THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
There are movies that take risks that are worth it in the long run. Iron Man is one of those films. Pitched without a script, cost 200 million dollars and casting washed up actor at the time Robert Downey Jr. All of those facts were risks in 2008. This movie would end up becoming a successful film that ended up grossing over 500 million, redeemed their lead actor entirely and kickstarted the ongoing superhero franchise known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
PLOT
The film follows Stark Industries CEO Tony Stark, a selfish billionaire weapons manufacturer that is abducted by terrorists, forced to make a missile for them. In particular, they want the ‘Jericho’, that can release multiple missiles at once at the target. Instead, he builds a mechanical suit to escape with his life. Coming home, he shuts down his weapons manufacturing and begins experimenting on the arc reactor technology that saved his life. With his second design, he masters his flight skills. When discovering that his company is selling weapons to the Ten Rings, he uses his third design to destroy what remains of his work. He fends off against the terrorists with repulsion blasts. Just as he tends to go home again, he gets attacked by F-22 raptors. He calls his best friend James Rhodes and reveals his identity to him, so that he can call off the attack on him. When his assistant, Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts, finds out of his activities as well, he requests her to hack into the computer of the company’s manager, Obadiah Stane. If she finds other locations where weapons are being sold, Tony will destroy what remains of them. Instead, she finds proof that he plotted his assassin attempt in order to take control. Before he could confront her, she goes to SHIELD agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) to warn him of her discoveries. At night, Stane steals Tony’s arc reactor and admits to what he did. Just as he leaves, he finds his spare arc reactor to keep himself alive. Potts returns to Stane’s facility with more SHIELD agents to arrest Stane. However, he overpowers them with a modified version of Stark’s prototype, which he took from the Ten Rings. Stark catches up and his fights his manager, but is outmatched by his upgrades. He lures him to the top of the building of Stark Industries, so that can Pepper can stop him by overloading the original arc reactor that is much larger. While this kills Stane, Tony survives. After this incident, the film ends with Tony chooses to reveal his superhero identity rather than keeping it secret.
THOUGHTS
When seeing this film back in 2008, I recall having a blast as I do now. Everything that transpires in this film defines ‘mesmerizing’. This film is so entertaining because unlike the superhero films prior, it creates a morally nuanced take on the genre, helping us create stronger empathy for the lead. The fight scenes are well edited and the visual effects have aged very well as the years go by. Ramin Djawadi’s score should be taken notice on sounding just as epic as this movie lives up to be. Because I’ve seen this so many time since it’s release, I’ve had only one question that affects the story. If the terrorist group, The Ten Rings, were hired by Stane to kill Stark, then they should’ve done it immediately then keep him hostage to make the missile. They could’ve just bought some from him like they would later on. I don’t see the point keeping him alive if they already had access to what they needed. If you ignore that flaw, this movie will remain awesome throughout. For a movie like this, you know an ensemble is needed to convince the crowd, and this one provided a unique mix of talented actors. Acting since the 1980s, Robert Downey Jr. became the biggest star in the world as this is the role that changed his career and his life. Throughout this film and the nine more times he played this character, we really believe he is Iron Man. But we love him here because his transformation from selfish to selfless is the most earning. His friendship with Yinsen (Shaun Toub) is special because when working on the first suit, he truly starts appreciating life again and as the MCU progressed, he never wasted it as Yinsen dying words were not to do so. Seeing him work on the mask/helmet of the MARK 1 is the most iconic shot of the film as it expresses his determination to get home. What I can agree with many fans is that nothing prepared us on how iconic it would be seeing him revealing his superhero alter ego to the world. The line ‘I am Iron Man’ is as iconic as ‘I’m Batman’ because when he says it, you believe it. The one thing that stayed the same about him is his sense of humor that eased whatever tension, which would be a staple for the entire franchise. Although Downey is the star of this film, the supporting cast were arguably at his level as they owned every aspect of their roles and had great chemistry with the lead. Before being replaced in the follow up, Terrence Howard is great as Rhodey because he portrayed him as one of the caring friends Stark could ever have. While he would be annoyed of his reckless behavior, he puts that aside when it comes to rescuing him, which results in appreciating his loyalty to him. We also respect him because in a way, he is Tony’s opposite whereas he maintains his professionalism throughout. Gwyneth Paltrow stands out as Pepper because she is brazen in her work and is an independent person. The respect towards her comes from how she is more upfront at calling out Tony, never pretending to approve of his playboy lifestyle. She almost quit her job because she didn’t want to see him die in his new responsibilities. But she stayed throughout because deep down, she trusted him and understood how his morals were genuine. Their relationship may have not been public until the sequel, but this was where it truly blossomed. It begins here because their love is more emotional and spiritual than physical. As for Jeff Bridges, he was incredible in his villainous performance as Obadiah Stane/the Iron Monger. This was a man who acted out of jealousy. Although it was Tony’s birthright to run Stark Industries, he became envious how he had to be demoted as second in command after being in charge of the company after Howard Stark died. His perspective of feeling mistreated resulting in his conniving decision to eliminate his own boss. And his suit was an intimidating thing to behold, despite lacking the things needed to withstand battle. The icing on the cake of this is the unexpected after credits revealing Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and the shocking reveal that this would build up a shared universe with The Avengers. To bring things full circle, Jon Favreau took the biggest gamble of his career and succeeded with one of the best superhero films from Marvel Studios. If you really haven't seen anything from the MCU, make sure you start from here, where it all began.
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