Iron Man: Red's Take

Tony Stark was always going to be a tough sell. You see he's a prick. And not just the usual prick you get down the pub, oh no. He's a rich, good looking, genius, quite an exceptional level of prickishness. He's also an international arms dealer which means he's not only a prick but a mass murdering bastard as well. The perfect sort of guy then to be a superhero.

The character of Stark is just one example of the many tightrope moments that occur in Iron Man that demonstrate how difficult a movie it must have been to get right. But they've managed it. you see for all his prickishness, Stark's played by Robert Downey Jr. and as such ends up very likeable indeed. In this film Stark is Downey. Which leads to another balance, that of big blowy uppy action and humour, the key ingredients to entertainment through comic book movie that isn't the broody Batman. The effects beards take care of the former and thanks mainly to Downey the film is also genuinely hilarious in places, none more so than in the extended build the suit/test the suit middle section of the film which could have been a drag. Instead it's very funny thanks to various mishaps involving rocket thrusters and a robot with a fire extinguisher.

Of course this being an origins story means that it's ages until we actually get the full on Iron Man, but unlike other origins films where we have to explore a childhood trauma or go through the "what's happening to me?", "hey these powers are kinda cool" segments. Instead Stark gets kidnapped by Arab terrorists and builds an early version of the suit. It's a move that means the second act can be excepted, humour or not, because we've already had a bit of the good stuff long before act three rolls around.

This opening act throws up a slightly troubling aspect though. The action appears to take place in Afghanistan, or some other Eastern country where American troops are fighting local rebels. Making Stark's situation contemporary isn't in itself a problem, but the pro-War on Terror stance is. Let's not skirt the issue, he's captured by Islamic terrorists and forced to build a weapon for them. The scaremongering begins. And Stark's philosophy that you possess the larger weapon than the enemy, one that only needs used once smacks of justifying American foreign policy. But to declare that this is the movie's politics would be unfair. You see after all that bullshit Ol' Tony boy has an epiphany thanks to the realisation that the weapons he makes fall into the wrong hands, the fact that they are used for killing isn't so bad if it's the "good guys" doing it. So he decides that his way of thinking is wrong and that his life needs to change. So now we have a blockbuster, mainstream comic book movie highlighting that the arms industry may not always work for our benefit. Pretty strong message. But the tightrope situation returns because as much as Stark's philosophy becomes one of peace, it's one that still involves building the better weapon and blowing the shit out of the other side. So we're kind of left with a grey area. Is Iron Man all hippy and peace loving, or does it stand by the better have a weapon better than the other guys just in case way of thinking?

Well it's a compromise, it had to be for the story to work. This may frustrate some who would want the film to come down on one side but the fact that a movie such as this is even willing to contemplate the point, of which there is no easy answer, is refreshing and exceptionally brave. Compare it to Transformers' pro-troops and "ain't these big shiny planes just the coolest?" stance. Exactly. And let's be honest, Iron Man's not the film you're going to see if you're wanting an in depth look at the subject really now is it? You're here to see Downey Jr. quip while blowing shit up inside a big Iron suit.

Again it's fair play to Jon Favreau and his writers that the film can carry such a weighty subject, but at the same time entertain and dazzle, as any Summer blockbuster based on a rock 'em sock 'em comic book should do. Basically it's a smart dumb movie depending on how deep you want to go. It can be as complex or straight forward as you choose. On other words it's quite similar to its central character.