Movie Review: Iron Man

I caught the hot rod coloured Iron Man movie today. I’ve never been a fan of Iron Man, save for the time I used the character in X-Men versus Street Fighter, and when the character started to appear in Spider-Man comics. So it was with low expectations that I watched this latest Marvel addition to Hollywood.

Someone once told me that this is the best way to get your money’s worth from watching movies - go with low expectations. This is so that if it’s a lousy movie, you won’t be greatly disappointed. And if it’s a great movie, you’ll be surprisingly rewarded.

Well, folks, if you take my advice, Iron Man is one movie that will be well worth your $7. Of course you’re probably thinking two things right now.

1. Now that you’ve told me, I’ll be expecting a great movie and if I don’t get it, won’t I be disappointed?

and

2. Where in Singapore can you still watch a movie for $7?

In answer to the second question, you can catch a movie at Eng Wah cinemas from Monday to Wednesday evenings, or before 5pm on Thursdays. And in response to the first, just remember to keep an eye out for the gadgets. It’s definitely a movie for those who like gadgets, sports cars, and hot babes. No, wait, that’s James Bond.

The Iron Man doesn’t have lots of hot babes, short of one quickie Tony Stark has with a Vanity Fair reporter. But it has enough gadgets and fancy computers to make Bruce Wayne jealous… not that the latter couldn’t afford to build the same. In fact, Forbes places Bruce Wayne as richer than Tony Stark, while BusinessWeek places Wayne as one of the smartest superheroes in the comics universe, above Stark.

Indeed Iron Man is Marvel’s answer to Batman, with both superheroes being genius billionaires who inherited their genes and fortunes from their parents, who lack any kind of superpowers save for the use of their minds, and who live a playboy civilian identity.

But Iron Man is a lot more fun than Wayne, because of his outlandish and unpredictable behaviour compared to the broody Batman, which is why I’m hoping Heath Ledger’s Joker can bring some cheer to the next Batman movie opening soon.

While Batman has a particular Gotham City to clean up and protect, Tony Stark’s goal is a lot simpler - to clean up the mess that his own weapons manufacturing Stark Industries has created.

The original comic was set in Vietnam, but the updated script for the movie places Tony Stark in war-torn Afghanistan, where he learns first-hand how Stark Industries ordnance is being put to use to destroy lives.

Kidnapped by terrorists and forced to build the newest version of the missiles he built for the U.S. Army, Tony Stark recycles the scraps he’s been given and fashions a crude armor, the first prototype of the Iron Man armor which he will later perfect after breaking free from his prison.

Back home, Stark turns over a new leaf and finds that he has to contend not only with his company’s second-in-command who thinks he’s gone mad, but also with the terrorists who have found his prototype remains and upgraded it for their own purposes.

The movie wraps these two ends nicely by tying them into a knot for Iron Man to untangle.

For a great and uncomplicated movie to watch, catch Iron Man while you can! (Hey, that rhymes!)