There have been comic book movies before. Hell, there have been comic book movies before. However, Iron Man was different. Iron Man wasn't just a great comic book movie. It was just a great film.
When I was younger, I was into to comics a little as I've shown in some previous posts. However, I wasn't obsessed with every character, it was just the really cool ones: The "emo" mentality of Spider-man, the awesome interaction between the X-Men and the generally badassness of Venom. However, I don't know if anyone was as cool as Tony Stark.
For those of you who don't know, or haven't seen the movie, Stark is a famous, rich, egotistical weapons developer who has the entire world in the palm of his hands. He drinks heavily, sleeps with super models and of course, creates weapons that blow stuff up.
So, besides that last part, He is Robert Downey Jr.
Downey's personal problems are very reminiscent of Stark's. Downey struggled with cocaine addiction; Stark struggled with Alcoholism in the comic book to the point of relinquishing control of the Iron Man armor. It brings a sense of realism to the character that no comic book movie has seen before.
Anyway, you've probably heard about Downey's fantastic acting in this film before unless you're living under a rock. So, I won't bore you with that. Instead, I'm going to tell you what made this movie good for me, a fan of the comic.
The changes that director Jon Favreau made to the story all made sense. They weren't changed for the sake of changing them. They were changed because it made it a better movie. Let's list them shall we?
The character of Stark is kidnapped in Afghanistan in the movie, which was changed from Vietnam in the comic book. It made the story feel more current. Along the same lines, The main villain of the book, Mandarin, is not the main villain of the movie. Mandarin was originally created to an analogy of communism, which isn't exactly current anymore. Instead, they skipped ahead to Obediah Stain (played by Jeff Bridges, and yes...The Dude Abides...) stealing Stark Industries from Tony and reverse engineering the Iron Monger suit. However, the comic book portrayed this period differently.
During this period, Stark is supposed to succumb to alcoholism and James Rhodes, Stark's best friend played in very mediocre fashion by Terrence Howard, dons the Iron Man armor and becomes War Machine. However, that just wouldn't do for the first movie.
Favreau has stated that he doesn't know if he'll use Madarin in the sequel due to the character being so outdated.
All these changes make sense! Unless movies like X-3 or Spider-Man 3, Changers aren't made because it makes the story more palpable, (read: simpler and dumber) they are made to make the content better.
Lastly, there was the subtle comic references thrown in throughout the movie. Rhodes looked at a silver version of the Iron Man armor and says "Next time, baby." That foreshadows War Machine. There was the guy who kept referring to himself as a representative of Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, which you find out at the end (but I figured out quickly) spelled S.H.I.E.L.D. These things make it worth it to know the books before you see the movie.
And then of course, there's this...
Altogether, Downey's performance and the great story adaptation by Favreau make this a great movie and I hope that Marvel studios (who independently financed this film) keeps up the good work. Can't wait for the sequel in 2010.
Final Grade: A+
The best movie, comedy or not, I've seen in theaters in a very, very long time.
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