Civil War Countdown: Iron Man
Ahhh...Marvel's Cinematic Universe. What can be said that already hasn't been said? This movie franchise has turned the entire comic book movie genre on its head and not to mention what it's done to sequels, prequels, and shared universes as a whole. It's probably the biggest franchise at the present moment if not the biggest ever in history, and I'm going to get to review them all. Yes, to celebrate what I'm anticipating as Marvel's greatest movie ever, Captain America: Civil War, next may, I'm reviewing every single MCU movie (that is the ones that are canon to the Avengers as stated by the creators of the franchise) from The Incredible Hulk to Age of Ultron. In depth, just like my Bond reviews. There will be spoilers...but honestly if you've not seen these movies yet, you don't belong here.
Before we get on with the review, we have to take a trip back to the latter half of the 20th century. Marvel was known mostly as a comic book creator, but they always had this urge to get into the movie business. They tried and failed with a few lackluster Avengers TV movies (and even a biopic about Nick Fury himself) before just giving up. By the time the 1990s rolled around, movies like Batman and Robin and Steel had largely killed the interest in comic book movies as a whole. It wasn't until one of Marvel's franchises, X-Men, was finally transformed into a good movie adaptation in 1999 (albeit by 20th Century Fox, so that doesn't count as MCU) that comic book movies had begun a slow redemption.
Fast forward through the Spider-Mans and lackluster Fantastic 4 films to 2008. Marvel was ready to try one more time to get a movie universe up and running, and with a little help from Paramount, they managed to get the first two films rolling: Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Iron Man was the first to come out, so we'll focus on it first (obviously), and it's hard to believe, thinking back to 2008, how naive we were to the fact that something so big could come out of a small comic book movie.
No one really knew that this movie would work out. A lot of people didn't know the character and its backstory (ask anyone in 2006 who Iron Man was, most people would quote Black Sabbath) so naturally it was expected to be a flop. But somehow, it worked...Marvel pulled it off.
The story follows the progression of Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist and the biggest head of Stark Industries, his company which specializes in making weapons. He's out on a demonstration run in Afghanistan for his new missile, the Jericho, when his Humvee motorcade is suddenly bombed, leaving Stark severely hurt and in captivity of some terrorist group known as the Ten Rings. He meets a man named Yinsen, a doctor who kept leftover shrapnel from the bomb from reaching his heart using an electromagnet, who has been instructed to help Tony build a Jericho missile for the Ten Rings. However, Tony ends up building a huge suit of armor for him to escape with. Enter Iron Man.
So, Stark gets back to America, and after finding out that his weapons are being sold to terrorists, he decides to quit making weapons, much to the dismay of the public and his partner Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). Stark tells Stane he'd rather focus on the arc reactor technology, like the one powering his heart and the larger one powering his factory. Stane isn't quite convinced, but he still lets Stark be. Meanwhile, Tony, with assistance from Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and his AI butler J.A.R.V.I.S. (Paul Bettany), manages to replace his old arc reactor and begins working on another Iron Man suit. After some test trials, he finally gets a suit up and running. But then he finds out that a small town in Africa has been ravaged by his weaponry. He suits up and goes out to take care of what he believes to be the rest of the Ten Rings, restoring justice to the town. This is also when he reveals his suit tech to his best friend Colonel Rhodes (Terrence Howard), who has to quickly call off a missile launch on Stark's suit.
As the third act begins, it turns out that Stane is the one who put out the hit on Stark. He breaks in to Stark's house and steals his chest reactor for his own personal Iron Man suit, leaving Tony to die. While Tony frantically struggles to fight for his life and replace the reactor in his chest, Pepper goes out to arrest Stane, only to be confronted by Stane's suit, which is larger and stronger than Stark's. Tony manages to get the old reactor in his chest, but due to its old fashioned ways, it can't hold the Iron Man suit for much longer, but it gives him enough time to go out and fight Stane to the death, with Pepper overloading the reactor at Stark industries and killing him. Tony then goes on to reveal his identity as Iron Man in a press conference the next day, and the movie ends with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) asking Stark about the Avengers initiative in a post-credits scene.
Upon first viewing, Iron Man is a great movie. It's witty and quick to the draw, never really disappointing in most parts. But, after seeing all the MCU movies that spawned because of this movie, it kinda comes off as naive. You see certain things that you know are going to lead to something else, like seeing Agent Coulson in the beginnings of SHIELD (when it was called the Strategic Homeland something or another) and Nick Fury before he became a really important character for moviegoers. 7 years down the line, it's just lost its charm.
However, with that out of the way, it doesn't necessarily mean that Iron Man is not a good movie. The plot is kind of a stable for Marvel movies, and it still holds up (explaining why it's been copied so many times...more on that later). The dialogue is well written, and even though it relies on very many snarky remarks, I can't complain. It could be so much worse. However, I have to say that the best parts of this movie are down to one thing.
That is the cast. Gwyneth Paltrow is by far not one of my favorite actresses, but she somehow manages to be evenly decent as Pepper Potts, and she has good chemistry with the rest of the cast. Terrence Howard is also good as Rhodes, and I always love me some Jeff Bridges. But, by far the shining light here is Robert Downey, Jr. I didn't know much about him before 2008, but after seeing his acting talents in this (and a few other movies) and hearing the story of his rise and fall from fame, I don't think any other person could have better portrayed this role than him.
So, even though Iron Man kinda loses its charm of wonderment after seven years, I can't really complain. It still fleshes out to be a quite enjoyable film, and you can't really fault it because it basically is the movie that started everything that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become. So, I think I'm going to give it a solid and respectable 4 out of 5 stars. It's not my favorite Marvel film, but it definitely is one of the better ones.
The story follows the progression of Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist and the biggest head of Stark Industries, his company which specializes in making weapons. He's out on a demonstration run in Afghanistan for his new missile, the Jericho, when his Humvee motorcade is suddenly bombed, leaving Stark severely hurt and in captivity of some terrorist group known as the Ten Rings. He meets a man named Yinsen, a doctor who kept leftover shrapnel from the bomb from reaching his heart using an electromagnet, who has been instructed to help Tony build a Jericho missile for the Ten Rings. However, Tony ends up building a huge suit of armor for him to escape with. Enter Iron Man.
So, Stark gets back to America, and after finding out that his weapons are being sold to terrorists, he decides to quit making weapons, much to the dismay of the public and his partner Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). Stark tells Stane he'd rather focus on the arc reactor technology, like the one powering his heart and the larger one powering his factory. Stane isn't quite convinced, but he still lets Stark be. Meanwhile, Tony, with assistance from Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and his AI butler J.A.R.V.I.S. (Paul Bettany), manages to replace his old arc reactor and begins working on another Iron Man suit. After some test trials, he finally gets a suit up and running. But then he finds out that a small town in Africa has been ravaged by his weaponry. He suits up and goes out to take care of what he believes to be the rest of the Ten Rings, restoring justice to the town. This is also when he reveals his suit tech to his best friend Colonel Rhodes (Terrence Howard), who has to quickly call off a missile launch on Stark's suit.
As the third act begins, it turns out that Stane is the one who put out the hit on Stark. He breaks in to Stark's house and steals his chest reactor for his own personal Iron Man suit, leaving Tony to die. While Tony frantically struggles to fight for his life and replace the reactor in his chest, Pepper goes out to arrest Stane, only to be confronted by Stane's suit, which is larger and stronger than Stark's. Tony manages to get the old reactor in his chest, but due to its old fashioned ways, it can't hold the Iron Man suit for much longer, but it gives him enough time to go out and fight Stane to the death, with Pepper overloading the reactor at Stark industries and killing him. Tony then goes on to reveal his identity as Iron Man in a press conference the next day, and the movie ends with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) asking Stark about the Avengers initiative in a post-credits scene.
Upon first viewing, Iron Man is a great movie. It's witty and quick to the draw, never really disappointing in most parts. But, after seeing all the MCU movies that spawned because of this movie, it kinda comes off as naive. You see certain things that you know are going to lead to something else, like seeing Agent Coulson in the beginnings of SHIELD (when it was called the Strategic Homeland something or another) and Nick Fury before he became a really important character for moviegoers. 7 years down the line, it's just lost its charm.
However, with that out of the way, it doesn't necessarily mean that Iron Man is not a good movie. The plot is kind of a stable for Marvel movies, and it still holds up (explaining why it's been copied so many times...more on that later). The dialogue is well written, and even though it relies on very many snarky remarks, I can't complain. It could be so much worse. However, I have to say that the best parts of this movie are down to one thing.
That is the cast. Gwyneth Paltrow is by far not one of my favorite actresses, but she somehow manages to be evenly decent as Pepper Potts, and she has good chemistry with the rest of the cast. Terrence Howard is also good as Rhodes, and I always love me some Jeff Bridges. But, by far the shining light here is Robert Downey, Jr. I didn't know much about him before 2008, but after seeing his acting talents in this (and a few other movies) and hearing the story of his rise and fall from fame, I don't think any other person could have better portrayed this role than him.
So, even though Iron Man kinda loses its charm of wonderment after seven years, I can't really complain. It still fleshes out to be a quite enjoyable film, and you can't really fault it because it basically is the movie that started everything that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become. So, I think I'm going to give it a solid and respectable 4 out of 5 stars. It's not my favorite Marvel film, but it definitely is one of the better ones.
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