Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist who vows never to lose at Rock ’Em
The problem with most blockbusters is that they need to breathe. In the space between explosions, banter or some combination of the two, they feel an irresistible urge to pause on “business” like romance, exposition or any number of subplots no hopped-up action junkie has ever asked for. Hand it to Jon Favreau and the quartet of writers behind Iron Man, then, for finding a way to remove those pesky pauses — they made the damn thing half machine. And what a machine it is.
Iron Man is a juggernaut with a human centre — a sleek combination of action and comedy that uses one to further the other without ever losing momentum. As Tony Stark, Iron Man’s industrialist, super-engineer secret identity, Robert Downey Jr. charms his way from the titular exoskeleton’s origins in a Middle Eastern PoW facility through to his battle against former mentor Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) and his own weapon manufacturer’s wares. Nominally antiwar but couched in its fair share of violent fantasy, Iron Man’s action is every bit as satisfying as its clever dialogue, much of which was improvised on-set.
The film even manages to cram in a host of supporting characters and knowing winks from the comics without saddling the script with slavish fan service. Stark’s secretary, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), provides the film’s obligatory sexual tension without falling into obligatory traps. Terrance Howard only offers one predictable “damn!” as Stark’s military advisor, Jim Rhodes, and Favreau himself takes a bit part as Stark’s bodyguard, Happy Hogan. Even Stark’s butler, Jarvis, is included as a sass-talking AI with a British accent, voiced by an uncredited Paul Bettany.
In fact, when the script becomes workmanlike, it’s only to keep it moving during the usual blockbuster doldrums. In the hands of less efficient writers, for example, the obligatory scene where Potts discovers Stark’s superhero identity might have drawn out into arm-grabbing melodrama. Instead, it’s resolved in a few efficient lines whose convenience is more than made up for by their effect.
The effect? More time for Downy Jr. to quip, more space for Iron Man to fly at supersonic speed with guns for hands. More than a comic-book adaptation, a model with more embarrassing failures than successes, Iron Man is a consummate blockbuster built with agile writing and gleeful action. Thankfully, given its $100-million opening weekend take, this is one beautiful machine we’ll likely be seeing again.
