This is it, the first part of Avengers Week here on Waves!
Iron Man then. First of all I have to say that Robert Downey Jr. is perfectly cast in this film, he steals every scene that he is in. I could not imagine anyone else portraying Tony Stark more accurately than this man. Cocky and arrogant but confident and somewhat lovable, it is the Tony Stark I remember from the comics, turned up to 11.
This was, essentially, a modernised origin story. While I’m no Iron Man continuity whizz, I do know the basics, and this explained everything perfectly. It wasn’t just some guy making a war-suit, flying it around and shooting stuff, it let us in on the reasons why the suit was a necessity, and gave Tony a reason to fly it around and shoot stuff. I really liked watching the first suit being made out of pure childish disobedience – like an infant told to go and tidy his room, he does the exact opposite and makes it more untidy. The design of the Mark 1 was smart too – you couldn’t go full on red and yellow Iron Man straight from the desert – especially with the meagre tools Tony had at his disposal. The progression from Mark 2 to Mark 3 was good too, with James Rhodes foreshadowing his taking up of the Mark 2 Iron Man suit in the second film.
I loved Gwyneth Paltrow as the barefoot Pepper Potts (so sexy), and the genuine chemistry she had with Robert Downey Jr was clear to see. It was quite odd seeing Jeff Bridges playing a bald man, so much so that I actually didn’t recognise it was him until the second it became clear he was the “Big Bad” and he showed off his badass attitude. The action was big, brash and spectacular, but grounded in some form of quasi-reality. I mean, I know you can’t build a suit of armour that can fly with feet boosters, but I get the feeling that the creators were like “If building a suit that could fly using feet boosters was possible, then this is what it’d look like”.
After watching Iron Man, I was quite amazed that I hadn’t seen it before now, it is totally my cup of tea and right up my street. If these Marvel films get bigger and better as they go on, then I am in for a treat.
