My Cherie Armor

May 2, 2008

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.


Posted by nightdreamer at 3:04 pm | permalink

Previous Comments

there were scenes after the credits?! darn…

i had fun with this movie too.

anyway, two things from my POV:
1.) was i just slow or did robert downey keep on eating his lines? i feel i missed a few puns or wise-ass quips.

2.)it’s still an “Americans are here to save the world” movie. i just feel it legitimizes/justifies the US’s war in Afghanistan. that they’re saving them from terrorists. that terrorists are in iraq and afghanistan so the US should stay and save them.

but i may have just thought too much during the movie. :P i’ll be waiting for the sequel. sana mas maganda, hindi pabaligtad.

Posted by dhey at May 2, 2008, 4:17 pm

I think your 2nd point is valid, to an extent. From what I know of the comics, Iron Man is more of a Republican than anything.

Anyway, about the legitimacy, no, not so much. The movie had the theme that terrorists stay in power because they’re secretly being supplied by the arms industries, which many claim is true, because, after all, that keeps the arms industries profiting. There’s not really much Iron Man did to “save the world”. All he did was prevent the terrorist from further doing damage to their countrymen, by flying there on his own accord, without much of an affiliation to anything, and with his ties to Starks Industries as weapon-maker severed. That’s just what a normally decent person will do; I mean, if you’re in Starks’ position, you’d most likely do the same thing. It wouldn’t matter if you’re a Filipino or of whatever nationality. You have to be involved in war just to be horrified by it. The burden this movie has is that it’s made in America, which will often carry the stigma of being overly nationalistic whenever someone from America does “heroism”. And, mind, most of the time this is a valid accusation.

Tony Starks isn’t the ideal man like other superheroes. He has a lot of flaws and, in some cases, he is downright infuriating. And that’s why I think his character works, especially since it’s impossible to be indifferent with what he’s doing.

But anyway, this movie’s jingoism is not as ridiculous as, say, Transformers’.

Posted by nightdreamer at May 2, 2008, 4:31 pm

IMO, the whole terrorism/afghanistan thing was added for the reason of simply making it current to modern times and relatable to viewers. it wouldn’t make much sense to have it happen in ‘nam or whatever asian country the comic origin originally happened in. personally, i didn’t see it as very nationalistic and certainly not jingoistic… the US/Stark Enterprises/capitalism was clearly shown as being the “evil” influence by selling weapons both legally and illegally. Additionally, the catalyst for Tony’s redemption was a middle-eastern man portrayed as a clearly positive influence and one of the best sequences was when Tony saved the villagers from maraduers. setting the movie in the middle of a current situation is valid, IMO.. i think they handled it well.

your animation was pretty cool too, BTW. = )

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