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[Death Ray]

Saw Iron Man yesterday. Time-released capsule review follows.

R.Downey Jr. : born to play Stark. Great banter, hits the smarmy comedy notes like Beethoven. Opening origin: good. Building the next gen suit: better. Lotsa sleek CGI, worth the POA.

Last act: crumby. The villainous plot laid by double-crosser Jeff "Rasputin" Bridges is more of a thumbnail sketch than a scheme. No suspense, nothing really at stake. The final duel between Iron Man and Iron Hulk evokes the ending of RoboCop 2, with less adrenaline.

Stick around for the serwacki that comes after the credits role. Had the crowd hooting.

[lprkn]

I saw this last night. I was duly impressed with the job Favreau did. Downey Jr's characterization was pitch-perfect. I agree with you that the last bit was a little rushed, but overall one of the top 3 comic movies in my book.

[littlefallsmets]

Third act was weak but... Downey as Stark, Downey IS Stark carried me through it.

The political statement it was trying to make about weapons in the world was so muddled that I almost wonder if that WAS the statement but... again. Downey living and breathing as Tony fuck*ng Stark got me past it.

Paltrow and Howard as cardboard standees? Sure. But I am a nerd and he WAS Tony Stark.

The fuck*ng ridiculous Burger King product placement took me out of it for a long time, actually, but... c'mon, they named the KITT rip-off "Jarvis" for fuck's sake. For fuck's sake.

I'm waiting for the call from my dad, when he sees this... "not that I'm prejudiced but Nick Fury ain't black"... because my dad is an old-school nerd who stopped keeping up when he had kids to feed.

[theinevitable]

I really liked the article on Slate about how the Iron Man character is basically all about how Awesome capitalism is. I have not seen the film.

[littlefallsmets]

It's really a lot more about... the comic book fantasy of capitalism as handled by people who learn to use it humanely and, I mean... in the real world, after a generation, anyone like that is shuffled out to make the profit margins fatter.

With great power comes great responsibility but... generally, if you use power responsibly, it gets taken away from you somehow as that messes shit up for everyone else digging on using great power in a grotesquely-irresponsible manner.

[Doc]

Nah, comic books are always about good guys vs. bad guys. The fact that we can have good guys and bad guys that belong to every point on the political spectrum (and these days are more and more conflicted about where they fit in and if they even want to) delivers a message that ideology and philosophy does not define morality and the bad guys are usually the ones who are unable of seeing the other guy's point of view.

Except maybe for the Question, but then they even turned him into a damn hippy (which kind of spoiled the character I think but then I'm always cranky about crude aping of eastern mysticism).

[littlefallsmets]

You gotta understand America, though, Doc.

If we didn't have the crude aping of Eastern mysticism, we'd have...

We wouldn't have much culturally at all.

Mayonaisse and Wal-Mart. That's really all Dominant American Culture would have left.

[Doc]

Mayonaisse and Walmart could say a lot about any culture when you think about it. Especially if you approach it as 'So what happened to let these things come into existence?'

[Ben-San]

Iron Man is the Objectivist hero, albeit less so in this movie (possibly because his archenemy, communism, was unavailable for the role at this time). He is a brilliant capitalist whose innovation is indispensable to the company and has led to limitless wealth for him, and he fights the ideology that threatens his business interests, and everything works out well as a result.

Now, I'll note I like Iron Man, but I've got to say that's a lot closer to Atlas Shrugged than any of Ditko's overtly Objectivist heroes.

[Doc]

I just watched Iron man a couple of hours and a few of jugs of beer back. I liked it, one of the people I saw it with said it should have had more action but more action would be eaten into Tony Stark time and I couldn't abide that. I'm not sure whether I want there to be a sequel (though they made it clear they intend to make one) as that could just dilute Robery Downey Jnrs awesomeness.

That said post movie discussion involved an avenger's movie starring Toby McGuire, Downey Jnr, Sam Jackson and Edward Norton and that made my geek parts sit up and pay attention. Probably never happen but it would be a beautiful thing if it did.

[wombat]

Wait a minute, what's wrong with mayonnaise???

[Doc]

There is something fundamentally right on a board where a discussion of condiments automatically trumps a conversation on politics.

[wombat]

Also note that if there is something wrong with mayonnaise, the French are to blame.

[CortJstr]

I haven't seen it yet but I want to know if they maintain the story that Iron Man is just an employee of Stark Industries.

And they have to have at least one sequel just so that they can bust out War Machine.

[iron_felix]

Also note that if there is something wrong with mayonnaise, the French are to blame.

Specifically this guy.

I've read that he was more famous in his own time for hosting massive orgies at his manor and suchlike.  Whether or not these involved mayonnaise, we may never learn.