Iron man lives

Iron man lives

The summer movie season of 2009 is not even half over, and yet, here we are, already speculating on next year's, and waxing nostalgic about last year’s. 2008 was a good year, wasn’t it? Erm, maybe not, but there was a stand out: Marvel Comics’ Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow. Before you turn up your nose and scamper away thinking this is just another comic book adaptation, let me remind you the critics and fans loved it. In fact, they loved it so much, Marvel happily, has decided that the highly-acclaimed Iron Man of 2008 warrants a sequel.

Yes, Iron Man fans, there’s news that a new film is not very far away! Well, ok, actually Iron Man 2 won’t be out until May 2010, and rumors persist whether Samuel L. Jackson will be joining the confirmed cast, along with newcomer to the series Mickey Rourke, but enough is finished and confirmed that some teasers are already making the internet rounds: for instance, still shots have just been released.

But for those of you have not seen the movie, and if you're considering it, the next time you're perusing your video stores, (or Amazon, NetFlix or whatever)I heartily recommend you do check it out. Now, it's true; I had my doubts about it too, at first, and it took some arm-twisting to get me to sit down and watch it.

But boy am I glad I did! Let me give you some details. Yes, this movie was adapted from a comic book, yes, it has all the little comic book clichés: 1) dame with the silly name, who becomes the damsel in distress, 2) evil nemesis, 3) hero brooding over his fate as a sad little rich boy. 4) acquisition of special tools to help save the world ™ including a silly suit and cape, which makes you wonder if they don’t need a session with Incredibles seamstress Edna Mode….

OK, strike the cape. Marvel's Iron Man apparently learned that lesson, but! That’s about where the similarities between your average comic movie, and Iron Man ends. Billionaire businessman/playboy Tony Stark doesn’t simply start chasing down bad guys because he lost someone close to him, no. He starts out by negotiating with the American military over the sale of some high-powered Stark Industries smart bombs. To do so, he takes a shipload of his pride and joys over to Afghanistan to demonstrate their usefulness. That’s right, he voluntarily waltzes into a war zone, to make the sale. What an idiot, you say? I’m so with you, brothers and sisters! He shoulda listened to Boromir’s advice:

“One does not simply walk into Mordor…”

Wait, sorry. Wrong movie.

Ok, so, here’s Tony Stark, in the middle of blazing nowhere, getting the military to sign on the multi-million dollar dotted line, and downing a martini on the way back to his plane, when bang! A roadside bomb sidetracks his travel plans, sending him running for the shelter of any friendly sand dune when…. bang again! He steps on his own Stark Industries landmine. Shrapnel goes flying, he’s knocked silly and we start to wonder if this is Curtains for Our Hero.

What and have the movie end in the first fifteen minutes? Surely you jest!

Tony comes to in fits and starts, to the sounds of a foreign language being spoken all around him, and ultimately find himself tied to a chair between several armed men, staring straight into a video camera as they tell the world they’re holding the Great Tony Stark hostage and demanding that he build his smart bombs for them; furthermore, Tony is not quite himself anymore thanks to injuries that require him to have a battery/magnetic device implanted in his chest to keep the shrapnel inside him from finding its way to his heart. Boy, I would not like his life, would you?

So, the poor man has no choice; he’s got to build this bomb, or the baddies will kill him one way or another (turn off the battery protecting his heart, or just by shooting him). So he sets to work, with the help of another hostage, and eventually they hit on a way to escape their plight. Under the watchful eye of these terrorists, they build a dummy bomb, and a rather snazzy suit of armor that allows Tony to walk out of the cave, and to safety, despite the guns blazing all around him—guns which inevitably take out his companion. But out Tony goes and soon finds his way home, to think about his life and what he’s going to do with the family business: the thing that saw him in that predicament in the desert, in the first place. Will he continue to fund the building of weapons, or do something better with his life?

My God. A weapons manufacturer actually wrestling with a moral dilemma. What’s the world coming to?

So what happens?

Other than the fact that Tony builds a whole bunch of nifty little toys over the course of his transformation, a whole heck of a lot happens. Ultimately, Iron Man is less about saving the woman pushed off a building by the Big Bad Guy and more about the struggle of a creative genius, and personal (and indeed corporate) responsibility. But that’s just boiling it down to a little nutshell. You'll have to go rent Iron Man now to see how it all works out.

To both those who’ve seen the 2008 movie, and those who have not, I hope you enjoy these tidbits, and remember:

"No capes!"

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