While I tend to be very nerdish when it comes to movies based on comic books, bashing them for not being true to the origin while still being all-in-all a good movie, I was pleasantly surprised by Iron Man. After the spectacular disaster that was Rise of the Silver Surfer, which was neither a good tribute nor a good movie, you can understand the skepticism I felt towards this new Marvel film. One part of me wanted to hate it, due to its "sure-to-be" deviation from the comic book, like X-Men, SpiderMan, and The Fantastic Four before it. Another part of me wanted to love the film because of its tribute to the one superhero that, while I'm sure the majority of comic book fans know him, isn't as well-known as, say, SpiderMan.
The final part told me to shut up and enjoy.
Which is what I did. Iron Man was both a good movie and tribute, which has been thus far been a concept beyond the thought-process of Hollywood. Where they've failed before, they've now succeeded. Previous Marvel films, while not being terrible movies, have changed the storylines and character portrayals so fiercely that now great story arcs such as Civil War are now impossible to achieve. SpiderMan 3, despite it being 95% chick-flick, I actually enjoyed, even through it's terrible portrayal of Venom. The alien symbiote in the movie enhanced feelings of anger and depression, while in the comic it wasn't the alien itself, but the power it gave its hosts that was corrupting, expressed through the fact that when SpiderMan first rejected the symbiote, he was fatally wounded, and the alien dragged him to safety before bonding with Eddie Brock. Likewise, Galacticus is definitely an intergalactic giant, as opposed to the cosmic cloud portrayed in Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Robert Downey, Jr.'s portrayal, however, was an excellent example of what an actor should do--become the character. As a matter of fact, I can no longer imagine Tony Stark played by anyone else. He just lets the billionaire-playboy shine through, making the action-packed movie still one of the funniest movies to come out this summer. The dialogue is generally witty and fresh than manufactured catchphrases, and the various action sequences are designed to be nothing anyone has seen, despite the numerous superhero movies out. Congrats, Tony Stark. The superhero franchise lives a bit longer thanks to your life-support system.
4 out of 5 ticket stubs
1 comment:
It really was a great movie. I did not expect the witty dialogue, or the exceptional performance from Robert Downey Jr. Did you happen to stay after the credits and watch the 45 second clip that set up Marvel for the next decade? If not then I'll fill you in later.
Overall another great review and I whole heartedly agree.
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