User blog:ChazmanianDevil/Iron Man Review

Well I'm bored as hell and I just saw Doctor Strange, so I thought, why not? I've decided to rewatch every MCU movie in order of release, and write a review of each of them. At the end I plan to finally rank them all, which will hopefully give me the answer to which is my favorite. The ratings are out of 100, and ranked in five categories. Characters, Plot, Dialogue, Aesthetic, and Balance. All of the movie are pretty much literal, except balance, I should explain that. Basically the whole point of the balance category is that sometimes something is more than the sum of it's parts, or vice versa. I basically rank it out of 20 for how much the movie affected me, how much I enjoyed it, how much of a lasting impression it left, etc. Hopefully that will help iron out the kinks in an otherwise purely numerical system. So I guess I better start from the beginning.

Now I'll be honest, I didn't have a great memory of this movie, I saw it twice, but both were years ago, and honestly I couldn't really remember what events were in which movies. Having seen it again with fresh eyes, I can officially say that it is far better than I remembered. There's something about this movie that just has a rustic charm of it's own. This is marvel before it became the money making many headed Hydra analogue it is today. This is the MCU before all the complications, first testing it's legs, and then running.

Characters: With a great cast and many strong characters, both new, and from the comics, Iron Man does a great job of always at the very least keeping you entertained, usually more.

Robert Downey Junior absolutely owns this as Stark. It's hard today to think of Iron Man without him in the suit, but remember when this movie was made it was a huge gambit. Stark wasn't a great character, and not particularly well loved either. If Downey Jr had failed, and more importantly the movie had failed, that would have been it. But wow, did he do the exact opposite. After watching years of Stark competing with other high profile heroes for time in later MCU installments, it's honestly satisfying to seem him just own every moment. He's perfectly self-centered, arrogant, and egotistical, while still conveying just enough emotion to be charming and deep. He has great chemistry with everyone on set, even machines and automated voices. One of the best MCU protagonists.

Now the MCU doesn't have a great track record with villains. Besides a select few most of them tend to fit into a bland character mold, only there to develop the hero rather than to be their own character. So I see how it could be disappointing to watch Obadiah Stane after seeing other movies. He fits neatly into the corrupt businessman mold, one which will be repeatedly overused. However it's important to note that Obadiah was actually the one who made this mold, and thus, in a way, MCU villains. And out of all the corrupt businessmen, Stane is probably the best. Jeff Bridges manages to change from friendly but uncomfortable to menacing and dark in a few moments. His scene with Pepper in particular is fraught with tension. In terms of side villain's Faran Tahir's Raza is an intimidating and impressive stand in for the first half of the movie, and a good counterpart to Stane, if a slightly undeveloped one.

In terms of side characters the cast is not packed, but still strong. Shaun Toub's Yinsen is probably my personal favorite side character. He has the task of being the only other real character for Stark to interact with for a good portion of the movie, and making you feel sad when he dies, and he passes both tests easily. I'm not sure if you even remember Rhodes was in the movie, I sure didn't, but Terrence Howard actually does an excellent job. Although he isn't the Cheadle Rhodes we know, he has great chemistry with Downey Jr, and probably could have done some great things with the character in later movies had he not been replaced. Coulson and Everheart are both excellent sides, with Coulson representing the firm yet secretive hand of the government, and Everheart the ever critical yet idealistic media. Gwyneth Paltrow's performance as Potts is really hit or miss, and to be fair s lot of it does hit. As I said before the tension between her and Obadiah is fantastic, and most of her scenes with Stark work. However, during the climax her role starts to become really cringeworthy... I get the feeling she may have been bogged down by the writing, but still, we'll see better performances later.

Final verdict, Stark and Stane alone bring this pretty high, and are helped along by a good supporting cast. Maybe not the extreme character interactions that movies like Civil War would pull off later, but still, pretty impressive.

17/20

Plot: Like many superhero movies, MCU installments tend to suffer from extremely overcomplicated plots. On the bright side the plot of Iron Man is simple and effective. On the down side it lacks the complexity and intrigue of some later installments. There are also some logistical problems, such as how easy it is to find the things in the giant deserts and the speed it takes to get back and forth between the US and the Middle East but overall, pretty clean. The plot is extremely clever in that it immediately tosses you into the action, conveying the tension and pressure of the situation. The whole part of the movie in the Ten Rings caves is very well done, and honestly could be a movie on it's own if it lasted for longer. The middle of the movie is also excellent, but in a slower, more reserved way. It slowly builds the intrigue of life as a star, using the ups and downs of business and the media. It slowly builds up the tension towards the climax, all the while allowing Tony to become a superhero. In particular the way they illustrated Tony's first fighting encounter with the Ten Rings and Obadiah's meeting with Raza are both excellent scenes. Honestly all the build up is so excellent it's not really a surprise the climax is a disappointment. I don't know why, but after the last Pepper-Obadiah scene the movie just loses some of it's appeal. I mean the climax is fine and all, but it's certainly not one of the best fight scenes we've seen in the MCU, and Pepper constantly screaming gets really tiring. Fortunately the closing scene makes up for it with the press conference and the famous line, "I am Iron Man." And roll credits.

Final verdict? A strong beginning and excellent middle but a lacking climax. Iron Man is somewhat unique in terms of plot in the MCU, as they hadn't really found they're rhythm yet. In some places this takes away, but in many it allows form for creativity and a more interesting movie.

16/20

Dialogue: Iron Man is all around a strong movie, but this is where it shines. The dialogue is fluent and effective, and is almost without blemishes. Stark's writing is absolutely spectacular, switching between charming, arrogant, witty, emotional and deep with ease. This is some of the best material Robert Downey Jr. is given in the MCU and he knocks it out of the park. The writing for Stane should also be praised, perfectly capturing his friendly menace that is lacking in later copies. The contrast in writing between Rhodes and Stark is also nice, while Stark and Yinsen have their own connection. Though I will never get over Pepper screaming, "But you'll die!", she did have some very good writing, particularly the one with Obadiah, and the conversations with Coulson were well done as well. Probably the best scene of indicate the excellent dialogue to come is at the very beginning, with Stark conversing with some shy and awestruck soldiers.

So final verdict... This is a very good movie for dialogue. It's something the MCU has always done well with and Iron Man started that trend.

19/20

Aesthetic: Now it might lose some points here. It's not that Iron Man has a bad aesthetic, but it just isn't on the level of some of the other movies in the MCU. In terms of set it does pretty well. The move switches between two areas. The dark, grimy look of the Ten Rings hideout and Middle Eastern villages, and the shiny, elegant atmosphere of Stark's mansion and the upper areas of the city. Both are perfect, with the look of Stark's home becoming iconic. However the caves where Stark is held captive are probably my favorite. They perfectly fit the dark and gloomy tone, and convey the desperation and cold unforgivingness of Stark and Yinsen's situation. You can tell they spent a lot of time on the suits as well. The Mark I looks ragged and scrappy as if it was made out of spare car parts, which it basically was. The Mark II and III are sleek and professional, fine tuned and with a certain fitness. Finally the Iron Monger suit is simply a beast, monstrous and hulking, designed to crush anything in it's way. So no problems there. When it comes to effects, there are no problems with what's shown, but it isn't anything impressive. It's basically the minimum of effects for a marvel movie, which you might either find refreshing or disappointing. Although the sequence that puts the suit on him is just plain fun to watch. Now in terms of battles... When Stark is going up against Ten Rings members in a group, those are the battle sequences that shine. Most of the other battle sequences just fell pretty short. The part with the planes was surprisingly dull for a scene about jets trying to shoot an armored man out of the sky. And the climax... The climax... It's not that the climax fight scene was awful, it wasn't, I have just come to expect so much more from marvel it's kind of sad looking back. Most of it consists of two giant metal men floating while hugging or rolling around on a roof while Gwyneth Paltrow screams. Maybe I'm being unfair, after all I did just watch Doctor Strange a few days ago, but still...

Final verdict? Well, at least no one could accuse the movie of overdoing it.

13/20

Balance: It's a somewhat lazy criticism of superhero movies that they're all the same. It's true they tend to have problems with molds and stereotypes, but each is a being of it's own, with a very different tone. Antman and Guardians of the Galaxy, both very different movies, were both great in their own way. In the same way Iron Man has it's own tone that differentiates it from all the other. This movie has bucketloads of rustic charm, and it's less about a guy who fights terror in a metal suit and more about Tony Stark, a genius billionaire who has it all and yet has only scratched the surface. It's a movie about the political intrigue of upper class life, the businesses, the government, the media, and trying through all that to do the right thing. It's not wowing, but it's still quite good.

15/20

Final Score: 83%

Next Time: Iron Man's lame younger brother.