Iron Man Teaser

Well that gave me chills. I asked my friend Solitare, well-versed in the ways of comic magic, what he thought of it, both the trailer and the potential for the film. Here’s what came to be:

Ah yessssssssss…Well my brethren, as requested, here is my take on the coming Iron Man film. First, if you haven’t seen the teaser, you are bastard people and I hate your ass-faces (seriously, go and see it, it is remarkable)</p>

Adapting something like iron man has both immediate advantages and demerits. First, because he is a second tier character, you don’t run into the problem of the top echelon super heroes. Even the most snobby, bubble headed blond broadcast news hopeful on campus that wouldn’t ever stoop to TOUCHING a comic knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker was bitten by a spider,
Superman is from krypton…etc. Because of this, you can get away with more in terms of the adaptation. I cite Daredevil, where the Kingpin was made black, Electra became a Caucasian hottie (I get the fruit of the loom mambo going over Jennifer Garner…but it was just wrong) Bullseye became an Irishman (Hear Hear!) with a penchant for faux croc skin leather and self mutilation and daredevil himself took to wearing an outfit last seen in a Turkish prison by a gentleman with a bullwhip up his arse and boots so
clunky they would make jumping jacks impossible, let alone rooftop swan dives. To the average viewer, none of this mattered because they weren’t familiar with DD to begin with, and just thought the movie was…okay (The directors cut is about twenty five minutes longer and a vastly superior film) This brings me to the demerits: These characters, though not as well known have RABID fan bases who will draw blood over this type of creative license. That may not seem to matter, but you would be surprised how many critics are closeted fans. I hear Ebert crapped a miata over Doctor Doom’s Hugh Hefner ensemble from Fantastic Four. The point is, it is aways wisest to see (as Nolan did with Batman begins) that there are reasons these characters have endured, whether above or below the collective radar of pop culture, and should be treated with respect, and that is why iron man will
rock.

Favreau is a great director, who has an ability to write snappy dialog and conceptualize both large and intimate scenes. plus that, he is a comic geek, which is always a plus. Casting Tony Stark was tricky, as the studio response would typically be to put a group of photos from the cw tv roster on the wall and throw darts at it. Thing is, there is no studio, Marvel has formed their own studio and are producing in house, this means that the ONLY people responsible for the decisions are the director and the people who
created and publish the characters in the books. What do you do when casting a talented, handsome, dark haired, charismatic celebrity with a history of substance abuse? You hire a handsome, dark haired, charismatic celebrity with a history of substance abuse, albeit one who has conquered those issues and regained his status as one of the greatest actors of his generation.
Robert Downey Jr. is the greatest casting choice since Christopher Reeve, bar none. Stark is often written off as a Bruce Wayne wannabe, but this is simply not true. Bruce Wayne is dead, he died with his parents the same instant Batman was born. As is often stated, Bruce is the mask, Batman is the reality. Stark doesn’t have these issues. He LIKES being rich, hammering single malt, harpooning super models and actresses and meeting kings and dignitaries. His epiphany comes with his near death experience, where the rest of the stuff remains, but the hooch becomes an issue. Further, Gweneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges are actors of a great caliber who only act when they want to (haven’t heard of Terrance Howard? rent Hustle and Flow. now.) In the trailer, we see all an iron man fan would want to. Stark being a womanizing, scotch guzzling dink, the attack in the war zone (here sensibly moved from the rice patties of Vietnam to the barren landscape of Afghanistan), the injury to his heart that nearly claimed his life, the creation of the mark 1 armor out of his own missile components while in captivity ( the armor is dead on, with a helmet that is taken from the original drawings and a suit that looks like it was plate welded and pieced together…it looks like the tin man after a bender, as it should) the escape and brief glimpses of the iron monger suit(That would be the big iron man on steroids you see Jeff Bridges looking longingly up at) and finally, the most realistic flying effects i have ever seen as the mark 3 armor, spot on from the current incarnation in the comics dog fights with to f-16s (noticeably absent is the mark 2 armor, but we have to have SOMETHING to look forward to seeing).

This is a comic book film done right and, with another tip of the hat to Mr. Nolan, done realistically.

From what I have seen so far, as a movie fan and an Iron Man fan, me am pleased.