May 04, 2008
I can fly.
The thing is, I love Tony Stark. I've loved him since I was a shorty. As a tomboy growing up around a national defense complex, nothing was cooler to me than making things blow up rill good, and Tony, he was the best. And I saw the trailer and knew Marvel had taken production of Iron Man all on their own and heard the murmurs that no, wait, this one works, it really works, but I stayed away. From the posters, the production stills, Metacritic, all of it. I wasn't ready to get my hopes up, not by Tony, particularly when Tony would be inhabited by one of my favorite actors of all time.
I dashed from work on Friday night with a bunch of post house geeks in tow to line up on the Promenade and see what they'd come up with. I mocked Jon Favreau's body of work on the sidewalk outside the Mann Criterion. And two hours later, bouncing in my seat like I'd snorted Pixie Stix, cheering for our buddies in the credits (The Orphanage & Pixel Liberation Front, holla!), staring open-mouthed in silent they did not they did not they DID glee at Nick Fury's cameo, I wondered aloud: Is it that hard to make a comic book movie that doesn't suck? To hire a good writer? To commit the time and resources to utterly seamless VFX? WHERE IN THE HELL HAVE THESE GUYS BEEN?
The next day I made up for my radio silence. I pored over review after review, trying to find the sequence of keystrokes that could capture the elation, the recognition I saw on face after face as Tony did everything he was supposed to, just the way it was supposed to happen, the impulse to keep turning around in the theater to make sure it wasn't just me. And then I found the AICN review that said watching this movie is "like freebasing Pop-Tarts". And that about covers it.
Marvel did it. The impossible. They made a summer blockbuster deserving of the title and the money, and they did it hand-in-hand with their source material. They hit it over the wall, and I can't see how they'd ever put their properties in the hands of a studio after this.
Wow - it sounds like Marvel didn't fuck this one up. How they have handled the other properties had made me skeptical, but I held out hope that this one would be different since Robert Downey Jr. was going to be in the title role (a perfect fit, IMHO).
I need to go and see it, since I grew up a HUGE Iron Man fan (I still have the original comic books my mom used to buy for me when she went on out-of-town trips in the early-to-mid '70's). And I can be confident that it's a true adaptation of what I'm familiar with, albeit set in the present-day. Excelsior!
Posted by: Studley at May 4, 2008 05:40 PMIt wasn't just the most amazing thing I've ever seen... but it was good. Dang good.
Jon F. gets a huge thumbs up. And RDJ was absolutely beyond perfect for that role. I don't think they could have genetically created somebody better for the role.
I'm sad to say that except for the Dark Knight the summer can only go downhill from an opener like that.
Posted by: Three-N-Out at May 5, 2008 06:47 AMWell I won't say Favreau nailed it, he certainly didn't screw it up either.
(While fun, it takes too long to get into the action and the best set pieces occur in the second act. Really wanted the film to go another hour, since the big showdown felt small in comparison to other parts of the movie.)
In short - Too much mythology, not enough shit blowing up.
Posted by: TheStarterWife at May 5, 2008 11:08 AM(Should be noted, my favorite character was a robot arm.)
Posted by: TheStarterWife at May 5, 2008 11:10 AMA lot of the guys I was with were bitching about it being an "origin story" like that's a bad thing, but I think it'll be worth it when we get lots of sequels down the road.
Posted by: Shea at May 5, 2008 11:11 AMAw, dammit, that reminds me I forgot to include the pitch for a sequel that just consists entirely of RDJr yelling at sulking robots.
(My favorite part too.)
Posted by: Holly at May 5, 2008 11:12 AMHow is Jon Favreau's body of work mockable (other than Friends and Daredevil)?
Posted by: Grimey at May 5, 2008 08:53 PMI had to be stopped from scaling the screen and trying to snuggle with the credits.
It was majestic.
I can't remember the last time I heard people applaud during a movie (except maybe when the lawyer got eaten at the beginning of Jurassic Park).
Posted by: J-Money at May 6, 2008 04:16 AM