Iron Man
Composite Score: 86.07
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Clark Gregg, Sayed Badreya, Paul Bettany, and Jon Favreau
Director: Jon Favreau
Writers: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway
Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Superhero
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content
Box Office: $585.80 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Iron Man is the first live action feature film appearance of the titular superhero, and his alter-ego Tony Stark, and it also serves as the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr. as its leading man, Iron Man changed the landscape of superhero films massively, not just through the films that came after it, but through its influence on action, science fiction, and big budget films in the years since. In addition to Downey’s now enshrined performance, the film also features Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark’s assistant Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard as his military friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Leslie Bibb as the tenacious reporter Christine Everhart, Paul Bettany as the voice of Stark’s A.I. butler J.A.R.V.I.S., and Jeff Bridges as the villain Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger. It was nominated for two technical Oscars and continues to be celebrated for Downey’s game-changing performance and its original (less so now) approach to the superhero formula.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Great and influential as it is, Iron Man is not without a few missteps, particularly in the way that it handles its “anti-war” stance. Obviously, Tony Stark is presented as a womanizing warmonger at the start of the film, which doesn’t inherently disqualify him from becoming a hero, so I’m not really going to engage with that – it’s part of his story, not where he ends up. However, for a film (and hero) that purports to be anti-war, it sure has a lot of moments that show how cool it looks when Iron Man kills terrorists. Don’t get me wrong, it makes for some great action sequences, and the terrorists are bad people; I just don’t know that the film fully accomplishes what it sets out to do. It makes a strong statement about the military industrial complex and the way that arms manufacturers are the ones proliferating war and conflict and death, which is good, but it also makes violence, particularly violence against fairly generic “others”, look incredibly dope. Yes, the victims that Iron Man rescues also fit that demographic, but the cool factor is going to outweigh the gratitude factor every time. I think the decisions work for the character, especially when his entire arc across the two other Iron Man films, a Spider-Man film, and four Avengers films is taken into account, but as a standalone, it feels less than ideal.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
Iron Man offers the classic superhero origin story with just enough twists and embellishments to allow it to stand the test of time, stand out from the pack, and leave a lasting impact on the history of cinema, not just superhero films. Favreau and his writing team’s decision to update the origin story of Iron Man and place their film in the modern day, set against the American War on Terror rather than Vietnam, is the first step in the right direction for the film, placing the story and protagonist in the immediate view of the audience, connecting them to its themes more easily while also keeping the film feeling modern and cool. The supporting characters fit into the usual superhero tropes well, giving the audience again that feeling of familiarity while remaining unique. Paltrow’s Pepper Potts and Howard’s Rhodey are the two most generic characters in the film’s main cast, giving Tony the support that he needs without getting too fleshed out beyond some relationship development with Pepper and hints at future roles for Rhodes (who would be recast with Don Cheadle for future installments). While the Iron Monger is not the most original villain – the evil reflection of the hero, representing ties to their past in some way shape or form – Jeff Bridges does bring a lot to the characterization of Obadiah Stane, marking him as a surprisingly distasteful villain, as superhero films go. He’s no Joker but he’s also a far cry above Lee Pace’s Ronan or even Jude Law’s Mar Vell. Really and truly, though, it’s Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark that is the revelation of the film – a notorious Hollywood nepo-baby bad boy seeking redemption playing a notorious tech nepo-baby bad boy seeking redemption – carrying the film on his shoulders as he essentially reinvents himself as he’s reinventing Tony Stark. It’s a performance so great that the character has essentially become synonymous with the actor on par with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or Christopher Reeve as Superman; though now that he’s won his Oscar, we might see a little bit of a shift in that. He brings the perfect combination of charisma and douchebaggery to the role that redefined the way that the general public viewed superheroes and their films – especially those of Marvel.
With the inspired casting of Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role and Jon Favreau’s creative liberties with the comic books, Iron Man became an instant classic, and it continues to shape the public’s perception of superhero films and blockbusters, cementing a place of greatness in cinematic history. While it fails to perfectly deliver on some of its messaging, it takes you on a fun and memorable ride along the way and does have enough substance to keep it meaningful even sixteen years later. You can currently stream this film on Disney+ if you need to give it a rewatch or to discover it for the first time.
