Film Review: Iron Man

by Gail Thomson

Iron Man (Cert. 12A, )
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Clark Gregg
Written by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway
Directed by Jon Favreau

YOU may think that a superhero flick about a middle-aged weapons designer who develops a conscience would rank high on the snoozeometer, but you would be wrong.

After the disappointing outings for The Fantastic Four and Ghost Rider, Marvel's first independently-produced production is a very definite hit.

Robert Downey Jr takes the title role as Tony Stark, billionaire wunderkind of the weapons industry whose ingeniously destructive creations have financed a very comfortable life where he is irresponsible king of his own arrogantly privileged world.

But the American military's darling is brought literally crashing back down to earth when he is kidnapped by Afghan extremists who plan to force him to create their very own arsenal.

Battered and bruised, he is horrified to discover that his own weapons are responsible of the death of so many civilians and the US soldiers they were designed to protect. Instead of giving in to his (oddly trusting) captors' demands, Stark instead puts his phenomenal intellect to work on a suit of armour in an effort to escape.

Back home, Stark's decision to stop producing hi-grade designer weapons puts him at odds with his shareholders, so he decides to refine his armour design and take matters into his own hands.

Iron Man is in essence a simple origin tale which lays a solid foundation for the inevitable sequels to come; but is elevated head and shoulders above it's simple story thanks to some energetically inspired direction by John Favreau, genuinely witty writing by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, top notch production values and some truly special effects by Industrial Light and Magic.

But could all have gone horribly wrong if it were not for the superb cast. Robert Downey Jr is inspired as the manically charming - and genuinely likeable - Stark. He succeeds in carrying the film with a seemingly effortless flair and his transformation from reckless playboy to self-styled protector is a joy to watch.

Matters are helped by some genuinely amusing scenes of he and his robot helpers (think R2-D2-smart) creating the famous red and gold armour.

Gwyneth Paltrow more than holds her own as Stark's unshakeable go-to-gal, the marvellously named Pepper Potts, who enjoys some fantastically droll one-liners and a bubbling on-screen chemistry with Downey Jr.

A wonderfully malevolent Jeff Bridges and a good (but underused) Terrence Howard also add to proceedings.

Director Favreau also mixes in a liberal dash of comic book in-jokes to keep the most demanding fanboy happy - the introduction of S.H.I.E.LD., an allusion to War Machine and the portrayal of Starke's loyal butler Jarvis as a sardonically omnipotent AI (voiced by an uncredited Paul Bettany).

A word of warning though - don't leave until the very end of the credits...