Review of Iron Man (2008) by Mary G — 04 Nov 2015

The filmmaker John Favreau brings an original Marvel comic book hero to life while using many genres and detailed effects to embellish Tony's intense journey. Tony Stark's character is shown to be a determined, sarcastic, arrogant, wealthy businessman living a luxurious life. He owns the immense business named Stark Industries manufacturing high tech military weapons. As the film begins we can soon tell Tony is a man of importance. He is shown wearing a suit and tie riding in the back of an army vehicle through Afghanistan conversing casually when all of a sudden he realizes his own weapons are being shot at him. After waking up disoriented in an unfamiliar cave, his character then changes into feeling sympathetic towards Ho Yinsen and the other civilians at risk of death after realizing what his weapons had caused. Tony begins his mission in a war zone setting letting the audience know he is ready to take on any adventure thrown at him. In his plan to escape the torturous Afghan soldiers, he works diligently to build what is now known as Iron Man. Throughout the cave scenes, he is shown sweating in tight muscular clothing to provoke the thought of him being a strong, confident guy ready for battle.

Iron Man's first suit was originally created only to free Tony from the cave but later becomes his new invention replacing the need for Stark weapons. After his rescue, Tony sits on the floor casually eating a cheeseburger announcing he will no longer be running the Stark Industry causing controversy to arise. By sitting, he is showing that he is no longer serious about his business and it helps capture the presses attention more. Using his keen intelligence he then constructs an extremely advanced red and gold body armor suit built not only to defeat the terrorists, but to also destroy all functional Stark Industry weapons. One characteristic making Iron Man such a unique superhero is that he is very similar to Tony Stark's character, unlike the other Marvel characters. The red color used in the suit represents Iron Man's heroism in saving the civilians and defeating Obadiah Stane, also known as Iron Monger. The gold is used to represent him being an ace at his superhero abilities. Additionally, throughout the film the camera focuses in on Iron Man's mask as a symbol of fear and immense destruction to the Afghan terrorist leader named Raza. As the scenes throughout also only seem to depict most of only Tony Stark's face and not his entire body repeating the recognition of him being the creator of Iron Man.

John Favreau includes several genres in the film enabling it to have a broader audience. The most prevalent one being action. The film is based around the setting of war and suspense. Almost entirely throughout, Tony is struggling to keep himself alive with the arc reactor placed in his chest to prevent the scrap metal from reaching his heart, while also trying to prevent Obadiah from killing him. Another genre is romance. Tony's character builds a relationship with his assistant and what seems like his only close friend, Miss Pepper Potts. At first he was portrayed as a ladies man, sleeping with the Vanity Fair reporter and then leaving her the next morning. After his return home, the two become dependent on each other to defeat Obadiah and develop a deeper romantic connection.

The movie would definitely not have been possible without its use of science fiction. Iron Man's capability of spraying fire and using small rocket engines to fly is fictionally futuristic. Also, it appears that the arc reactor used to keep him alive and to operate the suit is not feasible to construct. His quick healing time with such little medical attention helps create the feeling of Tony having superhuman abilities like Iron Man. The special effects used enhance the film greatly. They are presented in such a way that makes them very believable and realistic, without them Iron Man would not be as appealing.

The film justifies exactly what a traditional heroic comic is about. Tony begins with going on an epic adventure, only to come into conflict with the enemy. He then escapes the enemy using his iron suit and works to find a means of defeating it. By the end he defeats the enemy, Obadiah, and saves humanity from being destroyed. In his last battle with Obadiah the setting purposefully becomes dark and dreary, giving a feeling that someone's life is coming near to an end.

Iron Man and its sequels are very well known around the world because of its origin from the Marvel comics. Although it is a stereotypical superhero story, it still is extraordinary because of its ability to deliver action and intensity throughout the entire plot keeping the audience's constant attention. He just so happened to make Iron Man a little unique by also adding a little romance into the mix, giving Tony's character a subplot to work toward achieving. The small bits of humor used by Tony helped to keep the tone not as intense and eased some of the intervening scenes. The film is a fantastic presentation of the Iron Man comics because of the many genres included, the extraordinary acting skills of Robert Downey Jr. and the remarkable talent of John Favreau and to turn such a popular comic book hero into a realistic film.