Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Empire 500 (2008): #406
Director: Jon Favreau
Screenwriters: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway
Iron Man, is an efficient summer blockbuster, but feels slightly soulless, with none of the moral ambiguity or interesting themes of the Dark Knight trilogy. I went into this film with high expectations having never seen a film in the new Marvel Cinematic universe, and it didn't offer anything, relying far too heavily on the charisma and presence of Robert Downey Jr. The plot feels devoid of anything at all new, interesting or experimental, trying to force oversimplified and slightly smug moral messages down the audience's throat, and the 'twist' midway through the film is also completely predictable. While the individual performances are fine this film just feels flat and boring. Once it gets going there are a few fun scenes, especially as Tony Stark discovers the capabilities of his new suit. But it is too little too late.
From the start, I found Tony Stark not the cool and funny playboy that the film tries to portray him as, but as annoying, and the film feels casually misogynistic and in light of recent events a bit casually racist and unimaginative to have standard Arabic terrorists as the main antagonists for the first two thirds of the film, capturing Tony Stark and forcing him to build his Iron Man suit. The scene where the white, rich American man acts as the saviour to the Arabic people also feels like the typical American attitude and arrogance that the film is trying to poke fun at. Jeff Bridges does his best to liven up the main villain, but he is just immensely dull, and we never learn anything about him or his motives, he is a villain simply because the film needs a villain.
There are some fun scenes, especially when Robert Downey Jr. has screen time, but the film feels uninspired. I generally quite like superhero films, and loved the Dark Knight trilogy, and how this film was critically acclaimed mystifies me slightly.
2/5 Stars
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