Movie Review: 'Iron Man'

Less widely known with a less cool sounding name than some of his contemporaries he may be, but Iron Man is just as ardently adored as any other comic book characters by his own section of the Marvel fanverse. So to say there's a lot riding on this, the first ever independent production by Marvel, is an understatement.

The hero of this super-story is genius weapons designer and billionaire playboy, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). Kidnapped by insurgents whilst on a promotional recce to Afghanistan, Stark is kept in captivity, tortured and forced to build a WMD on their behalf out of his own products that they have illegally bought on the black market. But unbeknownst to his captors, Stark uses his newfound respect for humanity and his design and mechanic skills to build an armoured suit in order to escape, as well as an electromagnetic chestplate to keep him alive by preventing a shard of shrapnel from piercing his heart. Once safely back on American soil, Stark dedicates himself to improving upon his design and using it to help all those that he has, inadvertently, put in danger…

An archetypal super origin story, Iron Man suffers from the same issues several other heroes have before him: too much time is spent on the origin and not enough time on the hero stuff, meaning the second half of the flick always feels slightly rushed. The shame of it here is that Stark's origin is not only interesting but topical (the rights-and-wrongs of weapons production), it's just that it's also a touch long-winded when what we really want to see is Ol' Shellhead in all his red-and-gold glory.

When all's said and done, however, this is a minor grumble against a greater whole. The action when it does arrive is suitably kick ass, with four particular scenes of note, each one short and sharp, always leaving you wanting just a little bit more. Rendered to perfection (putting to bed some worries from the CGI glimpsed in the trailer) by the ever-dependable ILM, the photo-real effects are so crisp that you'll really believe an Iron Man can fly.

This action is nicely balanced by some keynote comedy throughout. To begin with we have Stark as the ultimate playboy, swaggering about as if he's king of the world and never missing an opportunity for a well-timed zinger. But thanks to the inherent likeability of Downey Jr (who was surely born to play this role), Stark appears charming even through these layers of arrogance, making his transformation to humanitarian less jarring and ham-fisted than it really ought to be. His second act makeover to concerned citizen also doesn't diminish his ability to elicit laughs. Throwing himself (literally) into getting his suit right, Stark risks life and limb in his slapstick attempts to fly right and alleviates his frustrations by talking smack to his robo-assistants (in the film's best sequence by far).

Unashamedly filching the Batman Begins formula (although less successfully it must be said), especially the rooting of Stark's advanced technology in an exaggerated reality, Iron Man embarks on a satisfactory start to an expectant franchise, with plenty of room for improvement in the sure-to-be-made sequels.

Three-and-a-half stars