movie shows Tony working-- building, crashing, rebuilding--Favreau never lets you forget that this suit was built, not magically gifted to Tony by the comic book god. It becomes a character in itself, initially flawed but developing into a sweet, kick-ass piece of machinery.
It can't be said enough that the casting of this film is genius. Robert Downey Jr. demands respect as both Iron Man and Tony Stark. There are no fissures between the two personalities. Spiderman and Peter Parker were two completely separate personalities but Iron Man and Tony Stark are simply two sides of the same coin. The charisma, recklessness and candor of Stark don't disappear when he dons the suit.
I never would have thought that my hero would be a former alcoholic who once broke into his neighbor's house and passed out in their son's bed, but life has a way of being unpredictable and Robert Downey Jr. has now become the epitome of superhero casting.
The rest of the cast is nearly just as perfect, although Terrence Howard falters a bit as Jim Rhodes. Gwyneth Paltrow actually managed to make Pepper Potts interesting, charming even, and infuse her with the proper amount of vulnerability and inner strength. Paltrow's performance is a little bit quirky but one of the most believable and real portrayals of a potential girlfriend in any superhero movie yet.
Finally, Jeff Bridges excels as Obadiah Stane. Until the eventual revelation that he will become Iron Monger, Stane is likable and effervescent. He has the charisma of someone who must wrangle the press daily and make tough business decisions and he has an undeniable chemistry with Tony. As the pieces gradually fall into place and he becomes the film's villain, his smile takes on an inherent animosity and he becomes every inch the supervillain needed for the movie to succeed. Only Ian McKellen as Magneto has delivered a villain with such resonance. There is never any doubt that Stane will become the villain but Favreau still manages to surprise audiences by uncovering unexpected levels of betrayal and treachery midway through the movie.
Iron Man does just about everything right in constructing a film that will speak to both audiences, the built in fanboys and the mainstream Hollywood audience. Favreau doesn't dumb down Iron Man for the mass audiences though, he slyly inserts enough callouts to fanboys to make this ultimately their movie. From a veiled promise about the appearance of War Machine in the next film to the much talked about postcredit scene in which Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) appears to discuss "The Avengers Initiative," Favreau knows what his audience wants and he gives it to them with a little extra icing on top.
As Marvel's first self-financed film, Iron Man sets the bar pretty high and promises years of fantastic superhero flicks to come. Up next month: Edward Norton as the Incredible Hulk.
It's a great time to be a Marvel fan.
