The Bauer Confidential

Went and saw Iron Man last Saturday, and it’s not as good as Spider-Man 2, which I think might be the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen, but Iron man should rank up there. I only say this because of Robert Downy Jr., who makes this movie lots of fun and does a wonderful job of taking campy one-liners and making them sound more authentic. The movie is about Tony Stark (played by the aforementioned Robert Downy Jr.), the playboy owner of the weapons manufacturing company, Stark Industries. He is also a certified genius, who built his first integrated circuit board by the time he was four and went to MIT at the age of 15. So, he knows his engineering. The movie starts with Tony Stark going to Afghanistan to demonstrate Stark Industries newest weapon, Jericho, to the U.S. military. While there, some sort of guerrilla/terrorist force attacks his convoy, killing everyone and kidnapping Stark. Once the guerrilla/terrorist force recognized they have Stark, they give him an ultimatum, build the Jericho for them or die. It’s obvious that the guerrillas/terrorist have never seen 1980’s American T.V., especially MacGyver or the A-Team. You know the formula; the hero is captured and put in a room full of equipment and parts to make something to attack the people that kidnapped you and put you in the room in the first place. Anyway, this is just the beginning of the movie and is a critical part of the movie’s story, which is built around who Stark is and how his ordeal in Afghanistan changes him. How his conscience begins to change and see the world in a different light. The first half of the movie is very much character driven, and the second half is all special effects. The dry humor Downy puts into his role helps the film in the slow spots, but the bad guy is kind of lame, the fight scene between the Iron Man and the bad guy could have been better, and I still not sure if the ending made much sense. Even with those negatives this movie, given it’s a superhero movie, surpassed my expectation, and due to the well done special effects I’m glad I saw it on the big screen.