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bryantI have been driving Susan nuts by humming the Black Sabbath song incessantly. “I… am… Iron Man!” Which are not the actual lyrics. “Dah dah dah dah dah dah dah, dah dah dah!”
Does everyone know I put spoilers in my reviews? OK, good.
I think it’s the best acting we’ve ever seen in a superhero movie. Downey’s fussy and scared and pissed off in appropriate measure. In a way, yeah, he’s playing himself in that Tony Stark has addiction problems and a lot of money. On the other hand, Downey isn’t living a life overshadowed by the achievements of his father, with a mentor who he looks to for paternal wisdom. So there’s that.
Likewise, Jeff Bridges is good. It’s tricky to make the big fight scenes work, what with the masks and all. Bridges does this nice slow patient simmer throughout the movie, which means it’s easy to believe that the big giant suit of armor is letting out all that tension through the thrill of physical violence. You know it’s Bridges inside there not because he takes his hat off at the end, but because Bridges portrayed a character who’d get off on acting the way the suit acts.
Also good: Paltrow! Not expected. I’ve seen her turn in good performances, but it’s usually in the chilly socially superior roles, so I wasn’t expecting her to do a good job as Pepper Potts. Possibly it’s that she needs a character with a lot of reserve and a lot of pride? Either way, yep, that worked. And Terrence Howard is great as Stark’s other pal. I’ve literally never seen him before — no, I lie, I’ve seen Dead Presidents. But I don’t remember it. Anyway, he’s got kind of a thankless role, but I liked him holding down the acting fort while Tony’s jetting around with a mask on in foreign airspace.
OK, so great acting. Allow me to summarize the CGI with this: “Yep, the CGI isn’t getting in the way of the movie any more, good times.”
The script, well, I liked the dialogue. Unfortunately, I think the plot reveals that Favreau falls prey to one of the comic book movie traps; he doesn’t give the story enough weight. You kind of want to do something, even just a throwaway, to establish why Stark is willing to use the same battery for both his pacemaker and his powered armor. And it’s helpful to explain why modern surgery is unable to get shrapnel fragments out of someone, given that an electromagnet can hold ‘em back from penetrating the heart. Maybe turning up the power on the magnet would help?
I think it bugs me a little in retrospect — and it didn’t bug me during the movie at all — because you can maybe work around that stuff. Tony’s obviously too busy to get surgery, and he’s a stubborn bastard, so throw that line in there. The scene with Pepper swapping out fusion generators is a great scene, but it means that Tony clearly can build multiples of the thing, so there’s no reason not to put one (or two) in each suit of armor. I’m not a screenwriter, so I won’t come up with a glib fix. It’s just a plot hole of minor importance.
None of this kept me from thinking it’s in the top echelon of superhero movies. Again: best acting. And a good script, mostly, just with those few casual flaws.
Originally published at Imaginary Vestibule.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 04:34 pm (UTC)I really enjoyed this movie, although I think I'm looking forward to a sequel now that the origin story is out of the way.
The one plot thing that really bugged me? Pepper finds the incriminating evidence and leaves the office (leaving Stain sitting there at the desk). As she's going, the most milquetoast SHIELD agent I've ever seen demands to talk to her. Pepper agrees because she knows that Stain is out to kill Stark and appears to be working on some monster armor.
The next scene is Tony getting a call from Pepper, but JUST THEN, Stain is in his ear with the gizmo.
Now. The only way this works out is if Pepper has a full debrief with Agent Nondescript and THEN calls Tony (giving Stain enough time to get over to Tony's). I dunno. I feel like you'd be making that call in the car on the way to the Agent's office.
"That'll be all, Ms. Potts."
"Good. Glad to be of help. Oh shoot! I forgot to call Tony and warn him that his life's in danger."
Also, I feel like JARVIS would announce when a guest arrived, but maybe that's just me.
But the post-credit scene? Nothing but money. I hope that there's a similar scene post-credits of Hulk.
Tom
no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 04:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 04:56 pm (UTC)Timeline-wise, more time passes in the movie than might have been properly conveyed by Favreau. Fabrication time for all the suits everyone is building, time for Stane's mid-movie trip to Afghanistan, 3 whole months in the cave, etc.
Anyway, the movie certainly has flaws, like the last fight at the end doesn't really have good structure, it just mostly kind of happens, Rhodes disappears completely, etc.
But for acting, a clean, pretty, plausible look throughout, and snappy character interactions, it's my favorite of the Marvel comic films so far.
I'd probably go something like:
Iron Man
Blade 1
X-Men 2
Spider Man 1
(Then middling stuff I don't feel strongly about one way or another, like Spider Man 2 which I feel is highly overrated, and X-Men 1 which is undercooked and a little cheap, Daredevil which is bland.)
Then truly bad stuff like Elektra, both Fantastic 4 movies, Spider Man 3, Hulk 1. Yes, I'm one of those people who thinks Ang Lee's Hulk fails on just about every level.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:02 pm (UTC)"Marvel plans to launch its 2010 film slate with the release of the sequel, Iron Man 2, on April 30, 2010 followed by the launch of Thor on June 4, 2010. Additionally, Marvel is planting its feature film stakes for summer 2011 with an Avengers-themed summer – a two-picture project which will debut on May 6, 2011 with The First Avenger: Captain America (working title), followed by The Avengers in July 2011."
no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:16 pm (UTC)for DC...hrm.
Superman 1
Batman 1 (just because I think there was a strong sense beforehand that it couldn't be done, in a way Batman 1 rescued the entire superhero movie genre from what had become of the Superman franchise)
V For Vendetta
Constantine (fanboys have got to get over the Keanu sniggering, he's quite good here)
Batman Begins
Superman 2 (silly movie, but for once Superman has to actually fight something in his own power class and there's a limit to how wrong you can possibly go with Terence Stamp)
Swamp Thing (underrated, with a solid cast, Wes Craven directing, shot in a bunch of real swamps, and being surprisingly emotionally serious, all things considered)
And then bad stuff: Catwoman, League of Extraordinay Gentlemen, the rest of the Superman films (though 3 is not quite as bad as people think it is), the rest of the Batman films (conversely, Batman 2 is not as good as people think it is), Supergirl, and Steel (I'm bitter about that).
no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:20 pm (UTC)dum dum DUM DUM DUM...pause...da da...da...(insert 3 minutes)...da da da da da da da.
dum dum...(insert 5 minutes)...DUM DUM...huh, diet coke would be good...da da da da da...
;)
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Date: 2008-05-05 05:20 pm (UTC)(er, based on the first 15 minutes or so of the Spader one, which was all I could watch.)
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Date: 2008-05-05 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:29 pm (UTC)Yeah, OK. Don't answer that.
No, I totally meant it. It's the best of the James Spader deviance trilogy. Also it has Elias Koteas, who is always either in Canadian indie flicks or teen comedies. More the former these days. Plus that awesome Malick movie.
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Date: 2008-05-05 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:32 pm (UTC)What's the 3rd in the deviance trilogy?
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Date: 2008-05-05 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:37 pm (UTC)Spader deviance trilogy....Crash, Secretary and...? Oh, Sex Lies and Videotape. Man. Remember when that was The Big Thing? 10 minutes later Larua San Giacomo is kooky comic relief in Quigley Down Under and playing the dowdiest character imaginable on Just Shoot Me.
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Date: 2008-05-05 05:37 pm (UTC)And yeah; Crash is, hm. Grotesque is the best word I can think of. It's not engaged enough to be visceral per se.
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Date: 2008-05-05 05:38 pm (UTC)But you & I always disagree on Cronenberg movies.
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Date: 2008-05-05 05:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:41 pm (UTC)I think all three of those flicks are very good, for somewhat different reasons.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:42 pm (UTC)2. Become BFFs with Cary Grant Mk. II
3. ???
4. Profit!
no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 05:44 pm (UTC)(also: Spader as Lex Luthor? I'd buy that!)
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Date: 2008-05-05 05:45 pm (UTC)Doesn't matter. The suits have a built-in gravitas enhancing device.
later
Tom
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Date: 2008-05-05 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 03:49 am (UTC)I don't know if you were listing the movies in order, but I feel that much like Empire is better than Star Wars, that Superman 2 was better than 1.
Constantine, though...gggg.....there's just no excuse for Keanu Reeves. None. There's only been two movies he's made that he's been decent in - The Matrix (although neither of the sequels) and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Adding to the Bad Stuff (TM) list - Nick Cage's Ghost Rider. Dolph Lundgren's Punisher.
Personally, I would put Hellboy up in the top 5 of my Superhero Movies list - I thought they did a great job of keeping with the feel of the comic.
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Date: 2008-05-06 04:56 am (UTC)Oh yes, I forgot the terrible Ghost Rider, and both Punishers (The best Punisher movie of 2004 was Man On Fire).
Hellboy I'd stick somewhere in the middle. I think it was competent but I never loved it and have little interest in the sequel.
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Date: 2008-05-08 06:16 pm (UTC)(1) Obadiah Stane kept making me think about how the rug really tied the room together.
(2) The movie was too good; my policy of not getting excited about upcoming comic book movies has completely disintegrated.
(2) is going to be especially painful with a Thor movie coming out, I'm afraid.