(OT, But Peripheral) And, In Conclusion -- Iron Man
Pete Holland Jr.
plenty of background that forms your opinion so people can decide whether
your recommendations hold water. So the first consideration is this: if
you are looking for a comparison to the source material comic book, you'll
have to talk to someone else. I haven't read an Iron Man comic in almost
two decades. My only knowledge of the character comes from those long ago
three issues that I read (it was never my favorite series) and depictions
in Twisted Toyfair Theater and Liberty Meadows that Tony Stark had fallen
off the wagon again. On the bright side, this will probably be my most
objective review of a comic book movie ever.
So, we open with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., who, I have to admit,
creeped me out to see him swilling scotch. I know it's not real, but given
his history....) touring with some military troops and getting caught in an
ambush. A temporarily unexploded rocket bears the name of his company,
Stark Enterprises. What at first seems like a throwaway ironic joke is
actually much more -- rebels have a huge amount of Stark Enterprises
weaponry, and they want him to build the newest repulsor rockets for them.
Instead, he creates a suit of armor (which looks nicely like the original
Iron Man armor from the first appearance) and tries to destroy the rebels
and the weapons. He escapes and is motivated to improve the armor, unaware
that the parts of the prototype he left behind have been found and are
being experimented with.
This is a weird movie, because it actually functions on two levels. First,
there's the general crowd-pleasing superhero stuff. But if you look
closely, you'll see a very interesting examination of the world going on.
People love peace, but violence is foisted on them, either by people who
just want power or people who want to benefit from that power. Much like
the first Robocop, the violence also spins audience expectations around.
At times, Iron Man is just as brutal as those he fights, like when he's
flinging rebels around like dolls. The violence on the part of the bad
guys is terrible and angering, while Iron Man's violence is cathartic and
you root for him to drop the hammer. If you like a little intellectual
stimulation with your popcorn, you'll find yourself occassionally thinking
about how easy it is to decry violence and celebrate it, depending strictly
on the target of the abuse.
This isn't to say the movie is a dry, artsy flick. Jon Favreau really knows
how to work a camera, and his use of transitional light really underscores
the characters' reactions to their surroundings. His "Wedding Crashers"
touch also makes Tony Stark extremely human, but that's not just Favreau.
Downey also gives the character a solid foundation. Coming off as a cross
between Bruce Wayne and Eugene Levy (his voice and delivery, at times, are
almost dead ringers for it), he depicts Stark as a slave to his talents.
People who paint are compelled to paint. People who can play guitar are
compelled to make music. A man like Stark can unlock the mysteries of
technology, and so he creates such things where advancement is dramatic,
only to see he needs to adapt when his eyes are opened to the problems of
the world around him. Although goofy and grandstanding at times, he seems
more like a fun guy than an egotist who deems himself superior to those he
is helping. A real tribute to Downey is when Stark is working on
something. You can almost see the gears turning in his head. It's not
often in movies where a character's intelligence is something you actually
believe instead of it just being an Informed Attribute, but it's here.
Downey's acting is fantastic. There's a scene about halfway through where
he has to replace his artificial heart, and Pepper Potts, his assistant,
has to help. She tugs the wrong wire, and induces cardiac arrest. Stark
is continuing to talk and seem casual so as not to panic her while panic is
clearly evident in his eyes, like he's is trying with everything in him not
to freak out and send her around the bend, the only one that can save him.
It's a nice subtlety that reveals Downey was an excellent choice for the
role.
The movie does a lot right. A test run mistake is used in the climax, but
isn't a magic bullet that ultimately destroys the bad guy. The character
interactions are believable, even when you can tell where they are going.
The characters seem like real people instead of just characters moving the
plot along. Iron Man and his final nemesis also let you get a good look at
them. One of the things I didn't like about the Transformers movie was
that the characters didn't move, they posed, even when they were just
talking to each other. None of that here. Favreau has enough confidence
in his work and what is going on the screen that he doesn't overdo the
blocking.
The result is a movie that is actually really, really good. I don't mean to
sound like I'm softpedaling the praise, but the end result is so radically
different from what I was expecting, it'll take a while to fully process
everything, but there's no doubt I really enjoyed the movie and would love
to see it again.
And by the way, the rumors are true: Sam Jackson DOES appear as Nick Fury,
but only during the stinger after the end credits. After all the jokes I
made about a Sam Jackson Nick Fury ("Hand me the LAWS rocket. It's the one
labeled, 'Bad m*****f*****.'"), it's nice to see they got the casting
perfect. It sure beats seeing "the Hoff" in the role.
Antonio E. Gonzalez
first true Mecha?
On Fri, 02 May 2008 21:49:17 -0500, "Pete Holland Jr."
<pet...@uti.com> wrote:
>The key thing to writing reviews of anything, movies, whatever, is to give
>plenty of background that forms your opinion so people can decide whether
>your recommendations hold water. So the first consideration is this: if
>you are looking for a comparison to the source material comic book, you'll
>have to talk to someone else. I haven't read an Iron Man comic in almost
>two decades. My only knowledge of the character comes from those long ago
>three issues that I read (it was never my favorite series) and depictions
>in Twisted Toyfair Theater and Liberty Meadows that Tony Stark had fallen
>off the wagon again. On the bright side, this will probably be my most
>objective review of a comic book movie ever.
>
>So, we open with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., who, I have to admit,
>creeped me out to see him swilling scotch. I know it's not real, but given
>his history....)
It'd still only be scotch; considering the *far* harder stuff that
had repeatedly landed RDJ in rehab, I doubt scotch would be enough!
<snip for brevity>
>
>Downey's acting is fantastic. There's a scene about halfway through where
>he has to replace his artificial heart, and Pepper Potts, his assistant,
>has to help. She tugs the wrong wire, and induces cardiac arrest. Stark
>is continuing to talk and seem casual so as not to panic her while panic is
>clearly evident in his eyes, like he's is trying with everything in him not
>to freak out and send her around the bend, the only one that can save him.
>It's a nice subtlety that reveals Downey was an excellent choice for the
>role.
>
<nerdpicking>*adjusts glasses* It's not an artificial heart, it's an
electro-magnet/powerplant combo that keeps shrapnel from burrowing
into his heart. (IIRC, the story's a little different/varies in the
comic books, but Tony still needs it to keep him alive.)</nerdpicking>
. . . and yeah, RDJ's acting is brilliant; if not for Academy
snobbery, he should get an nomination for this; I'm sure it's been
said before, but Downey's perfect to play Tony Stark: both excel at
what they do, both tend to live life too hard . . .
<BIGTIME snippage>
Ooookay, you should've been a little bit more careful with that
huge spoiler at the end; interestingly the end of both your post *and*
the movie! Seriously, if not space, you could've at least rot-13'ed
it; I know it, you know it, buuut . . .
I'm surprised you also didn't mention that other little ref, that
being Jim Rhodes (Tony even calls him Rhodey). Just having him there
as Tony's USAF liason was the tiny subtlety that having one-armed Dr.
Connor as Peter Parker's science professor in Spider-man 3 was; having
him in Tony's workshop, look at the "spare," and say "maybe next time"
was subtle as a sledge hammer!
--
- ReFlex76
- "Let's beat the terrorists with our most powerful weapon . . . hot girl-on-girl action!"
- "The difference between young and old is the difference between looking forward to your next birthday, and dreading it!"
- Jesus Christ - The original hippie!
Katana > Chain Saw > Baseball Bat > Hammer
Pete Holland Jr.
> Would "But Peripheral" be because Iron Man was effectively the
> first true Mecha?
Nah, just trying to preface my header properly. I mean, I have been away
for a while.
> It'd still only be scotch; considering the *far* harder stuff that
> had repeatedly landed RDJ in rehab, I doubt scotch would be enough!
I know, but it's just a thought I can't shake. Sometimes background
knowledge gives things an unintended dimension. For example, years ago,
there was a generic sitcom called "Emirille" that featured Emirille LaGasse
(he wasn't the main character, everyone else pretty much worked around
him). One of the stars was Robert Urich. In the episode I saw, the whole
crew shaved their heads as some sort of publicity stunt or bet or
something. The problem was, Urich had just recovered from cancer. Now, if
you didn't know, it was simply something that happened in the episode. But
if you knew about the cancer, seeing Urich basically looking like someone
who had been through chemo just didn't sit right.
> <nerdpicking>*adjusts glasses* It's not an artificial heart, it's an
> electro-magnet/powerplant combo that keeps shrapnel from burrowing
> into his heart. (IIRC, the story's a little different/varies in the
> comic books, but Tony still needs it to keep him alive.)</nerdpicking>
The only reason I don't have glasses to adjust is I'm too stubborn to do
anything about my 20/30 vision. ;-)
That did strike me as strange. The movie clearly establishes at the start
that the doohickey on his chest is an electromagnet. But if that was all,
it shouldn't trigger a cardiac arrest when removed, it should just unpause
the countdown timer like in Crank. When it's removed from his chest at the
start of the third act, he should have been able to just stomp down to his
workshop and grab the original.
> Ooookay, you should've been a little bit more careful with that
> huge spoiler at the end; interestingly the end of both your post *and*
> the movie! Seriously, if not space, you could've at least rot-13'ed
> it; I know it, you know it, buuut . . .
Sorry about that, but I honestly didn't think it warranted a spoiler alert.
It had nothing to do with the plot, if you leave during the credits you
won't know it's there, and I was actually expecting it earlier than it
appeared (at least when the one guy tells Pepper, "Just call us SHIELD."
But perhaps I got a little carried away. I am one of the original Sam
Jackson fans, and the thought of him as Nick Fury guarantees that I'll be
at the sequel opening night.
> I'm surprised you also didn't mention that other little ref, that
> being Jim Rhodes (Tony even calls him Rhodey). Just having him there
> as Tony's USAF liason was the tiny subtlety that having one-armed Dr.
> Connor as Peter Parker's science professor in Spider-man 3 was; having
> him in Tony's workshop, look at the "spare," and say "maybe next time"
> was subtle as a sledge hammer!
Keep in mind, I'm not a traditional fanboy. Who is Jim Rhodes? (Remember,
I have only read three IM comics and flipped through a couple. I didn't
even know Stark's assistant was named Pepper Potts until the movie.) And,
yeah, the "Maybe next time" was unsubtle. Combined with the knowledge that
he's under contract for two sequels, I think we can see what'll happen in
the next flick.
Patriarch
> Sort of spoilers below....
<snip>
>> I'm surprised you also didn't mention that other little ref, that
>> being Jim Rhodes (Tony even calls him Rhodey). Just having him there
>> as Tony's USAF liason was the tiny subtlety that having one-armed Dr.
>> Connor as Peter Parker's science professor in Spider-man 3 was; having
>> him in Tony's workshop, look at the "spare," and say "maybe next time"
>> was subtle as a sledge hammer!
>
> Keep in mind, I'm not a traditional fanboy. Who is Jim Rhodes? (Remember,
> I have only read three IM comics and flipped through a couple. I didn't
> even know Stark's assistant was named Pepper Potts until the movie.) And,
> yeah, the "Maybe next time" was unsubtle. Combined with the knowledge that
> he's under contract for two sequels, I think we can see what'll happen in
> the next flick.
In the original comic, he was a pilot who Tony Stark encountered after
getting free in the armor. Jim helped Tony recharge the armor, got him
out of Vietnam, etc.
Years later, when Tony briefly retired for medical reasons (snapped
spine or such), he gave Jim Rhodes the Iron Man armor. After Tony
returned, Jim had the armor modified with more guns, and called himself
War Machine - nifty black/silver deco.
--
Patriarch
^_^ oO(Not accurate, but you get the gist)
Mark Jones
cross-platforming...........criminey, just how many game-playing devices
ARE there these days? Shoot, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a
Saturn version in that yard-long lineup........
I miss the Saturn..........
S.t.A.n.L.e.E
It's about time America more closely tight-knits cross-marketing! ;)
Laters. =)
Stan
--
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__| | ( )
/ _ | |/ LostRune+sig [at] UofR [dot] net
| ( _| | http://www.uofr.net/~lostrune/
\ ______| _______ ____ ___
/ \ / \ | _ | \ | |
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/___/\/\___|__| |__|___| \ ___|
Pete Holland Jr.
>> How about that IM videogame commercial? Talk about
>> cross-platforming...........criminey, just how many game-playing devices
>> ARE there these days? Shoot, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a
>> Saturn version in that yard-long lineup........
>>
>
> It's about time America more closely tight-knits cross-marketing! ;)
Well, it depends. If they ever cross-licensed things to let, say, Chun Li
beat the living daylights out of Paris Hilton, let me know where I can
advance order one.
S.t.A.n.L.e.E
Y'know they'll just end up in a yuri tape. ^_^
Laters. =)
STan
Antonio E. Gonzalez
<LostRu...@UofR.SlamSpam.net> wrote:
>Sun, 4 May 2008 7:00am-0500, Pete Holland Jr. <pet...@uti.com>:
>
>> S.t.A.n.L.e.E wrote:
>>
>> >> How about that IM videogame commercial? Talk about
>> >> cross-platforming...........criminey, just how many game-playing devices
>> >> ARE there these days? Shoot, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a
>> >> Saturn version in that yard-long lineup........
>> >>
>> >
>> > It's about time America more closely tight-knits cross-marketing! ;)
>>
>> Well, it depends. If they ever cross-licensed things to let, say, Chun Li
>> beat the living daylights out of Paris Hilton, let me know where I can
>> advance order one.
>>
>
>Y'know they'll just end up in a yuri tape. ^_^
>
Hell no, Chun Li has done nothing to merit getting chlymedia!
Pete Holland Jr.
>>> Well, it depends. If they ever cross-licensed things to let, say, Chun
>>> Li beat the living daylights out of Paris Hilton, let me know where I
>>> can advance order one.
>>>
>>
>>Y'know they'll just end up in a yuri tape. ^_^
>>
>
> Hell no, Chun Li has done nothing to merit getting chlymedia!
Cheap shot: Last April Fools' Day (2007, not this year), I wrote to a
friend of mine that there was a new computer game, Rock 'em Sock 'em
Bimbos, starring Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. Shots to the head were
worth nothing, because there was nothing inside there to damage. The color
palette for Hilton's stage was "night vision".
Antonio E. Gonzalez
Actually, one way to trigger cardiac arrest is to introduce foreign
material into the heart, like . . . shrapnel! (even a blood clot,
technically not a "foreign" object can trigger it though, just to hint
at what the heart can and can't take) The magnet turns off, the
shrapnel starts working its way back into the heart, and the heart
responds accordingly . . .
>> Ooookay, you should've been a little bit more careful with that
>> huge spoiler at the end; interestingly the end of both your post *and*
>> the movie! Seriously, if not space, you could've at least rot-13'ed
>> it; I know it, you know it, buuut . . .
>
>Sorry about that, but I honestly didn't think it warranted a spoiler alert.
>It had nothing to do with the plot, if you leave during the credits you
>won't know it's there, and I was actually expecting it earlier than it
>appeared (at least when the one guy tells Pepper, "Just call us SHIELD."
>But perhaps I got a little carried away. I am one of the original Sam
>Jackson fans, and the thought of him as Nick Fury guarantees that I'll be
>at the sequel opening night.
>
A motherfucker must do what a motherfucker must do! ; )
>> I'm surprised you also didn't mention that other little ref, that
>> being Jim Rhodes (Tony even calls him Rhodey). Just having him there
>> as Tony's USAF liason was the tiny subtlety that having one-armed Dr.
>> Connor as Peter Parker's science professor in Spider-man 3 was; having
>> him in Tony's workshop, look at the "spare," and say "maybe next time"
>> was subtle as a sledge hammer!
>
>Keep in mind, I'm not a traditional fanboy. Who is Jim Rhodes? (Remember,
>I have only read three IM comics and flipped through a couple. I didn't
>even know Stark's assistant was named Pepper Potts until the movie.) And,
>yeah, the "Maybe next time" was unsubtle. Combined with the knowledge that
>he's under contract for two sequels, I think we can see what'll happen in
>the next flick.
Already nicely covered!
--
- ReFlex 76
Sea Wasp
> On Sat, 03 May 2008 07:30:30 -0500, "Pete Holland Jr."
> <pet...@uti.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Sort of spoilers below....
>>
>>
>>> Would "But Peripheral" be because Iron Man was effectively the
>>>first true Mecha?
>>
>>Nah, just trying to preface my header properly. I mean, I have been away
>>for a while.
Besides, Iron Man is a long way from being the "first true Mecha".
Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" pre-dates IM, I think, and Doc Smith's
battle between power-armored Kimball Kinnison and Helmuth of Boskone
goes back before that a couple decades.
>>Keep in mind, I'm not a traditional fanboy. Who is Jim Rhodes? (Remember,
>>I have only read three IM comics and flipped through a couple. I didn't
>>even know Stark's assistant was named Pepper Potts until the movie.) And,
>>yeah, the "Maybe next time" was unsubtle. Combined with the knowledge that
>>he's under contract for two sequels, I think we can see what'll happen in
>>the next flick.
>
>
> Already nicely covered!
I'm not looking forward to the "Tony Falls Off The Wagon" plotline,
but I suppose there's no avoiding it.
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com
Galen
<seawasp...@sgeObviousinc.com> wrote:
>
> Besides, Iron Man is a long way from being the "first true Mecha".
>Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" pre-dates IM, I think, and Doc Smith's
>battle between power-armored Kimball Kinnison and Helmuth of Boskone
>goes back before that a couple decades.
HG Wells _War of the Worlds_, and the Martian Walkers?
Sea Wasp
I was thinking more humanoid, but yes, if we include other machines
that aren't just tanks or ships, Wells gets there first. Well, aside
from the Greeks and Talos, perhaps.
Antonio E. Gonzalez
<LostRu...@UofR.SlamSpam.net> wrote:
>Sat, 3 May 2008 9:13pm-0700, Mark Jones <faf...@msn.com>:
>
>> How about that IM videogame commercial? Talk about
>> cross-platforming...........criminey, just how many game-playing devices
>> ARE there these days? Shoot, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a
>> Saturn version in that yard-long lineup........
>>
>
>It's about time America more closely tight-knits cross-marketing! ;)
>
Here's Iron Man, spoilerific and in two minutes!:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2APuxubWSmE>
To sound horribly un-PC, the narrator sounds like a retarded gay
man with a cold; the animation reminds me of Ren & Stimpy, though the
art's clearly not John K.; either way, I couldn't stop laughing . . .
in a good way!
sanjian
> On Sun, 4 May 2008 02:44:12 -0400, "S.t.A.n.L.e.E"
> <LostRu...@UofR.SlamSpam.net> wrote:
>
>> Sat, 3 May 2008 9:13pm-0700, Mark Jones <faf...@msn.com>:
>>
>>> How about that IM videogame commercial? Talk about
>>> cross-platforming...........criminey, just how many game-playing
>>> devices ARE there these days? Shoot, I wouldn't be surprised if
>>> there was a Saturn version in that yard-long lineup........
>>>
>>
>> It's about time America more closely tight-knits cross-marketing! ;)
>>
>
> Here's Iron Man, spoilerific and in two minutes!:
>
> <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2APuxubWSmE>
>
> To sound horribly un-PC, the narrator sounds like a retarded gay
> man with a cold; the animation reminds me of Ren & Stimpy, though the
> art's clearly not John K.; either way, I couldn't stop laughing . . .
> in a good way!
New rule. Nobody under thirty is allowed to use flash.
The depressing thing is, somewhere out there, someone thought this was
funny, amusing, or even just marginally adequate as parody.
Antonio E. Gonzalez
I prefer the term "guilty pleasure" . . .
--
- ReFlex 76
- "Let's beat the terrorists with our most powerful weapon . . . hot
girl-on-girl action!"
- "The difference between young and old is the difference between
looking forward to your next birthday, and dreading it!"
- Jesus Christ - The original hippie!
<http://reflex76.blogspot.com/>
<http://www.blogger.com/profile/07245047157197572936>