The Iron Man
Yep, it’s IRON MAN starring ROBERT DOWNEY JR. as Tony Stark, the spoilt, rich techno whiz, inheritor of his father’s international arms business who finds himself hoist on his own petard when captured in Afghanistan by a renegade group led by Raza, (FARAH TAHIR).
Tortured into agreeing to construct the perfect weapon for his captors he instead makes an iron suit with flying capability in order to escape.
On his return home Tony is a changed man, determined to use technology for justice instead of money. His business partner Obadiah Stane, (JEFF BRIDGES), is appalled and even his executive assistant Pepper Potts, (GWYNETH PALTROW), is a trifle taken aback. Undeterred, he refines his creation.
IRON MAN is rousingly terrific entertainment. It has decent characterisations, ROBERT DOWNEY JR makes the most of both manifestations of Tony, GWYNETH PALTROW is coyly efficient and JEFF BRIDGES almost unrecognisable as Obadiah.
The visual effects are just fantastic, seamlessly integrated into the action.
And it has a not so subtle subtext of condemning the US arms industry which is interesting.
What is surprising though is that it was directed by Jon Favreau who had previously made ELF and ZATHURA: A SPACE ADVENTURE before this.
He shows great skill in bringing humour, high adventure, great characters and sophisticated film technology to this production.
It was written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, the team responsible for the screenplay of CHILDREN OF MEN.
IRON MAN is what mainstream, big screen entertainment ought to be like.
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