Iron Man - Review

Director: John Favreau
Written by: Too many
Starring: Robert Downey Jr/Gwyneth Paltrow

As far as super hero movies go, Iron Man hits on all cylinders. It has the flawed lead character, the disaster that leads him to become a super hero, and the arch enemy whom he accidentally helps to create.

What is it with super heroes? Before becoming a hero, they have good friends and a decent life. After becoming heroes, they discover that their entire life has been a lie and that most of their friends are sell-outs. Super powers might make a man larger than life, but they also lead him straight to the therapist's couch.

In Iron Man, a very good Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark, weapons designer and multi-billionaire. Stark was born to tinker with gadgets, and we're told that as a teenager he graduated suma cum laude from MIT. A few years later, he began designing super weapons systems and selling them to the US military. Government contracts. Gold mine.

Downey plays the character well, though how much of it is make-believe is anyone's guess. Downey's off-camera substance abuse episodes are well known, but he certainly isn't ashamed of the reputation. Iron Man is only another in a line of films in which Downey plays a character that chases women, swills scotch, and lives the life of Riley. Perhaps Downey plays these parts because he misses his days of wild excess, or maybe he's still living his days of wild excess and uses the movie roles to hide in plain sight.

Early in the film, Downey is captured by Taliban-types, who force him to build a rocket which they can use to destroy their enemies (as usual, terrorists in Hollywood movies can only be the bad people they are in life when used in a fantasy movie). The resourceful Stark turns the tables by creating a metal suit loaded with rockets. He uses the suit to escape from his enemies, and once back in the US, he develops an even better super-suit to crush his opponents.

Alas, back in the States, he also develops a conscience. And here is where I have a problem with the film.

A little backstory: before seeing the film, I saw the preview for the new Indiana Jones flick. Harrison Ford is back as Indy, and he is kicking ass as usual. The entire Indiana Jones trilogy is built upon one thing: fun. And that's what you get. Hero movies do not need what Hollywood calls "character arc," which is all the rage these days.

Today, every screenwriting book has a section on character arc, and the section tells you that a character must learn and grow. So the character's "values" at the beginning of the film must change to the opposite "value" by the end of the story. If the value does not change, these books say, then the film is flawed.

And I couldn't disagree more. Sure, it does add to dramas and romantic pieces, but in hero stories, the character arc theory should be regarded with deep suspicion, otherwise you're going to do what hero stories never should: beg the audience to feel sorry for the hero, and to see him as a real person.

In hero stories, I don't want to see a real person. In the Indiana Jones films, there is not one bit of character arc and, to the horror of writing teachers everywhere, the movies still stand up. At the beginning of a Jones adventure, Jones is a smart ass that can beat people up. At the end of a Jones picture, Jones is a smart ass that can beat people up, but this time he's also got the girl and the treasure. No character arc. No problem.

In Iron Man, I saw it coming a long way off, and I wasn't disappointed. Stark returns home after being captured by the terrorists. Immediately, he knows that he can't build weapons anymore because weapons are bad. Instead, his company's going to produce...well, something, but he'll think about that for the sequel. In the meantime, he's going to build a better Iron Man costume so he can beat the hell out of people that have weapons.

Huh?

Super heroes that preach pacifism are a laugh, because super heroes are violent. That's how they settle scores and save the day: with their fists. A super hero with violence gives you, "Truth, justice, or I'll kick your ass." A super hero without violence gives you Kofi Annan.

I get why Iron Man was written the way it was. The culture today demands heroes be against violence and death, otherwise they're seen as warmongers. But the absolute telegraphing of "character arc" does me in every time: Stark builds weapons, bangs five women a week, and drinks a lot, therefore by the end of the movie I know he will attend Woodstock IV, fall for a nice girl, and start taking responsibility for his life. Give me a break. Hollywood is so afraid of men these days that anything masculine must be brought to heel, and shown to be wrong and misguided.

The film looks very good. The effects are great, and the actors are fine. Gwyneth Paltrow seems a little misplaced, as if she walked onto the set and someone said, "You busy today?" Watching Paltrow play an exceedingly secondary role is a bit strange. Every few minutes you're wondering if her career is flagging, she needs the cash, or both.

See Iron Man for the good effects and the fighting/flying scenes, as well as Downey's good one-liners. Don't see it if you want super hero fun without a phony message.

Photos: Yahoo Movies