Iron Man (review)

I found Iron Man, the 2008 Marvel movie to be more deft than your average superhero comic adaptation - it hit the right notes without seeming cheesy, which seems a common pitfall of movies that put comic-book action and drama on the screen. This more natural acting is apparently a result of a lot of impovisation¹, giving it a less stiff feel than, for instance, the X-men movies.

It's not deep, but it's quite thrilling. Robert Downey Jr. was a stroke of casting brilliance, and Gwyneth Paltrow and the rest seemed more like their characters than just being star actors. Jeff Bridges looked nothing like The Dude. The characters seem like individuals, not stock stereotypes. It never seems forced.

Spoilers. Analysis and Spoilers

Read no further if you don't want to know what happens in the movie.

Inside there's a story of masculinity, or at least the myths of it: Tony Stark, whataman! He has loads of money, loads of talent, wit, power, fast cars and other big toys, hot chicks falling for him, and he has sex with them and then discards them. He has no parents to answer to. He does what he wants when he wants. He's blunt and sarcastic, he doesn't have to please anyone. He drinks far too much, womanises and lets people down, not out of malice but because he doesn't care about anybody. Himself included. I'd call him misogynistic, only he doesn't treat his male friends so well either. In short, he's a grown-up boy writ large. He's Bruce Wayne inside out.

So what happens? He goes away, gets his heart broken (literally), comes back changed (the standard Hero With A Thousand Faces story), starts to develop a conscience and sense of purpose, reconnects with his creative talents, becomes a hard man (again literally, it's a comic) to armour his fragile heart, kills his enemies on the battlefield and starts to right some of the wrongs that he is responsible for. Finally he defeats in single combat his older alpha male rival, who has become corrupt and evil, and is also bigger and stronger but more brutish than him. He does this by using his cunning and the power of his new heart (almost literally). And he commits to a woman who has been loyal to him despite his childish behaviour.

Put that way it sounds unoriginal, but it's all in how you tell it.

So it's a story about growing up, turning from a grown boy into a man. Of sorts. Most of us would disagree that it's necessary to kill in battle or punch your boss in order to be an adult male, but it is part of the myth.