Iron Man (2008)

Director: Jon Favreau

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard

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

So, this is how it all started for Tony Stark/Iron Man in films. This Marvel superhero film is different to other superhero films in the sense that our hero is human, making the film more realistic. He is simply a genius weapons developer who utilized his brain power and designs to save his life. Although the film is presented as pure fantasy, the storytelling made it look very possible. At the rate technology develops at the moment, ‘Iron Man’ will potentially become reality soon, instead of fantasy…

Tony Stark is a very wealthy businessman. The film starts in Afghanistan, where Stark give a weapons demonstration to potential buyers. Antagonist Raza (Faran Tahir) wants the design for himself and compromises the demonstration and takes Stark captive. With limited space and time but a wealth of knowledge, Stark builds the Iron Man suit. He soon realizes his design can be used for doing good, hence becoming a superhero.

Stark can’t fly without his suit. He has no firepower without his suit. In fact, he has no powers at all without his suit. He is just a man – with a fancy pacemaker gadget in his chest that keeps him alive. This made me root for him as a superhero, and as a man. There’s also a love story that felt natural. The love interest comes in the form of Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) who has been Stark’s right hand (figuratively speaking, off course) for some time.

The visual effects are good, and the action sequences well choreographed. There’s a twist towards the end, when the film presents us with another villain we probably never saw coming.

I enjoyed ‘Iron Man’ when I first saw it. It is a stylish action thriller with interesting characters.

‘Iron Man’ was a box office success, earning nearly $586 million on a $140 million budget. It received 94 award nominations, including Oscar nominations for Best Sound Editing and Best Visual Effect.

Would I watch it again? No. And here’s why: when I first saw ‘Iron Man’, I loved it. However, watching it now I’m not a fan anymore. This is mainly due to the character crossing over to so many Marvel movies since this film (Avengers, Spider-Man…). As a result, I lost interest in the character.