Iron Man dir. by

18 March 2018


Genre: ,
Script: , , ,
Cast: , , , , , , ,
Rated :

Rewatched 17th Mar 2018

So, my thoughts on this rewatch are “wow, Stark is a dick, and no Pepper, his behaviour with women is not cool. Not cool at all. Also the little transphobic and homophobic jokes, so not cool.

But I still enjoyed it, and I agree with my past self about the importance of an American death v all those “foriegn” people. But I do think that this is something the Marvel Universe has moved away from in some ways, so that’s good.

Original review from May 2008: Ever since Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang I’ve loved Robert Downey Jr. and that is the main reason I wanted to go see this film. Sure, I enjoy superhero films, but I know nothing at all about Iron Man, so it wasn’t any grá for that character that made me go. For those of you who share this non-knowledge Iron Man is Tony Stark, a genius of a weapons-dealer. When things go wrong for him in Afghanistan he ends up thinking that the only route forward is to give up the whole destruction business, obviously enough his share-holders object slightly.

I really enjoyed this film. It isn’t the greatest film ever made; not by a long shot. But it is entertaining, with some great effects, and some wonderful acting. Yes, I still love Robert Downey Jr..

However it isn’t perfect. And I think I may be getting old. Why else am I wondering why they spent so much time focusing on the possible death of one single US pilot when many, many, many other non-Americans have just been killed, and a few US soldiers too. And I’m sorry, but death by being burned alive is something I don’t think I can really think of as being cool.

But those are minor quibbles. This is a perfect popcorn flick. Finding fault at things like that is more than a little silly. It isn’t designed to make you think, not really, it is meant to entertain, and that it does. In buckets.

Two thumbs up.

IMDb ; Stainless Steel Droppings ; Barking Carnival

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11 Responses

  1. Carl V. says:

    I am glad you enjoyed it. I know I've liked Robert Downy, Jr. in other movies before Kiss, Kiss but I am not sure that I considered him a great actor. I do know that since Kiss, Kiss I do. Maybe it is maturity based on his experiences or directors casting him in the right roles for him or a combination of that and many other factors, but whatever it is he is a joy to watch. This film wasn't perfect, few superhero films are, but it was as close to perfect as I need my superhero films to be and that is in large part to his acting and Favreau's vision for the film.

  2. Fence says:

    Yeah, big fan of Favreau too Carl.

  3. The first time i heard about the film I thought it was gonna be a Ted Hughes stylee-thing, which it's obviously not :(

    Awww

  4. When will we have enough superhero films? At what point will our society be surfeited with masked, conflicted heroes and anti-heroes, haunted by their past? Iron Man sounds like a punch-alike of Batman. Rich geezer decides to put his wealth to baddie ass-kicking uses. I bet he has nightmares, too. But all superhero films are essentially the same story, which has precious little dramatic potential to begin with. Sigh.

  5. jean pierre says:

    hooray! i know i've said this too many of your film reviews, but i really hope i get to see this. payday is wednesday, which also happens to be orange in colour. so here's hoping…!

    (you know, i haven't seen a film at the movies for 2 years now… :( )

  6. Fence says:

    You wannabe cynic Mal. There can never be enough superheroes out there. They are all metaphors for stuff afterall, and stuff will never stop.

    2 years JP? Two whole years! me = speechless

  7. Yes, but there's more stuff than can be metaphored by superheroes. Maybe some different metaphors are in order!

  8. Just bought Kiss Kiss Bang Bang today for 4 Euro. I'm a bit scared to watch it in case it's not as good as I remember. I do love a good/metaphorical super hero movie and if RDJ is in it, all the better. There were some incredibly funny lines in it too

  9. Fence says:

    Mal, but then what about the "look, people flying" coolness? You need superheroes for that sort of malarkey.

    I really need to buy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, loved it when I saw it in the cinema, but that was years ago at this stage :)

  10. jean pierre says:

    i second those sentiments about super heroes fency.