Iron Man (2008) Supes

Quick IMDB Recap

After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.

Issues

I like to get the negative (if there is any) out of the way, so I can do what I like to do most — love cinema. If you’re here for something that will nitpick movies, move along. I will only bring up negative things if they are real issues. So with that being said…

- The blatant misogyny and not-so-subtle homophobia in the opening scene sucks. You can chalk it up to Tony’s persona, or to “the times”, but it wouldn’t work today. I won’t linger on it, but it does bring what is otherwise a great opening scene down.

- Tony sleeping with Christine Everheart is garbage storytelling. It made her look like someone who actually doesn’t care about her moral center. The rest of the movie builds her as the moral pull at Tony’s recklessness, so why undercut it?

- The promotion of the military-industrial complex has been covered to death in the MCU, especially in the Iron Man trilogy. I won’t beat a dead horse, especially when, with the benefit of hindsight, Tony grows away from it. It’s unfortunate, but it does serve a purpose.

- Lastly, this movie follows a time-honored tradition of making the foreigner the bad guy. I appreciate that the Ten Rings are part of Marvel comics as a whole, and I love the way they incorporate them in later movies. But, man, the brown and black people don’t ALWAYS have to be villains. We’ve seen this get better over time, but it still sucks.

Just the Coolest

Now, to the fun stuff. It’s rare that comics get to be “cool” in the mainstream. The MCU has done a LOT of work toward ending that stereotype, but it’s still there. So we’re going to celebrate those moments.

For me, there are two “cool” things in this movie. Stuff that, no matter who you are, you have to admit that it was pretty cool. It removes the things that someone can have a problem with. Only wide-eyes with your mouth left open. It’s between Tony’s first flight in the silver Mark II, and his fight (?) with the Air Force after he saves the refugees in Gulmira.

In Tony’s first flight, you get to share in his own wide-eyed enjoyment that anyone would have in his shoes. It’s pure joy, up until the whole icing problem. And even then, you get the fall through the roof, leading to a perfect Dummy extinguisher moment (poor Dummy).

In the air battle with the Air Force, it’s similar feels, but with more action. Tony has a better understanding of his abilities and control over his suit, which leads to some fun. The flares to stop the rockets, Tony throwing the breaks on, him holding onto the plane. It’s all very creative and gives you a taste of what’s to come from the suits. Overlaid with great banter between Rhodey and Tony, and it culminates in a hero moment for Tony when he saves the pilot.

Supe goes to… Tony’s first flight. Considering this movie is our introduction to the MCU, that scene being the first time we get “cool” is a big moment.

Best Shot

This category is also down to two real contenders. Tony, arms open as the force of the Jericho missile blows past him, and the explosion of the tank in Gulmira. Both are so iconic, they are still two of the more popular memes from the MCU. The more iconic is arguably the Jericho missile demonstration, but…

Supe goes to… Tony blowing up the tank in Gulmira. It’s a badass good-guy moment, whereas the Jericho moment is more of a badass bad-guy moment.

The Funniest Thing

As we’ve come to expect with the Iron Man character, the comedy is never lacking. Tony is more funny when you can accept that his arrogance is part of his persona. Any time Tony and Pepper talked at each other was a little funny because they both talk over the other. And yet, they hear each other and respond in kind. It’s great. Pepper isn’t the only person he talks over, but she is the best at going tit for tat with him.

There are dumb (not a bad thing) funny moments, pure funny moments, and subtle funny moments. The grunt shooting himself off the Mark I suit in the cave is a great “dumb funny” moment. Rhodey asking Tony how the fun-vee was after they rescue him from the desert is great pure comedy. And it’s followed by a hug, which shows how close they are. Another obvious funny moment is Tony testing his suit for the first time at 10% thrust. He doesn’t know how powerful the thrusters are yet, and 10% sounds low. It throws him back into the wall, and Dummy sprays him with the extinguisher for the first (of many) times (poor Dummy).

But I prefer dry humor myself, and it was surprising how much subtle comedy there was. For instance, I never noticed this amazing line when Tony has Pepper help him change his reactor out. Pepper pulls out his magnet by accident, which sends Tony into cardiac arrest. Pepper panics and asks what’s happening and Tony says, “I’m going into cardiac arrest because you yanked it out like a trout”. Amazing.

But there is one perfect comedy line in the movie that makes me laugh every time. Tony saves the pilot when he destroyed his plane, and Rhodey tells him he owes him a plane and asks how to cover this with the media. Tony tells him to chalk it up to a training exercise because “Isn’t that what you guys always do?” and Rhodey says it’s not that easy. Cut immediately to Rhodey telling the press that it was an unfortunate training exercise. It’s ALWAYS funny.

Supe goes to… Rhodey covering for Tony to the press.

A Glass Case of Emotion

This category is my favorite. It’s a departure from the fun and exciting, but this is why I love movies and television. They can make me feel for these fictional characters and I love that. Not everything I cover will be heavy on these moments, but it’s still a category worth celebrating.

For Iron Man, this could be the Yinsen category. It starts when he and Tony are bonding in the cave over a game and he tells Tony that he will see his family again when he leaves. It’s a heartwarming line at first, but its meaning changes with more information.

Tony gets involved as well. He opens his homecoming press conference by telling first Obadiah, then the room, that he never got to say goodbye to his father. Later movies add weight to that line, but even in the moment, it’s heavy. The kidnapping of the refugee families in Gulmira is also very sad, especially given our current climate at the border. The kids screaming out for their father is chilling, but luckily, Tony is inbound.

But there is one obvious answer here. Yinsen’s death, for so many reasons, gets this Supe. The fact that he dies at all is sad, as he and Tony have bonded over what we later find out is three months. But if that wasn’t enough, you get these lines that cut deep, like “This was always the plan, Stark” and a repeated “I want this.” He informs Tony that his family is already dead. And for one final twist of the knife, he tells Tony “Don’t waste it. Don’t waste your life.” I got a bit emotional now as I wrote it. Luckily, as we now know, he didn’t.

Supe goes to… Yinsen. Just…Yinsen.

The Perfect Casting

So, it’s very possible that Robert Downey Jr. is the most perfect casting in the entire MCU. But I’m going to stop myself there because I want to give him this Supe for a different movie. I know that’s not true to the idea of a superlative, but I’m not going to give him this category for every movie he’s in. And I could, because he IS Tony Stark. But there’s another great selection for this movie.

Gwyneth Paltrow is fantastic as Pepper, as she bounces off RDJ well. She doesn’t flex her muscles as much until later in the movies, but she’s still great in this. But…

Supe goes to… Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane. He nails the father figure, cunning businessman, and evil genius all at once. You can see that he filled that role model slot for Tony, and he’s very intelligent. Not as smart as Tony, but still. If you don’t already know he’s the big bad, he can lull you into believing he isn’t. He hits being outraged at being Tony’s cleaner, but still gives him enough rope to get him out of the way. Bridges is awesome here, and I wish he would have stuck around for further appearances.

Best Performance — Main Cast

This is a different category than the previous one. You can nail casting someone, but for whatever reason, they may not hit the right notes. There may have been some poor directing or someone unexpected could pop off the screen. Put short, casting is more related to your feelings before the movie, whereas performance is evaluated later.

I would consider the main cast for this movie to be RDJ, Paltrow, Bridges, Terrence Howard as Rhodey, and Shaun Toub as Yinsen. Toub is there because of the weight of his role, and less because of his screen time. I can’t in good conscience give Howard this because Don Cheadle is better as Rhodey than him. Again, not fair, but it is what it is.

So this comes down to RDJ, Paltrow, and Bridges for me. I know this is petty, but there’s a scene where Pepper and Coulson try to go arrest Stane. She goes to swipe into the room and her card won’t work, and her pause in-between the two swipes is…terrible. It’s the one “bad” acting moment that I can think of in the movie.

Supe goes to… Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. I talked a bit about it in the casting supe, but he’s perfect as Stark. He hits all the beats, and he, along with Paltrow and Bridges, gave the MCU its first dose of “quality, talented actors DO want to do these movies”. RDJ was coming off some real-life issues, but it was such a coup for Marvel to get him.

Best Performance — Side Characters

The group of side characters is top-heavy. It was surprising how little Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan was in this. I remembered him being more prominent. Clark Gregg also only got a couple of scenes as Agent Phil Coulson and Paul Bettany made the most of his few lines as JARVIS. I also enjoyed Sayed Badreya as Abu Bakaar, who was somehow charming as one of the lead bad guys.

This category is down to Leslie Bibb as Christine Everheart and Faran Tahir as Raza. Raza is a much more interesting character than I remembered, and he’s awesome in the scene where he threatens Tony and Yinsen.

Supe goes to… Leslie Bibb as Christine Everheart. Despite my issues with her introduction, she does play the reporter who is holding Tony accountable well. Her highlight scene is at the Firefighter’s Family Fund gala. She informs Tony that his weapons are still going into Gulmira, and she shows her anger well. Plus, she’s RIGHT about the things she says and is a great character.

Best Small Part

Because Stan Lee is the greatest, I do have to praise all his appearances. And this will always be a Stan Lee category if he’s in it. Is there a more on-brand way to include him in this movie by having Tony mistake him on the red carpet for Hugh Hefner? No. The answer is no.

Credits Scenes

An MCU tradition — credits scenes! We start out slow, with only one, but it’s a big one. Samuel L. Jackson appears as Nick Fury, and we’re off and away toward the Avengers Initiative. It’s small but carries so much weight, and lets you know that Marvel had a plan.

The Most Impactful Thing

Sometimes, the most impactful thing isn’t a line or a scene. Sometimes, it’s about the subtle, quiet moments. And while this is all true, this movie doesn’t do a lot of that.

That’s not to say that there are no impactful lines, but they haven’t jumped into the quiet nuances quite yet.
But first, a couple of great lines, even if they don’t hold the weight of the others.

“Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave! With a box of scraps!” -Stane to William the engineer, who we’ll see later on.

*handshake* “No he won’t.” “No, he won’t.” — Tony and Yinsen after Abu promises he’ll let them go after they build the missile for them. It’s well delivered and shows that Tony and Yinsen aren’t only book smart.

“I met you once.” — Yinsen to Tony. A nice little moment that they pay off later.

Now for the contenders. We’ll go by character, and start with Stane. After Tony announces that they will stop weapons production until he can look into it, Stane tries to reel him in. He tells Tony “We’re iron mongers” and I love that they let you know here where this is going. If you read the comics, you’d know Stane was Iron Monger, but it’s still a nice nod.

For Yinsen, the “Don’t waste your life” is an obvious choice, but I also like an earlier line. Tony is asking who the guys holding them captive are, and Yinsen says “They are your loyal customer, sir.” Great delivery, and I love the implications it puts on Tony. He may not have known that it was happening, but he is still responsible for it.

Tony leads the way, though. “I’m being responsible! That’s a new direction for m- for the company.” is SO GOOD. It’s a great character-building line and is pretty funny too. And the look Stane gives him is *chef’s kiss*.

The main reason I gave the best performance for a side character to Bibb is that her interactions with RDJ are gold. When she shows him his weapons in Gulmira, she tells him his company authorized it, to which he responds “Well I’m not my company.” It’s another great character-building line, and also shows that while his name IS the company, he is separating from where they’ve been.

Earlier, they have another great back and forth. Tony tells her “My old man had a philosophy, ‘Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy’.” Not to be outdone, she quips back “That’s a great line coming from the guy selling the sticks.” It makes the fact that they’re sleeping together within a minute that much more frustrating, though.
And even with all these great lines, one stands above them all.

Supe goes to… “I am Iron Man.” — Tony Stark. There might not be a more impactful and iconic line in the MCU than the final line of this movie. It carries more weight now than it did then, but even then, it was massive. There’s a stereotype that superheroes are hokey, masked people living secret lives. Tony Stark’s bravado let everyone know, this was not going to fit that stereotype. There are so many reasons that Iron Man was the best character to start the MCU with, and this is one of them.

The Best Scene

The final category, and so many to choose from! Regardless of your feelings about what’s happening, the weapons presentation is a phenomenal scene. It sets up so much for the Iron Man character and has one of the best shots in it. While it’s very brief, Tony hammering on his Mark I suit in the cave is iconic, and I had to include it somewhere.

Tony’s homecoming is a great scene. From him telling everyone to sit down, his admission that he never said goodbye to his father, and his walk-off declaration are all great moments. Stane telling Tony it was him that locked him out of the company on the red carpet is also great. Stane does this great thing where he decides to tell him but turns him toward the cameras for pictures. Tony can’t react the way that he wants to, and Stane leaves him frozen in a wave of anger.

Pepper digging through Stane’s computer is interesting, and when Stane enters the room, it’s chilling. Bridges and Paltrow are amazing in this scene and it’s the peak of Stane feeling intimidating. You can’t tell what he does and doesn’t know, and that makes it all the more terrifying. The fight on the freeway is also pretty good, with some cool weapon choices, like using a motorcycle like a bat. I’d lump in Tony screaming up into the atmosphere, showing that he learned from his mistakes and fixed the icing problem, while Stane did not.

Supe goes to… Tony returns to the desert and fights the Ten Rings and the Air Force. The best shot and one of the coolest things are here, you get an emotional moment, and some great comedy with Tony and Rhodey. It may be a stretch to consider this all one scene, but it all takes place in his return to the desert, so I’m taking it. It’s got something for everyone!

Final Rating: 8 Dummy extinguishers / 10