Iron Man- A Movie Review

    As many of you may know by now, yesterday was our 3rd wedding anniversary(Juley G). We decided- better she let me decide- what movie we were going to see. Of course, being the typical guy I am, said," Oh, yeah. Let's go see Iron Man." I am just going to tell you now, BEFORE you read any further, I may give away some of the movie- SO DON'T BE MAD AT ME IF YOU CONTINUE!!!! But, at the very least know YOU MUST SIT THROUGH THE ENTIRE CREDITS REEL TO SEE THE END OF THIS MOVIE. I mean the ENTIRE credits reel. There is a great cameo by none other than Samuel L. Jackson.

    The movie has a pretty good (albeit cliche) plot; Rich guy with a conscience turns superhero. He fancys himself as a philanthropist/ arms dealer. I have to admit, I was thinking "Batman" (the Michael Keaton version) at first. So-it starts out with a bang! Explosions, terrorist insurgents, and lots of gun fire! And, also the point of his great epiphany that philanthropy and arms dealing can't be used in the same sentence; Remember "rich guy with a conscience". Flashback 36 hours from there- He is at an awards ceremony in Vegas dedicated to him. Honoring him as the greatest arms dealer of all time.  He doesn't even show up to because he's gambling, and apparently is not impressed with awards or showing off that he has money.  It gets pretty ho-hum from there, filling in the background of the lead, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). Introducing secondary characters, etc. He's a child prodigy from a well too do family whose father died prematurely.....again very Batman-esque. His MIT degree, and fathers ownership of Stark Industries, led to his taking over the company upon his fathers death. Stark Industries being a huge weapons and munitions company founded by dad, who consequently helped develop the first atom bomb at the end of WWII. Blah, Blah, Blah.

    Finally, the movie catches back up to present. We find that our Playboy/ Prodigy, has been captured by terrorist insurgents in what we are led to believe is Iraq/ Middle East- This is never actually said, just assumed by the situation, and scenery. He awakens to another prisoner who turns out to be a doctor of sorts who has rigged an electromagnet (in his unconscience state) to A) collect the shrapnel in his blood stream before it hits his heart, and B) keep his heart running. Kinda' like an external pace maker, with a twist. He is forced to make a copy of the Jericho missle he recently developed and demonstrated with the help of this other prisoner/ doctor person. All the while realizing that his legacy is death and destruction.  Instead of recreating his "greatest invention yet",  he hatches an escape plan involving a: pneumatic "Iron" suit, an improved version of his "pace maker" (called an Arc Reactor), and some homemade explosives.

    The antogonist here is some terrorist Osama type named Raza, who isnt killed off in the beginning but rather becomes an integral part of the story later. Enter Obadiah (Jeff Bridges). He has been around since Tony was a kid, and worked with his dad. He even ran the company for a short while until young Tony was ready to take the reigns. He acts as Tonys handler through the majority of the movie, balancing the stock price of the company with Tonys new found conscience and need to not build weapons of mass destruction. You can almost tell where this is going at this point.

  


 In his return from captivity, Tony spends all his time on his new and improved Iron Man suit. And, a light love story is introduced with his personal assistant, Pepper Pots (Gwynith Paltrou). His new suit is actually a gold and titanium alloy, after his first flight realizes that aluminum and steel freeze at 50, 000 feet. All the while Obadiah is running the day to day of the company Tony has disavowed from because of his recent experience.

   




    After he gets his new suit of armor up and running, its pay back time. He pays a little visit to those who held him captive, and basically kills everyone. But, again Raza escapes. At this point we realize Obadiah has actually been working with Raza, and selling him the very arms that caused Tonys capture in the beginning. Not only did he sell him the arms, he also planned and financed the entire ambush that led to his capture intending that Tony be killed and he would gain control of the company. Of course this is all a nice lead in to a battle royale between Obadiah and Tony. Obadiah, having created a suit of his own based on the wrecked suit Tony used to originally escape the terrorists. Obadiahs suit being even larger and stronger.

    There really weren't as many cheesey one liners as I thought there would be? And, really I was confused about using Gwenyth as his love interest. I was okay with it towards the end, and it actually started to make sense. Turns out the very thing that is keeping Tony alive, his miniature Arc Reactor, is the thing that kills his nemesis Obadiah- Just on a grander scale.

    That is pretty much how it goes down. I think EVERYONE should go see this movie, or own it on DVD. I know I will. I will leave you with some interesting points for you comic book version fans. Throughout the entire movie there is a very minor character who wants to debrief Tony on his terrorist experience. This character claims to represent "Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement & Logistic Division agency" or the SHIELD Agency...... hmmmmmm. Remember you MUST SIT THROUGH ALL THE CREDITS TO THE VERY END OF THE FILM, LETS JUST SAY THERE IS A CAMEO BY SAMUEL L. JACKSON. Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson). He's come to talk with Tony Stark about an upcoming project- known only as "The Avenger Initiative."..........SEQUEL!!!