Iron Man Revisited

You may be wondering, "what's this Revisited nonsense?" Well, I've felt obliged to post entries for films that I've already seen at least once or twice to offer my perspective on it as well as add any additional comments that I either missed the first time or gleaned from repeat viewings. So if you ever see "Revisited" in the title, you'll know it's a movie I'd seen at least once before.

For the first film I'm revisiting, I decided to re-watch Iron Man (IM) in anticipation of the forthcoming Iron Man 2. The first installment was released during the glorious summer of 2008, when comic book movies dominated the film landscape. And while I didn't think IM was the best movie of that summer (can't be convinced any movie was better than The Dark Knight that year), it is still a great standout.

Based on the numbers it seems like most everyone has seen IM, so I won't waste time with any plot description. I will say that the plot is, for a movie of this genre, highly believable and very engaging. I really liked the way the film tied into the threats and concerns that radical terrorism poses in today's real world without being preachy. I appreciated the moral journey that Tony Stark goes through when deciding to build the ultimate weapon to rid the world of all the other weapons he designed. Very heady stuff for a popcorn flick.

In general, I felt like this plot could actually happen in the real world; this is why I think Christopher Nolan's Batman movies strike such a chord with the audiences - they can easily imagine themselves inhabiting the world presented. That to me is the biggest battle comic book movies face: if the world is too cartoony or comic booky (making this up as I go - play along), you simply can't totally immerse yourself in the experience, and thus, the film never is as enjoyable as it could be.

I think one factor that contributes to the realistic feel is, obviously, special effects. IM's special effects are outstanding; it is often difficult to tell where the real life stops and the digital takes over. You never get a sense of where the special effects are. For me, the best special effects are unnoticed, and IM succeeds at this in the best way possible.

(momentary aside: this is why I cannot get into the Incredible Hulk as a superhero. Let's ignore the fact that the only thing he can seem to do is break and smash stuff without helping people in any way. Neither of his movies ever gave me the impression that it could realistically happen and the special effects were amateurish at best. The result? No emotional resonance whatsoever. I'm sure the comic book Gods will now strike me down with the power of Thor.)

Enough has been written about Robert Downey's performance, and it is great. But in revisiting the movie I really appreciated Jeff Bridges performance as Obadiah Stain. In comic book movies it can be really easy for the villain to be way over the top and ridiculous. Bridges played his character very subdued and low key, which for me made him more menacing. He did not get enough dap the first time around.

Most folks also probably know that Terrance Howard was replaced for the sequel by Don Cheadle. No disrespect to Don cause he is one of my favorite actors today, but I didn't see anything wrong with Terrance's performance to merit his replacement. I can only guess that it was due to Don being a more "bankable" star. But with Downey and Gwyneth Paltrow already headlining and everyone already sure IM2 will make 2983471306432 billion dollars, why replace him? What is gained? I'm sure we'll find out, but if it was nothing or not much, I'll be disappointed. Terrance is a good actor who deserved better treatment. And I personally dislike when the continuity in franchises are unnecessarily tinkered with.

At the end the revisit was worth it and got me pumped for the sequel. I'm interested to see how Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury (building for the Avengers movie in 2012 or 2013) and Mickey Rourke's Ivan Vanko add to the mix. I look forward to more action and great Tony Stark wit. I hope we see Gwyneth in a slinky dress (again). But most of all I'm hoping we get the kind of smart film we got the first go around, with some potential upgrades.