Review of Iron Man (2008) by Chadshiira — 18 May 2008

When Tony Stark(Robert Downey Jr.) returns to the middle east as Ironman, he's no longer the problem to war; he's the solution. This routine, but literary-steeped screenplay, suggests that the weapons manufacturer is a contemporary Marlowe, the protagonist in Joseph Conrad's modernist classic "Heart of Darkness", which told the story of Africa's rape at the turn of the century by European hands.

Although Marlowe wasn't an imperialist, per se, he did foster the ongoing tyranny by simply being in that tug boat. In "Ironman", as Stark rides across the desert in an army utility vehicle, our anti-hero gets closer to his unbeknowing nightmare, the discovery that he's enabling the enemy.

The horror, the horror. In that cave, he turns into Oskar Schindler(an ex-war profiteer), as a Marvel superhero. But if you're looking for a Kurtz stand-in, it's pretty hard not to miss Jeff Bridges' bald head.

Bridges manages the neat trick of being a megalomaniacal tyrant with a god complex(in other words, Marlon Brando in Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now"), and Preston Thomas Tucker(the car manufacturer in "Tucker: The Man & His Dreams; again, Coppola), a man of vision, albeit an evil one.

"Ironman" also impresses with its Mulder/Scully dynamics between Stark and Pepper Potts(Gwyneth Paltrow). When Stark says, "Admit it. This isn't the worst thing you caught me doing," to his assistant, fans of "The X-Files" will nod knowingly.

Mulder was a porn aficionado. "Ironman", predictably, has the requisite action to satisfy its target demographic(something that Ang Lee's "Hulk" failed to do), but it's the suppressed love between boss and employee that's the real story here.