Unabashed

Iron Man told a great story, had plenty of plot, great acting, only a couple of moments of significant cheese…all the things that make a great movie. But, ultimately, I’ll remember it most for what it failed to do, for the dearth of Iron Man himself. It’s a problem a lot of movies have: how to tell the story, and still incorporate all the action the audience wants to see. I remember the first time I saw Beetlejuice, I thought the same thing: this could have been a good movie if there’d been more Beetlejuice. Same with the first Hulk movie. The list goes on and on of movies that were good–don’t get me wrong, I did like Iron Man–but didn’t quite quench the thirst for more. Maybe that’s the plan, to give audiences just enough to make them want more, to better guarantee the sequel and–the Holy Grail of Hollywood–the franchise. Iron Man will undoubtedly become a franchise. There’s way too much potential here for there not to be, and I believe everyone will love it. I did, I just wish there’d been more Iron Man in Iron Man. 

This, I hope, won’t be a problem in Iron Man Two. All the setup is done now, and the movie can start with ol’ Iron Head patrolling the skies above Stark Industries. Who’ll be the bad guy in the sequel? Who knows. Iron Man doesn’t have a very good rogues gallery. His arch enemy was Mandarin, which could be very cool if done well.

Here’s another little problem with the movie: They gave too much away in teasers. You can barely go through five minutes of film time before you see another moment you’ve already seen in the various teaser trailers on YouTube. The entire first fifteen minutes of the movie is summed up in teaser trailers. There is nothing new to learn by watching the movie. I think they could have sold the movie just fine with the one scene of Iron Man falling from the sky into a crater, and then ascending, menacingly, to fire repulsors at bad guys. End. Follow the Cloverfield example; simplicity really can work very well when done right.

Overall there were maybe five or six repulsor blasts in the entire movie. This is a problem. They added a very cool little pulsing sound effect to the repulsor blasts, but then barely used them the entire movie. Oh, and when it came time to fight the bad guy at the end…well, some things are best left unsaid, right?

Overall it was a great movie. My only gripe is very simple: I wanted a movie my 3-year old would sit through (once the DVD comes out). Unfortunately, there are only about ten total minutes of this film that my son will care about seeing. And those were my favorite moments, too. I wish the entire movie had been like those ten minutes. Will I watch it again? Will I buy the DVD? Hell yes. In BlueRay. Because those ten minutes I was just talking about? They freaking rock. And the rest ain’t bad at all.

Where does Iron Man fit into the pantheon of super hero movies? I’m still working on that list; in the meantime, go check out Iron Man, just don’t take your three-year old.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: Comics, hero, Invincible, Iron Man, marvel, movie, super

Iron Man release day is here! Tomorrow I’m going to see the movie. Review forthcoming.

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: Comics, hero, Invincible, Iron Man, marvel, super

I am engulfed with fanboy frenzy. Next up on the calendar of movies I’m dying to see but will probably be disappointed with (see: Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Punisher, Hulk, etc.) is Iron Man. I’m a comic reader from way back, and Iron Man was always one of my favorites (along with Daredevil, Ghost Rider…). Iron Man was one of those B heroes: he never sold a lot of books like Fantastic Four or Spider Man, but he was always imminently cool, like Daredevil and Moon Knight. Basically the story line should look like this: Billionaire alcoholic playboy who builds advanced weaponry has a side gig as the iron-clad super hero protector of Earth. Nobody had gadgets like Iron Man, nobody had cool like Iron Man, either. It almost makes me want to start reading comics again. Here’s the teaser trailer, when it’s over you can exhale:

The only problem is that it can’t be as cool as it looks, can it? Robert Downey Jr. has, like Tony Stark (Iron Man’s alter ego), had his share of ups and downs. And though I’ve known for a while that he was cast in the lead role I haven’t been very excited about it. His acting technique has never seemed quite to fit with what I had envisioned for Stark. But this teaser makes him seem like a really good fit. I’ve got to hand it to director Jon Favreau, it looks like he’s done a great job of directing… a trailer. Jury’s still out on the movie. But hey, lately there have been some movies that I’ve been excited about and have actually been good: 300, Transformers, Casino Royal, and Sin City to name a few. (You might note that all the movies referred to in this post are movies that were based on some other medium and were not original ideas. The movies I seem to get the most excited about are the ones based on things that I liked when I was a kid or have always wanted to see modernized and put up on the silver screen.)

Fanboy Moment: Iron Man in the comics was one of the five or six most powerful beings on the planet. In sheer strength, only the Hulk and Thor could really overpower him. I seem to remember one situation where Iron Man was sent to corral the Hulk during one of his “Hulk smash!” rampages, and Iron Man powered up his armor and laid the green giant out flat. Knocked the Hulk unconscious. For the fanboy in me, this is a monumental statement. Of course, the power required of that knockout punch drained Iron Man’s suit of energy and he collapsed in a heap almost simultaneously. Sure, there are a lot of other super-strong heroes: Colossus, The Thing, Rogue… but they’re all second or third tier when it comes to brute strength. If I had to send one Marvel hero over to DC to duke it out with Superman, it would have to be either Thor or Iron Man. Hands down. /Fanboy Moment.

One thing I really would like to know: Why don’t we all have gadgety suits of flight-capable armor by now? I mean, this is the 21st century, right? Aren’t we all supposed to be able to fly to work by now? Where’s my Iron Man suit?

It gives me chills. It really does. (In a good way.)

written by Matt Mitchell \\ tags: Comics, Daredevil, hero, Hulk, Invincible, Iron Man, marvel, moon knight, Spider Man, super