My Cherie Armor

I wasn’t thrilled by Iron Man’s movie trailers. Although the 3d-preened armor was attractive, scenes of American soldiers being self-congratulatory while at Afghanistan, of Iron Man flying with two F15’s (?), and of Tony Stark - the guy who wears the Iron Man costume – fooling around with some chicks, weren’t. Oh, great, another American Flag-waving flick! I bet the world can’t wait for more! So, I went to see Iron Man just to mock it, much prepared to curmudgeon it at lengths. 

And what do we get here now? Almost no nitpicking, and my ass being Repulsor-blasted.

Who cares about "official posters" when it looks so much cooler inverted?

I’m not saying that Iron Man is perfect. It has two flaws (okay, so much for the "no nitpicking"). Firstly, this movie is just like the part 1 of every superhero movies. Secondly, the antagonists lacked depth, and were unimaginative, stereotypical and slightly unbelievable - take the scene when the main villain donned an armored suit similar to Tony Stark’s. I wonder how he could’ve learned to use this complex machinery in a matter of seconds, when Tony needed few days. This, when the movie had established that Tony was a better engineer than everyone else.

So, since I’ve laid down that the movie was formulaic and had shallow villains, what made it a success? In a word: details. Details like, despite the idiotic trailer, the movie was mostly neutral with regards to militarism. Details like the absence of cheap one-liners, maudlin yearbook quotes and corny romances. And - this one’s most significant - details like the steady transformation of Tony Starks, from a hedonist who only cared about the limelight, to a hedonist who, deep inside, believed he’s destined for greater things. In the film’s beginning, he was a detestable war-mongering head of an arms industry. But after being held hostage by terrorists, who were armed by the very weapon he manufactured, he changed from someone who basked in the arms industry to someone who renounced it. 

And I bought into it, all thanks to Robert Junkie Jr, who played Tony Starks. Most people only remember Robert’s tabloid drama. They forget that he’s a great actor. Everytime Robert laughs or hoots or screams or wisecracks, I’d completely believe that this is how Tony would react on certain situations. He also seemed thoroughly enjoying his role. Tony was very well-developed, especially since he wasn’t portrayed as flawless. Even as he donned the Iron Man suit, he’d still constantly showed signs of immaturity, like how he would screw up in using his technologies, and how he would do arbitrary things that bewildered everyone. 

There were loads of fan-services tossed in, and nods to what direction the sequel may take.  I hear that they intended to make this a trilogy, which may include Tony’s battle with alcoholism, and the appearance of War Machine. Personally, I’m excited about them, and that’s a good thing. But what’s more fantastic is that at no point did I expect to enjoy Iron Man. And I did enjoy it, enough, that I was actually delighted to say “more, please!”

They have to stop putting scenes after the end credits though. I swear, that gimmick is getting old and it’s just a cheap ploy to have audiences stay while names of people they’d never remember keep rolling on the screen.