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Iron Man (2008)

Director: Jon Favreau

Time Out rating

Average user rating

84 reviews

Synopsis

The latest Marvel comic book to receive a big screen adaptation, this one stars Robert Downey Jr. as the titular tycoon-cum-superhero.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Playboy weapons magnate Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is a greased amalgam of Howard Hughes, Hugh Hefner and C-3PO, complete with an enviable battery of glib banter and a goatee you could set your watch by. On a routine sales trip to the Middle East, his Humvee is ambushed by a terrorist cell and he is dragged away to a cave, where he is forced to reproduce one of his high-powered missiles with some scrap metal and a soldering iron.

Instead, Stark uses those materials to construct a suit of robotic body armour and flee from the extremists’ clutches. This channels his epiphany – perhaps long overdue – that profiteering from weapons is far from the Promethean zenith of overarching compassion he once thought it was. He returns a changed man and, with the help of his svelte assistant ‘Pepper’ (Gwyneth Paltrow) and best mate Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard), builds a shiny suit of armour with which he plans to put an end to warfare for good.

All this liberal hand-wringing comes much to the chagrin of the sinisterly named Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), Stark’s devious benefactor, who doesn’t shine to his peacenik jabbering one bit. Stane sports both a bald pate and a beard, a red flag combination in comic-book land if ever there was one.

Actor-turned-director Jon Favreau has proved with his past directorial efforts, including buddy comedy ‘Made’, Christmas film ‘Elf’ and kids’ fantasy ‘Zathura’, that he has a keen eye for character and can spin a decent yarn. Sadly, these two qualities are rarely apparent here, replaced instead by quick-fix one-liners and predictable set-piece gags. Like Iron Man’s suit, Favreau’s film feels like it has been meticulously assembled rather than lovingly formed. It’s little more than an elongated, episodic and sporadically charming introduction to the life of this mechanised millionaire superhero, light on both CGI and moral quandaries, and possessing neither the zip and sparkle of a ‘Spider-Man’ nor the brooding existential subtexts of ‘Batman Begins’.

Author: David Jenkins 2008-04-25 14:51:20

Time Out London Issue 1967: April 30 - May 6

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User reviews of this film

andy said...

Posted on May 07 2008 09:09 This was fantastic, Robet downey jr was fantastic in the role the special effects were unbeleiveable
This is easily one of the best films of this year
this is definetly the start of the big summer blockbusters and definetly would see it again.

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moop said...

Posted on May 06 2008 20:42 i was expecting another semi-passable spidey, x-men or (god help us) daredevil. i came out of theatre with a huge grin on my face. admittedly the film had some down-points, for instance the fact he was kidnapped by the afghans and it's not p.c. etc.etc. but never the less the style with which downey pulled off his role as stark was genius, as was the rendering of the suit itself, modernised but not ridiculously glitzy, and all the fight sequences but the end one (which i felt was boring and rather cliched) were gorgeously directed.
i would have been happy to leave out the rather irritating love story with pepper potts, but as the role was competently acted, i have no huge complaints.
I am dissapointed that many people on the board have neglected to research iron man in any way; if they had done so they would have realised that jim rhodes was always black and that casting him as black has nothing to do with his so called "sidekick-friend role"
in conclusion, that was a bad-ass film and deserves far more credit than the cretins (who know nothing about marvel, let alone iron man) on this site have given it. long live robert downey jr.

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Bo_Nidle said...

Posted on May 06 2008 11:36 I saw this yesterday and was very impressed. Robert Downey Jr is excellent as the suave, cynical hero. The story of his transformation from arms dealer/designer to protector is well written as he still retains his cynical edge becoming the good guy without becoming a wuss! He actually kills when he has to and for me this gave a welcome hard edge to this latest comic book adaptation. In the words of my son "They aged it up!". While that may not be great English it summed up the tone of the film nicely. It isn't Spiderman, it certainly isn't Superman (thank God!). It's more along the lines of Batman Begins (another good film) but if anything it's a little harder and certainly wittier.
The effects are top notch but there is no excuse for sub-par effects on this budget.
As for the criticsms of it being "Not PC" well help me out here as I'm not seeing the down side. I have yet to see a "PC" friendly film that held any form of an interesting storyline.
All in all this is a great film to escape a couple of hours and have a thoroughly good time.
Apparently its taken $100,000,000 so far so a sequel looks inevitable and I look forward to it. I just pray that they don't "age it down" and please do NOT make it P.C.

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Robo Critic said...

Posted on May 06 2008 10:33 I went into this movie not expecting much - frankly, I don't rate Robert Downey Jr much - but I was pleasantly surprised. Not by the quality of the script or the depth of the storyline, more for the fact that I actually laughed out loud more than twice - testing the suits's retros and Stark's rapore with his helper robots was a nice touch!
You gotta remember, this is just another comic book movie-makeover so it's not gonna be 'War & Peace' or 'SChindler's List'. You also have to remember that its buried in its 70's/80's origins so we get the bland sterotypes and the non-PC crap - oh, and the over-simplication of US foreign policy rendered in celluloid.
It was never goona be as deep and brooding as 'Batman begins' (although it could have been) but it was a successful rendition of a decent comic book franchise - good action, thread-bare story and sprinkled liberally with humour - no-doubt Downey Jr inspired.

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Alka said...

Posted on May 06 2008 06:56 Amazingggggggggg.... i loved the movie..... simply neat!! worth watching with all the junk thats being produced these days... IRON MAN was one of a kind...

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laura said...

Posted on May 05 2008 10:33 This is a great film. Cleverly put together and very funny with brilliant performances from DowneyJr, Paltrow and Bridges. Go and see this film!!

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Keith D said...

Posted on May 04 2008 23:37 Went to see it this morning and thought it was a brilliant, enjoyable film! Funny in parts and the special effects are top notch. Excellent!

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Katz said...

Posted on May 04 2008 23:25 This film is typical of the perhaps unintentional, though still apparent messages sent out by and for women in regards to gender stereotypes and behaviors. A woman's assets boils down to two things; sex and care taking. Yes, it is a comic book story, but these types of gender steroetypes are found across the board. And, these two choices lead to only two paths- if a woman uses sex (as it appears to be an asset at her disposal) she's a slut, and if she plays the role of care taker, rarely is she thought to have any sexual command. Way to play to the stereotypes. I would like to see a more accurate depiction of both men and women make it from comic book to blockbuster hit. Is it possible?

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Nick said...

Posted on May 04 2008 20:33 The guy who wrote the main review must have watched a highlights edit as Iron man is easily the best marvel film they have done to date. Robert Downey jr is excellent as is Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow. The humour was just right also they did not go overboard on the CGI as most films do and the film is not weighed down like most films that have to set the whole story up, of how the superhero came to be which is very rare.
DO NOT MISS IT.

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Lancer said...

Posted on May 04 2008 17:00 For the record:
Tony Stark was the original Ironman.
In the 1980's there was a storyline called, "Demon in a Bottle", where Tony lost his fortune, and became a raging alcoholic and ended up homeless on the streets.
During the time where Tony totally lost it, his friend, Jim Rhodes (Yes, the black guy) wore the suit to keep Stark interests safe.
He eventually stopped being Ironman for various reasons... Firstly, since the suit was designed for Tony Stark brain waves, he had headaches, and started losing his sanity.
Secondly, and more importantly, Tony got his act back together.
As a gesture, Tony built Jim his own custom set of armour, which was far more offensive in nature, and took the name War Machine.
Nuff Said.

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aliana said...

Posted on May 04 2008 00:08 How disappointed was I. There were many problems with Iron Man. Firstly, being a comic book adaptation it is not very child-friendly, too rude! Secondly, the film was a contradiction, in trying to be ethical Iron Man was doing exactly what it wanted to prevent. Thirdly, it was so sicklingly-cheesy, Ameriacans = Heroes, Afganis (anything 'ethnic'/Muslim) = Villian, I thought movies had moved on from that, how 90s can you get. Fourthly, the role of the black guy (the friend-sidekick) and the role of the woman (so subservient), how typically and traditionally Hollywood, again, I thought movies had moved away from that too. And lastly, the film was too simplistic, there was not much depth to the content, I was hoping it'd be on par with Spiderman, it. did. not. even. come. close.

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John said...

Posted on May 03 2008 22:47 The review is misleading. This is an excellent superhero movie and stands up very well compared to batman begins. (the best superhero movie in my opinion) Downey is witty and charismatic and fits the role perfectly. All the acting is good, never descending into pure cheese (spiderman, anyone?) and the special effects are top notch. All in all this is great pre-summer entertainment.

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benno said...

Posted on May 03 2008 17:01 he best of the comic/movie makeovers....downey jnr was perfect for the role...good action...half decent story...bit of humour & romance...good al round enjoyable family entertainment!! bring on iron man 2

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Jakey Pete said...

Posted on May 03 2008 11:02 Arguing on the internet does not work. The film was pretty crap.

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NOW AN IRON MAN FAN said...

Posted on May 03 2008 10:46 i was thoroughly entertained from the beginning to the end. Easily a mega hit and well worth every penny. Exactly what a movie going experience should be.

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