Bad Movie Night: Iron Man

A while back, when I found out from the Jakiddy-Jake that Marvel Studios was making an Iron Man movie, I couldn't have been less interested.

Iron Man the character had never really appealed to me in my comic book-reading days. His alter-ego Tony Stark was some rich, alcoholic businessman who put on a fancy suit to fight crime. Batman pretty much did the same thing in a cooler, darker costume. I never got into Iron Man's back story and figured I would lump the movie in with other Marvel Comics movies like Ghost Rider. In other words, The Machete, the Jakiddy-Jake, and I would see it, discuss it briefly over a few beers, and promptly forget about it.

Then, during one "bad movie night" we happened to catch the preview:



After viewing the preview, I began to think maybe I had missed something and my initial "eh" reaction I had to the Iron Man character either needed to be revisited and/or updated, because, well, the movie looked damn cool and a lot of stuff blew up. From my basic understanding of the character, Robert Downey, Jr. seemed a perfect fit for Tony Stark as well.

So this past weekend, I drug the fiancé (it took a lot of convincing) and The Machete (no convincing necessary) to see Iron Man.

All three of us, as well as many critics, were absolutely amazed. The movie was extremely well-written, well-cast, and well-directed. It was an extremely tight movie and nothing went flying off the handle towards either the "too much" or "too little" extreme. Everything from the character development to the action and fighting to the modest and believable romance were patiently timed and executed in an exemplary fashion.

I can only say good things about this movie - Iron Man gets the maximum "Bad Movie Night" rating of 10 times Dragon Wars (click on that link).

I would like to throw this in as well: I guess on a certain level I relate to Tony Stark. No, I'm not saying I'm an engineer with ridiculously crazy ideas (and a computer named 'Jarvis' which I talk to) who likes to drink and whose body is kept properly functioning with metal medical pieces (I'm not saying that's not true, however).

Sometimes events occur that make people feel like everything that is wrong with the world has true control over their life. Not to give too much away about the movie (or my personal life), but there is a scene in Iron Man where Tony Stark destroys his workshop in a fit of rage while testing new enhancements to his Iron Man suit. It's that look Robert Downey, Jr. gives that combines frustration, anger, empathy, and loss. I've seen that look before.

Tony Stark, I know how you feel.